Uncle Tom's Web site
Movies have world premieres even though most will be out on video in the U.S. long before reaching foreign markets. In comparison, Internet sites are accessible worldwide with the click of a button. So why don't Internet sites have world premieres?
Actually, some do.
The Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities and Alderman Library held a world premiere Friday for English Prof. Stephen F. Railton's Web site, "Uncle Tom's Cabin and American Culture, a multi-media archive."
According to Railton, a Web site is always available to the world, but a premiere is a chance to show what has been done in the site and what is planned for the future.
Monticello High School in Albemarle County and the Summit School in Ohio plan to begin using the site as part of their curriculum, Railton said.
In addition, he said students at UCLA, Colgate and the University of Tulsa will be using the site to study 19th century literature as early as this year.
The importance of the site is the way it uses multimedia technology to bring 19th century literature into the 21st century, he added.
"I don't believe it can change the world, but it is an incredibly valuable tool that we can use to bring students in contact with the 19th century," Railton said.
In addition to pictures of actual texts, movies, songs and three-dimensional images called tomitudes add to the educational richness of the site.
Railton said he chose to use "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in part because of the book's ability to cross racial, political, religious and gender boundaries.
Railton worked with the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, Conn., the E-text center, IATH and Alderman Library's Special Collections Department to create the site. Railton also has used input from high school teachers who e-mailed him about his first large site, "Mark Twain in His Time."
Both sites can be accessed from the English Department's Web site or at http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc for the Uncle Tom's site and http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton for the Twain site.
Compiled by Ted McGraw
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