Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 14:42:37 -0400 Amanda Pauley

The contributors to ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies (henceforth to be called ORB), edited by Carolyn Schriber, seem to have had in mind the modern day "get it all in one place" attitude with respect to this site, which was last updated on July 10, 2002. Of the links which I checked, all of them had been updated within the last three months. I base my analysis of ORB, a reference site of an educational domain found at http://orb.rhodes.edu, on the usefulness of related links, background of the various contributors, and the amount of textual content of the site. By the editor's own admission, this site is intended as an "online textbook source," and it would be useful for teachers and students alike, as well as anyone with an interest in Medieval studies.

The site is categorized neatly according to uses, including an encyclopedia, textbook library, links and more. Currently there are twelve online textbooks available for viewing as well as some lecture notes. Via a chronologically arranged outline, the online encyclopedia displays both documents from this web site and links to related web sites containing material that touches on Medieval religion, art, music and different aspects of the early, high and late Medieval time periods. The site also contains information geared towards writing research papers and preparing syllabi. After doing some random spot checks I did not encounter any spelling errors whatsoever and was also pleased to find a couple of contributing authors' humble pleas for notification if any errors are detected.

The links offered at this site, both internal and external, seemed to be in working order. However, this conclusion is based on a small sample, considering the size of this site, twenty to be exact. Of those links that passed through my "spot-check," only one had relocated (but once found, it also worked). Several included images, mostly of art work, all of which downloaded amazingly fast considering the "dinosaur" which I am using to analyze this site.

ORB is held together by a multitude of editors, contributors, and technical designers, and the site does include credentials and background for each of those who are directly involved. Most of the regular participants in ORB are professors or graduates from recognizable universities at which one could easily verify their status. I did find a number of essays by authors not on the list of regular contributors or editors, and six of these ten did not offer any kind of background information to support themselves. Four of those six did at least have an email address at which they could be contacted, but considering the credentials of the editors, whose hands these essays had to pass through in order to become part of this site, I do not believe that this fact hinders the credibility of the site. It is also comforting to see the name, Dr. D. Burr, of Virginia Tech on the list of contributors.

I would label ORB a definite must have tool of reference with which one may have a satisfactory degree of security with respect to the contents as well as related links. From my brief scan of this site, I found it extremely well organized and easy to surf through.