Katherine Blair White

September 9, 2002

ENGL 3014

The website entitled Middle Ages: What was it really like to live in the Middle Ages? is located at http://www.learner.org/exhibits/middleages. The site is affiliated with the organization Annenberg/CPB Multimedia, which also markets the video series, “Western Tradition,” that is the basis for the web page. The company provides a free educational channel to public organizations and schools. Annenberg/CPB Multimedia’s homepage is accessible from the site. Further information about the company can be found in the "About Us" section accessed at the bottom of the page. The site itself maintains an educational quality, while shying away from a sales pitch.
The site is appropriate for an audience seeking basic knowledge of the Middle Ages. It briefly presents facts regarding everyday medieval life. The topics include: town life, health, clothing, religion, homes, feudal life, and arts and entertainment. Each area is easily accessed, once in the site, by the listing of icons in a column on the right hand side of the web page. Interactive options are also available for some of the categories. One of these games invites the viewer to attempt medieval medicine by presenting three patients to be diagnosed [reword?=>according to medieval medicine]. [Are these equivalent grammatical structures you are conjoining here?=>Various trivia and viewing a tapestry] are among the other options.
The site is accurate and objective. The information, though brief, is well edited and constructed. The number of advisors and academics working on the page (the credits can be viewed via the "Related Resources" page) supports that it was well thought out. The information is not biased and it does not advocate anything. Furthermore, there are no distracting pop-up or flashing ads. The only minor advertising aspect is the company’s own video sales, which is not a pervasive element.
This site employs two methods to provide numerous links. First, along with each topic of on the right hand column of the page, one can also choose "Related Resources." Here, numerous links to scholarly web pages are listed, along with a brief description of each. All of these sites have ".edu" for the domain, and all of these links are active. Such popular sites as "The Labyrinth Compendium of Medieval Resources" and the "Internet Medieval Sourcebook" are included. In addition, for many of the topics, there is an option to read more. Listed on the left hand side of the extended article are links related to that subject. All of these links, however, are not active, such as the "Lords and Peasants in 12th and 13th Century Catalonia" link on the feudal life page.
There are extensive credits listing who collaborated on the "exhibit," as the site is often called. The "Chief Academic" is Susan Weiss, a Professor of Musicology at the Peabody Conservatory of John Hopkins University. It would be helpful to know what qualifies Weiss, as a musicologist, to speak about the Middle Ages, but biographies are not included. The numerous others who worked on the site come from various organizations and educational institutions such as the University of Virginia and LEO: Libraries and Educators Online. There is no contact information for individuals, but the organization can be reached through the "Contact Us" option on the bottom of the page. While the copyright is current, there is no reference as to if or when the site was last updated. Overall, the site is a legitimate starting point with very limited, but well constructed, information on the medieval period.