Thursday, March 29, 2007

More Useful Visual Anthro Sources: Minpaku and Digital Himalaya Websites

Some more good visual anthro resources coming our way via EASIANTH postings...

Minpaku is the National Museum of Ethnology located in Senri Expo Park, Suita, Osaka. It is a museum, research facility and graduate school. Its website has links to information about research projects, various databases and museum collections. The museum's permanent exhibitions include collections from all over the world, including a specific Japan exhibition. Many exhibition images can be accessed through this website. Also of interest for visual anthropologists is the Videotheque.

"The Videotheque was developed by the Museum in 1977 as the world’s first on-demand video library of its kind. It contains video programs that introduce rituals, performing arts, and the living cultures of peoples around the world, as well as information on the artifacts on exhibit at the Museum. After several renovations to incorporate the latest technology, the fourth-generation Videotheque started service in April 2006.
The new system features a touch-panel screen and uses more graphics to increase user-friendliness. In the spacious booths in the Multifunctional Terminal Room, visitors can watch longer video programs of valuable footage from fieldwork conducted by researchers, sitting on a special-effects sofa that provides special effects corresponding to the selected program."

Link to Minpaku
http://www.minpaku.ac.jp/english/


This next link isn't Japan related, but it is an interesting website and an example of salvage ethnography. The Digital Himalaya website is a "project to develop digital collection, storage, and distribution strategies for multimedia anthropological information from the Himalayan region." You can access photos, short video clips, maps, journals, etc.

Link to Digital Himalaya
http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/


You might also note that I have included a new link list dedicated to KGU resources. You can access the library and campus databases from this list (including First Search). Everything you need is here at VAOJ...

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