Internet to keep 'Versailles' splendors in public eye for up to a year

Contact: Maridith Geuder

An educational Internet site developed by two state universities for the "Splendors of Versailles" exhibit will be available for up to a year after the exhibit's August close.

Mississippi University for Women and Mississippi State University are collaborating on a detailed site that includes teacher and student guides, background on France and its culture, and photos of the French palace that inspired the exhibition.

The site can be accessed at http://www.splendors-versailles.org.

"The site's purpose is to bring the educational component of the Versailles exhibit to K-12 schools," said R. Dan Brook, director of MSU's Center for Education and Training Technology, which is providing web site development for the project.

"We see this as a long-lasting educational resource," he added. "It carries education to a new plateau and extends the reach of the exhibit."

Connie Templeton, the center's instructional technologist, is directing the web development effort at Mississippi State. Assisting her are students Glenn Wilson of Hamilton, a junior computer engineering major at MSU, and Porter Roberts of Starkville, a sophomore at East Mississippi Community College.

"Our center has worked closely with the (MSU) School of Architecture, which initiated the web development phase of the project," Brook said. "In addition, several architecture professors have provided some of the more than 130 photos that we've been able to include."

Brook said the site has been registered internationally with an Internet domain service so that those searching for information may find it easily.

Suzanne Bean of MUW is coordinating the project's educational component with the collaboration of MUW colleagues Michael Burger, Barbara Hunt, Barbara Moor, and Bob Seney. Also participating is Miriam Davis of Delta State.