Enhanced Guide to the Art and Life in Africa CD-ROM
If you have not yet installed the
"Art and Life in Africa" program on your computer, follow the instructions in the Read Me file (or on the back of the CD case). Once you have installed the program (you only have to do that the first time you use the CD), run the program. The instructions for installing and running the program vary depending on the platform you are using. Be sure that the "Art and Life in Africa" CD is in your CD drive before trying to run the program. If you have any problems installing or running the program, please contact our office at (319) 335-4098, or send email to africart@uiowa.eduAfter the program has loaded into your computer memory you will see a screen that asks if you would like to look at the introduction or go to the index. Look at the introduction at least once. It consists of a series of screens of the Kongo cosmogram, text that discusses the cosmogram, and an animation of the sun passing around the cosmogram. When the program is fully loaded you will see the cosmogram against a brick red background, with the titles of the chapters distributed around the arc of the cosmogram, and a menu bar at the top of your screen. That is the "Table of Contents" or "Home" page within the ALA program.
Choose a section to view:
Bibliography |
Bookmarks | Chapters | Countries Database |
Field Research Essays |
Images Catalog | Index and Slide Show | Menubar |
Peoples Database |
Videos | ||
On screens with objects from the Stanley Collection, it may be possible "rotate" the object picture by clicking on the picture. If the additional views of the object are available, the cursor will change from the arrow pointer into a cylinder shape while the cursor is over the object picture.
As you page through the chapters or essays, you have access to additional material by clicking on words in the text that are highlighted in color (hypertext links). Words in
red are defined in the glossary, words in green are the names of countries and will link to maps, and words in blue are the names of peoples, and will link to ethnographies. For example, clicking on the blue word "Yoruba" anywhere in the program will take to the Peoples database entry for the Yoruba people. Similarly, you can click on the name of a country in green and you jump to that country's entry in the Countries Database. You can also gain access to these databases from the menubar, under "Resources" (Click on the "Resources" hyperlink here, or see below).It takes a few seconds to load an essay; when loading is complete you will see the first screen, with the author's name and institution in the upper left, and the title of the essay in the upper right. You may now move through the essay by clicking on the "Next" button at the lower right corner of the screen. If you move the cursor over the photograph, you will notice that it changes to a magnifying glass. Click on the picture to enlarge the image. Click on the enlargement to reduce it back down to the original size. You can also click on the caption to "jump" into the Images Catalog entry for the picture; see the instructions for the Images Catalog section below.
You can also search the catalog. Click on the box that says "Search Mode" to switch modes. You will see a screen with a series of empty fields in the upper right. Click on the down arrow to the right of one of these fields and a menu will drop down. Select a criterion to search on (ex. 'Baule' in the People field, 'mask' in the Type field). Then click on "Find items" and a list will appear. As in the Browse mode, move the cursor over the list to see a thumbnail image of an item, and click on an item to go to its entry in the database.
Within the Images Catalog, you will first see basic information about the image (e.g., people, country, etc.). If you click on the tab called "Chapter References", you see a list of the chapters in which the image is used. If you are looking at field photos, in most cases the "Chapter References" will list only a field research essay, but in some cases, where a field photo has been used in another chapter, that reference will be listed as well. For objects in the Stanley Collection, there is also a "Catalog Entry" tab.
The thumbnails that you see in the Images Catalog can be enlarged; click on a thumbnail to see the enlargement. For field photos, the enlargement is the same as the one used in the Field Essay. For objects, there are up to 12 detail views available.
As you might find in an Internet browser program, the Go menu has such options as "Back", "Next", "Previous". The "Back" option, like the "Back" button on the bottom of the screen, retraces your steps through the program. In addition, the Go menu lists the last twenty screens you have looked at in the program. You can choose one of these screens from the Go Menu to return directly to that screen.
: This menu provides direct access to each of the eleven chapters.Resources
: This menu provides access to the Field Research Essays section, in addition to the Images Catalog, Peoples Database, Countries Database, and Bibliography Database.Tools
: This menu takes you to the Index and Slide Show feature, General Tips on how to the use the program, Tips on how to use the Index and Slide Show, and a list of Credits.Each entry in the Peoples Database has the following layout. First, the name of the people appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. On the right are a series of tabbed "index cards" that describe very briefly the history, economy, political systems, religion and art of the people. These are intended only to give the student a very basic understanding of the people. If you click on the tab "Types of Art" you will see a list of all of the objects and field photos from that people on the CD. As you pass your cursor over these titles, a thumbnail of the object or field photo will appear in the square in the upper left of the screen. If you click on an item in the "Types of Art" list, it will take you to the entry for that item in the Images Catalog. The fields on the lower left give some very basic statistics on the people, including their location. The location may be highlighted in red, which means that if you click on it you will go to the entry for that country in the Countries Database section.
Each entry in the Countries Database has the following layout. On the upper left of the screen is small map of the continent showing where the country is located. Below it are fields with very basic statistics about population, major cities, location, and area.
On the right side of the screen there is an ethnographic map. The ethnic maps include only the peoples we discuss in the program, and so the areas occupied by other peoples remain blank. (We made this choice to prevent users from becoming confused or frustrated when they click on the name of a people on the map and no data appears.) If you click on the ethnic map it becomes larger and more detailed. Click on the enlargement to return it to its original size. Move the mouse cursor over the names of the peoples that is to the left of the map. As the cursor passes over a name in the list, the location of the people is highlighted on the map. If you click on the name of a people in the list you will go to the entry for that people in the Peoples Database.
Above the map are tabs titled "Selected People", "Statistics", "Pre-Colonial History", and "Post-Colonial History". Click on a tab to change the information displayed. Please note that the country histories are intended only to give a very brief and basic outline of the history of the country before and after independence.
Revised January 21, 1999