Updates on ScreenSite's progress

These links may be out-of-date. We've chosen not to update this page so that Web archaeologists may track our evolution.

September 1, 1997

After enjoying the generous hosting services of Student Affairs for the past three years, we move on over to the UA Telecommunication and Film Department's Web server.

Hopefully, the move is a seamless one.

January 25, 1997

ScreenSite reveals a whole new look and a minor reorganization! ScreenSite was one of the first film/TV Web sites (online October 24, 1994) and was beginning to look pretty dusty. So, we've changed our colors, added a navigation bar and other (small!) graphics, and shifted a few things around. We're committed, however, to keeping ScreenSite accessible to a broad variety of Web browsers and so we've resisted using some of the fancier Web technologies. Also, we've kept bandwidth wasting Big Graphics to a minimum.

We hope you like the new look! Drop us a comment about it, why don't you?

Oh, you'll find that some of the links below will no longer work--due to our reorganization. We leave them here, though, for historical interest (such as it is).

January 1, 1997

Interactive innovations continue! We've just added ScreenBoard, a "bulletin-board" service that allows for the posting of messages (even with files attached) in film/TV discussion areas. Users could, for example, post copies of conference papers so that participants could read them before their presentation.

ScreenBoard works with the same sort of software as Usenet "newsgroups" and thus requires a Web browser (e.g., Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) that has a "news" reader built in or a separate piece of software that acts as a news reader (such as Forte Free Agent).

October 1, 1996

ScreenSite enters a new era of interactivity with ScreenChat, a real-time chat service for film/TV studies. In ScreenChat, users may instantaneously send messages back and forth to one another. The service works with the same mechanisms as Internet Relay Chat (IRC) and requires either a browser that can handle Java or one of the many (free and easily available) IRC clients.

Conferences have already been held on screenwriting and getting into film/TV school. Both of these chats have been archived on the ScreenChat Web page.

7/1/96

We're working on becoming more accessible to users whose first language is not English. To that end, a team of volunteer translators has been laboring away on our opening pages: Yang Gao (Chinese), Philippe Mather (French), Claudia Smith (German), Jos³ MarÕa Castro CerÑn and Carolyn Hales (Spanish), and Bert Deivert (Swedish). çMuchas gracias!

6/8/96

Put an Alabama map on the Acknowledgements page. One can never have too many maps. And Lycos gave us this one for free!

6/6/96

Been wondering what time it currently is in the Central Time Zone, where ScreenSite spends its days (and, during the summer, curses that Daylight Savings Time: daylight! bah!)? The U.S. military provides the time up to the millisecond so we thought we'd show our patriotism by displaying their clock right on our Table of Contents. Long may she wave...er...tick.

5/29/96 9:27:04 PM

<blush> Added an accolades section to chronicle what the critics have said about ScreenSite.

5/22/96 3:42:34 PM

ScreenSite now has an index which may be searched. At long last! The kind folks at Excite, Inc. provide this free search engine to any Web site. Awful nice of them! You can search ScreenSite wherever you see this icon:

1/23/96 10:00:00 PM

Began work on the The ScreenSite Index of Material Wholly--And We Do Mean Wholly--Unrelated to the Study of Film and Television section of ScreenSite. Figures that we'd start with two nipple sites and work from there.

1/23/96 8:30:34 PM

Another favorable notice for ScreenSite! This one's in Joe Williams Entertainment on the Net. He says we do our work here "with a perceptible spirit of fun." Thanks for noticing, Joe!

11/26/95 12:18:54 PM

New section added for scholarly conference information.

11/17/95 4:56:43 PM

The ScreenSite Support Staff is walking a little taller this week because we've just been awarded a badge this week. Thanks, Point Communications, for the pat on the back! Check out their review for yourself.

10/9/95 9:53:37 AM

Jim Castonguay has been laboring away on ScreenSite's links to the publishing world--both book publishers and journals/magazines. The result is an excellent guide to materials both on- and off-line.

10/9/95 9:43:31 AM

Cool counters have been installed on many ScreenSite pages--e.g., (The counters were created by the Community Futures Development Corporation of the North Okanagan, British Columbia.) Now we can keep track of just how busy ScreenSite is, and which areas are the most/least useful. Yes, Big Brother is watching.

10/5/95 4:13:13 PM

Greatly expanded the listing of Web sites for college programs in film/TV/media. You will now find over 50 sites listed and pointers to general college guides such as Peterson's Education Center. It's a great way to obtain information about both major film/TV/media programs (e.g., Iowa, USC, NYU, Northwestern) as well as more modest offerings.

8/27/95 5:12:12 PM

ScreenSite's Guide to Searching the Web brings together the most popular search engines (devices for finding Web materials) and offers tips on using them.

7/31/95 4:02:06 PM

Converted (finally!) from Mac Word format and then added the University Film and Video Association's listing of student friendly film/video festivals. (A big thank-you to Dave Kluft for sending it our way!) Also put in a pointer to another massive list of festivals collected by the folks at Delta-9/Eden Matrix Independent Film.

7/23/95 11:16:53 AM

Added the Comments Form--a no muss, no fuss method for sending comments to ScreenSite's Webmaster. You'll see its sharp little icon turning up on many ScreenSite pages (like this one!):

7/23/95 11:23:45 AM

Put a little color into the ScreenSite Table of Contents. Them HTML 3.0 extensions is fan-tastic!

Jul 10, 1995

Added NAMID's Genre Terms for Moving Image Materials. A list of genre and form headings, designed to standardize terms used by catalogers in identifying moving image materials. Developed by the National Moving Image Database (NAMID) Standards Committee of the National Center for Film and Video Preservation (NCFVP) at the American Film Institute. See also the project underway at the Library of Congress, the Moving Image Genre-Form Guide.

Feb 22, 1995

Added the Reference Shelf--a handy collection of film credits, dictionaries, the MLA/APA style guide, zip and postal code info, weather reports, and plenty more. Compiled by ace Web surfer Cal Pryluck. Thanks, Cal!

Feb 19, 1995

Resume Service begun for those searching for a college-level job teaching film/TV/Video. The Employment Office is spruced up, too.

Feb 17, 1995

Added a major new section to our Table of Contents: Film/TV/Video Production . This section contains pointers to film studios and television stations/networks. In the future, we'll be adding documents related to the actual production of film/TV/video and other media.

Feb 2, 1995

ScreenSite's hard drive crashes the day after the announcements go out. We're down for five days. Holding back tears, the ScreenSite staff tries not to take it as a portent.

Feb 1, 1995

Official announcements of ScreenSite's Grand Opening posted around the Web. Suitable fanfare ensues.

Jan 31, 1995

Constructed a primitive help system to guide users through ScreenSite.

Jan 16, 1995

Added Jim Thompson's compendium of mail/phone-order video sources. Thompson sketches rental/purchase policies, addresses, phone numbers, and an evaluation of each source.

Included a pointer to a large compilation of gay, lesbian, and bisexual-centered films that Frank Swilling maintains. He also lists film/video distributors of these titles.

Listed the films chosen for the National Registry of Film by the U.S. Congress. Instructions on how to submit suggestions are included.

Began incorporating information on academic associations/societies with some basic information on the Society for Cinema Studies.

Added two new syllabi: The Fantastic and the Postmodern in Film and Literature, by Russell Potter; and Media Criticism, by Mark Poindexter.

Dec 7, 1994

The Postmodern America Tour: Travels in Hyperreality. Jeremy Butler encounters Niagara Falls in miniature, Trigger's hoofprint, and Whistling Dick. It's a new, illustrated essay available in Cripes! A Humor 'Zine (a wholly owned subsidiary of ScreenSite).

Dec 5, 1994

Added too-cute, clickable icons. Began construction of a help system.

Nov 28, 1994

Added academic job listing, from the Society for Cinema Studies.

Nov 26, 1994

Added information on film/TV studies at the University of Alabama and pointers to film/TV schools in Australia, Scandinavia, and North America.

Nov 22, 1994

Folk, jazz, and roots music pointers added.

Nov 18, 1994

The various free-ranging discussions on film/TV that can be found on the Internet are herded together in a new ScreenSite section. Special mention is made of ScreenSite's sister discussion group, SCREEN-L.

Nov 11, 1994

Created section for humorous essays, and other non-teaching/research material. (We all need some sort of release valve, don't we?)

Nov 10, 1994

Directory of film/TV educators' E-mail addresses added.

Nov 1, 1994

Film/TV course syllabuses added.

Oct 24, 1994

ScreenSite goes online. Its appearance is greeted by a stunned silence.