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Judith Downie
Humanities Librarian
CSUSM Library
KEL 3424
760-750-4374
jdownie@csusm.edu |
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The purpose of this guide is to familiarize you with the
best resources for research on digitally-created art and artists.
Getting Started
Keywords: Think about the
terminology that you need to 'capture' the material needed.
Keep in mind, boundaries are
not clear-cut between styles and some artists cross
perceived boundaries. This can give you many choices for your research, but can also
make it hard to stay focused on a topic precise enough for a
good paper. This is also a newer field, so some of the more
traditional resources such as encyclopedias may not hold
much for this topic, but this will change as publications
become more available.
Encyclopedias, dictionaries and indexes
or other general overviews are a good place to start your research.
They can help you identify a topic for your paper, and often
include useful bibliographies.
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Internet Art
N7433.8 .G73 2004
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Digital
Art
N72.T4 P38 2003
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Snap to Grid: A
User's Guide to Digital Arts, Media, and Cultures
QA76.9.C66 L86 2000
Books
A research paper on
art is not a review of a exhibit
you attended or what
you think about an artist. You need to do
research and find the number of materials
required by your instructor on your topic to write a decent paper. Depending on how much time you have, you have a couple of
options for where you can search:
CSUSM
Library Catalog--provides information on books at Cal State San Marcos
that are available either in paper (on the shelf) or
electronic format (click on the WWW link in the catalog
record for 2-hour access.)
Other Options
(not at CSUSM)--these may be locally held or be
borrowed from across the country. To find out that a book
exists, you need to search one of these three catalog
databases. Once the material is in, you pick it up at
the Library's Checkout desk.
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Circuit
is the joint
catalog for CSUSM, SDSU, UCSD, and USD with delivery
in 1-3 days.
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Melvyl searches the entire University of
California catalog system and delivers in 5-10 days
through Interlibrary Loan.
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WorldCat
searches a 'universe' of library catalogs and
delivers in 5-10 days through Interlibrary Loan.
Useful Keywords
Keywords can be subject to interpretation by a
computer search function in ways you never imagined! Try
to be specific in your search. Use 'virtual art' or
'computer-generated art' instead of 'digital art'.
You can also look for specific tools. media or artists.
Useful Subject Terms
Can't
think of terms to accurately describe your topic? Library
catalogs use specific subject headings to group related
books together. 'Art' is such a large topic, you will
want to think of ways to narrow it down, by time period, geography,
style, specific artist, culture, etc. Ask a librarian to
help, or here are some
examples to think about:
Browse the Book Stacks
Sometimes, just looking
through the shelves can turn up works you would not have
considered otherwise. Using the Library of Congress
subject system, Art is shelved in the N call number area,
but digital art involving computer technology or
technique can also be found in the QA76.9 area.
The
Wikipedia online encyclopedia provides a list of the
subclasses in the N area so you can see how this is
organized.
Genre Headings
Genre refers to a type of book
or other information (e.g., videos) rather than the topic
(as with a subject heading search.) A very important type
of information in the Art discipline is exhibition catalogs. CSUSM has a
number of these, and to find them is by selecting GENRE as
the search field, instead of the default KEYWORD, and then
type in
Exhibitions. There are other art-related genres such as Video Art
(recordings made of interviews with artists or exhibits) and
Electronic Journals--Arts (full text journals in our
databases or on the internet.)
The searchable categories for this type of search continues to
grow, so
explore!
Journal Articles
Arts-related journals include some of the latest research in
the field as well as discussion of specific aspects of art
such as history, genre, artists and movements. Journals
are a good source for finding very
detailed information on your topic. It is best to start
with a couple of books before diving into journals to get
ideas on terms to use in your search as you will get so many
hits on the 'big picture'.
To search for articles, you
need to start with research databases.
Each will allow you to search hundreds or even thousands of journals at once.
Some databases are directories, rather than full-text
collections. Use the
link to check our other resources
for the full text of the article. The first choice to make is which databases to look in first! Here are
some recommendations:
Most Useful
Academic
Search Premier
(Ebscohost)
Full-text. A large, multi-disciplinary database
offering full text for nearly 1,850 scholarly journals as
well as non-scholarly titles,
including more than 1,250 peer-reviewed titles.
Art Abstracts
Includes abstracts from periodicals, yearbooks, museum
bulletins, competition and award notices, exhibition
listings, interviews, film reviews, and more. Use SFX to
link to available full-text.
Grove Music Online
Comprises the full text of The New Grove Dictionary of Music
and Musicians (2d edition, 2001), The New Grove Dictionary
of Opera (1992), and The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz (2d
edition, 2002). Includes updated articles.
Project Muse
Full text. Includes a small collection of scholarly
journals in art. This complements older holdings of some
titles offered in JSTOR.
JSTOR
Full-text.
Contains complete full-text back files (EXCEPT for the
latest five years) of core scholarly journals in such areas
as sociology, history, economics, political science,
mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies and
others. Art is not yet a separate journal collection in
this database, but the history collection is a useful place
to search when researching older works.
Also Useful
ProQuest Newspapers
Includes coverage of over 300 major U.S. and international
newspapers, such as The New York Times, Los Angeles Times,
Chicago Tribune. A great place to look for exhibition
reviews from the 1970's to present.
Safari Books
A collection of over 300 O'Reilley programming and
technology books - completely searchable, including code
fragments. Helpful for techniques working with specific
software.
Internet Sources
Before getting started, you might want to refer to this
reference book in our collection: Art Information
and the Internet: How to Find it, How to Use It at
REF N59 .J66 1999. This discusses, among other topics,
museum web sites, search strategies and more. See the
Museums page for online art
collections hosted by museums from around the world.
Your instructor may allow use of some web pages you find
on the Wild Wild Web. NOT ALL SITES ARE OF EQUAL VALUE TO
YOU AS A RESEARCHER. Exercise caution with statements
you find and look for references lists and citations for
supporting documentation. Without careful fact-checking and
research, you don't know what is truth and what is fiction, but the
instructor grading your paper is going to know!
Art Links Art Gallery Worldwide: Digital Art
List of links to artists and galleries in no particular
order. Click on the MORE to see a fuller description of each
site.
Digital Millenium Copyright Act
Protect yourself by knowing the law regarding use of
digital images and information. It is NOT true that anything
on the web is free for use. The US Copyright Office offers a
summary.
Digital Performance
Archive
Based in England, this site attempts to archive current
activity in digital arts as well as provide access to past
work.
Histories
of Internet Art: Fictions and Factions
A variety of interactive and digital art and artists
(including biographical information and interviews), hosted
by the University of Colorado Art Department.
International Digital Art Awards
Provides both information on the award (The Harries) and
digital exhibition space.
MAAP : Multimedia Arts Asia Pacific
Links to artists, organizations,
resources and events for the artist working throughout Asia
(including Australia and India)
Truly Virtual Web Art
Museum
Current and archived exhibits of cyberart, virtual art and
animation.
Wikipedia:
Digital Art
While any content in Wikipedia should be evaluated
carefully, this site offers useful links to various aspects
of digital art.
Free-access Journals
ArtsJournal.com
A combination of weblog and newswire, updated daily, that
examines issues affecting the arts such as copyright, artists,
performers and more. You can follow the Visual Arts link to
focus on more specific postings.
Crossings: Electronic
Journal of Art & Technology
Peer-reviewed journal looking at all aspects of art and
technological applications.
deviantART
Much of the site is commercial, but the images and blog
could be useful.
DigitalThread
Much of the site is commercial, but there are useful
links to fonts and Photoshop coding.
Directory Of
Open Access Journals
Click on "visual arts" to see freely-available full text of
arts-related online journals.
Google Directory of Arts>Digital>Magazines and E-zines
Mixed bag of links to theory, art and more.
Citing Your Sources
As you write your paper, you'll need to cite passages and
ideas from the sources you've found. In order to cite
your resources properly, you need to follow the style
specified by your instructor. See the
STYLE GUIDES to locate a quick summary online or
the shelf location for the paper manual you need to use.
Need More?
As you research, you may find yourself stuck or need to
find more. There are several ways to get help!
The librarian listed at the top of this page is here to help.
Email or
call 760-750-4374 to make an appointment. Also, my office is KEL 3424 and if my
door is open, I am available for drop-in appointments.
The Research
Help Desk is open during library hours.
Email for a reply in 24 hours or call 760-750-4391.
The CSUSM Writing Center (located within the Kellogg
Library on 1st floor) can help with developing your
writing skills. Fill in an electronic
appointment form or call 760-750-4168
Finding Material
The library catalog tells you what we own in either
physical or virtual form, but what if you need something
that we don't own?
Books can be ordered through Circuit (look for
the Circuit button in the library catalog.)
Articles can be located by clicking on the
button in the database you are using OR through
Interlibrary Loan (ILL). ILL should be an option in
if
there isn't a copy available in our research database
collection.
Dissertations are very rarely needed, but if
available for loan, can be requested through ILL.
Videos are normally not lent out through ILL, you
need to go to the library that holds the item to view
there or borrow yourself. You may find a video available
for rent online, but they can be very expensive.
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