Introduction: Word and Image
For thousands of years, people have used images, by themselves or with words,
for illumination and enhancement, education and communication, and decoration
and ornamentation. Never before, however, have so many images existed in one
place at one time as they do now on the Web.
The Web has billions of images of just about every size, shape, color, subject,
medium, theme, static or moving, with or without sound. This training session
will help you use the Web as a resource for illustrations that meet your particular
needs:
Sometimes you will find the image you want on the very first try. More often,
however, you will make several tries before finding the image that comes closest
to meeting all or most of your criteria. Just keep in mind that organizing and
retrieving the vast number of images on the Web is an evolving process and it's
getting better every day!
One of the challenges in finding images on the Web can be expressed as a conundrum:
Q: When is an image not always a picture? A: When it is a word on the Web.
Images on the Web are identified as and often are retrieved by file formats.
The file format is part of the image's URL (Uniform
Resource Locator) or
address. The URL is also the image's path name.
The path name of this picture--Dido in her tower watching the departure of
Aeneas
Note that the creator of the Web page has provided enough information in the
path name----
Vatican Vergil,
c. 400
Personal or popular? Professional or academic? Picture only? Picture
and caption? Picture and descriptive or explanatory text?
Photograph, scientific
drawing, graphic, or artistic representation?
The kind of image you want determines
the search methods and gateways you will use to find images on the Web.
The most commonly used formats (or file extensions or filenames) are: gifs,
jpegs, (pxts), and
(pngs).
from the illustrated manuscript in the Vatican Library now known as Vatican
Vergil 3225, folio 39 verso--is:
host or server name (vergil.../),
directory name (images),
filename (3225-39v),
and extension (.gif)
----to make it possible for a Web search engine, and also you, to find and retrieve
the image.
Word and image are united!
Go To Copyright
Page by Ruth S. Thomas, Art/Art History Bibliographer
rthomas@bu.edu (617) 353-3714
Updated September 2001
