Gaining Getty Recognition and Verification from the Vatican. -------------------------------------------------------------
by Steve Feld, Head Coach Learning About Leonardo /13681/data/davin2.shtml

As we approach the millennium and commemorate the Year of Leonardo with the approaching unveiling of Leonardo Bronze Horse in Milan, the Learning About Leonardo ThinkQuest project serves as a stellar Internet clearinghouse and online resource for Leonardo studies, discoveries, dispatches and explorations.

Our cross cultural ascension to recognition as a key educational resource for Leonardo studies began with our aquision of a link from the Getty Museum's Digital Experience. Prior to our inclusion in the Getty we had secured a link from the Seattle Art Museum, the Frankin Institute and The Kennedy Art Center in Washington. When we made inquiry as to the Getty selection process here is what they had to say:

July 6,1998

Steve Feld
John F. Kennedy High School Bronx, NY 10463

Dear Steve Feld:
Thank you for your recent letter regarding "Learning about Leonardo" and its inclusion in the Getty Information Institute's Digital Experience. Firstly, allow me to congratulate you and your students on an insightful, educational and entertaining Website. "Learning About Leonardo" continues to be an important addition to our Web-O-Rama tours and I am happy to provide you with a letter background on how it was selected.

The Digital Experience was implemented in a relative short period of time. In the summer of 1997, in conjunction with the construction of its physical space, a working creative team was established to "construct" the digital and Web based aspects of the project. A dozen people converged from various backgrounds, and interests, including designers, producers, researchers, curators, and several Getty staff, to brainstorm and create a multi-media presentation and a Website in time for the Getty opening in December.

The process of choosing the Web links was led by our researcher, Holly Mitchem, an educator at Thatcher High School in Ojai, California. Holly would spend countless hours on the internet looking for the best cultural sites available. She would then forward a substantial list of recommendations to a sub-committee who would peruse each site. The sub-committee, which consisted of five people from the creative team, would meet each week to discuss the content, design, and placement of the recommended sites. Since each one of us had very different interests and tastes, consensus was not reached by simply voting on our favorite site, but by discussing at length, the cultural content presented. By the end of four months, we had developed eight virtual tour categories for the Digital Experience with more than a dozen links for each.

Web-O-Rama, the tour for younger audiences, was the most fun. Of the many sites we reviewed, "Learning About Leonardo" was the best at offering art historical information, in a new and innovative way. By presenting the morphing images, Da Vinci and his famous portrait of Mona Lisa, you and your students provoke viewers to go beyond "face value" in a very effective way. The historical content provided, by way of links and essays, and musical references are also to be commended.

I hope this information answers your questions on how "Learning About Leonardo" became an important addition to the Digital Experience inaugural Web site. On behalf of the J. Paul Getty Museum, thank you for your contribution.

Sincerely,
David Jensen

Manager, Culture Net Initiatives
The Getty Information Institute

Our lesson plan became part of the Encarta Collection.

In the Spring of 1997 Why is the Mona Lisa Smiling was selected as a GII US SemiFinalist. Other winners listed on that page were NASA and Bell Atlantic. ThinkQuest as an entity was selected as Finalist.

The National Museum of Science and Technology of Milan linked to our site thereby certifying the validity of Leonardo's original music we present. A link was then established from the Boston Museum of Science. and from The Smithsonian Institution Lemelson Library - Digging Deeper.

We updated the site with contributions from the field which included the identity of Leonardo's Portrait of a Musician and a picture of the Mona Lisa Bridge which is being built in Oslo Norway. We were invited to attend the celebration of the completion of Leonardo's Bronze Horse, which will be presented to the people of Milan to commemmorate the contributions of the Italian people since the Renaissance.

We wrote to the webmaster of the Vatican Museum and receive a note stating that in order for them to link to our project we would need to secure permission from the office of the Holy See.

Subject: Leonardo and Vatican Web site

Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 16:56:50 +0100 From: "vati2" ctvteca@ctv.va

Dear Mr. Feld, We appreciated your WEB page about Leonardo. For a link from the Vatican site you need an authorization by the Internet Office of the Holy See. You can obtain any information at this address:

uffico-internet@net.va

Sincerely yours
Dr. Mario Farneti - Head of CTV Archive

A committee of research professionals was convened in Italy and they drafted a letter on our behalf. Here is a copy of this letter:

TRANSLATION OF FAX SENT TO THE VATICAN from Porto San Giorgio on August 28, 1998
Text: We as listed below
* Professor Diana Fioretti of the Cultural Center of the town of Porto San giorgio.
* Prof. Alfredo Luzi, established as university lecturer of Contemporary Italian Literature at the University of Macerata.
* Prof. Domenico Pupilli, established Art Historian lecturer at the "A. Caro" Classic Liceum of Fermo (AP).
* Rina de'Firenze from New York, author of the book "Caterina La Madre di Leonardo", a book which is now in the Vatican Library, brought by the hand of His Excellency the Archbishop Renato G. Martino, Permanent Observer Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations.
* The members of Informagiovani Center in Porto San Giorgio.

We have seen on the Web Site the "Leonardo Da Vinci Web Site " formed by the students of the JFK High School of NewYork, and we value its theme content as being magnificent and very educational.

Therefore, we kindly ask, as suggested by Dott. Mario Farneti of the CTV Archives, that you allow to have a link of the above mentioned Web Site inserted in the Vatican Web Site, corresponding to the address of: /13681. The responsable of the "Leonardo da Vinci Web Site", Prof. Steve Feld can be contacted via E-Mail to the following address: sjfeld@erols.com, who is available for any further information.

Trusting in your interest, we thank you .
Best Regards.
Prof. Diana Fioretti
Prof. Alfredo Luzi
Prof. Domenico Pupilli
Ms. Rina de' Firenze
The Operaters (members) of Centro Informagiovani.

From its 1997 inception, as a collaborative project between students from John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx and Borlange Sweden, the site has evolved from an educational resource to a key internet cultural institution link and a integral Leonardo resource repository in >the Vatican.

With the approach of the Millennium and the Milan Momentum, commemorating and celebrating Leonardo, it is appropriate that this renaissance artist has linked metaphorically and authentically with a highly visited, utilized and publicized web site. It is so like Leonardo to have transcended the technology of his time, to be recognized as an Internet authority for the next millennium.