09 November, 2011

Update: Website Launch & Introduction of Virtual Zambian Art Gallery


1.         Update on Zambian art website launch

It was my intention to launch the www.zamart.org in April 2011. We now are in November with the site leading a dormant existence inside my computer rather than being publicly accessible.
Main reasons for the delay are:
1.      Poor affordable internet connectivity coupled with rather pricy fast broadband.

2.      I have been somewhat awed by the technicalities of doing the launching without some reassuring assistance of a person in the know.

I have written before that I find the software needed generally & pertinently user unfriendly; this applies to drupal 7, to filezilla, PHPmyadmin (the dbase programme) as well as the instructions of the internet service provider (ISP).
One of these days I’ll go at it again, when it’s less hot and I am in a patient mood. 

2.         Introduction of Zambia Virtual Art Gallery
In this blog we shall create a series of posts all having the “Zambian Art Gallery” label. Each post shall minimally have a few pictures of art by Zambian artists, or art made in Zambia, or art about Zambia, or in some way relevant to art in development in Zambia. The pictures might be of by the same artist, or have a thematic relationship being art work by different artists, or be of interest to the Zambian art scene by an interesting association.

Submissions can be made by any visitor to the blog, provided no copyright regulations are violated. Note that normally one is allowed to publish photographs of art work (like art reporters do), but you may not without consent reproduce the photo made by someone of a work of art. It is the photo that has the copyright in this case, not the original art work to be reproduced as a photo. How this works if the original work of art itself is a photo is not clear to me. Getting permission in case of doubt is best.

Note that the external submitter of visual material to be posted on this blog is fully responsible for the compliance with any applicable law or regulation.

The following information – to the extent available – should be provided with the photograph: Title, artist, year of production, size (in cm or inches), medium, current location and current owner. If there is a story to tell about the painting, do so.

If the work is for sale indicate price and provide contact details. You may only offer the work for sale if you are the owner of the work or his/her legitimate agent.



Note on resolution and size
Photographs or scans have a size (length x height) and a resolution. The resolution is normally expressed as dots per inch (dpi) or pixels per inch. In electronic representation size and resolution are related: increased resolution results in a smaller picture, decreased resolution results in a larger picture. In both cases the number of bits stays the same. For Internet purposes a standard resolution of 72 is employed (horizontally and vertically). If you can, submit scans in jpeg format with a resolution of 72 and a longest side of maximally 400 pixels. First adjust the resolution to 72 and next the size. If these things are beyond your grasp just email the picture (as an attachment or a comment to the blog) but make sure it’s not over 150 KB.


No comments: