The MCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Chicago!

Artbot will soon be rolling into the MCA museum. To prepare, Artbot has been perusing the web site. Well... gee... It's a lot like many museum sites, except that it's kinda ugly.
That big black horizontal line across the top. Who made that design decision?
Also, why does the Buckminster Fuller section look totally disengaged from the rest of the site? Disjointed. I mean, the Noguchi Museum in Queens was able to pull off adding Buckminster Fuller to their web site when they featured his work.
The MCA is trying to mix simple, sleek elegance with a lot of hip things happening at once. Artbot thinks that they have to choose just one of those approaches. Perhaps they can base their site on Artbot's design. Warning: Artbot has copyrighted Artbot's design.

Storycorps Makes Artbot Cry

Storycorps..sniff.

The ink is black, the page is white...

Who remembers that song? It reminds Artbot of the Area Chicago website.

I Artbot, Therefore I Am

Is it because Artbot is a robot that Artbot likes these sparse homepages? The solid yellow. The simple text. Yes, Artbot likes this. Although Artbot questions why humans would create a link that says "Click here to visit the Creative Audio Archive site." Needless and repetitive human web designers. Very 2002.

Hmmm. Artbot can peruse the sound archives. Artbot thought there would be links. No links, but sometimes the humans need an online listing as a first step. Artbot assumes that there will be links to short sound clips in the future.

Artbot has worked with the Rockefeller Archive Center in the past. Based on that experience, Artbot sees how this site is totally in line with the mindset of a human archiver. Human archivers are mindful of things that Artbots and tech-obsessed humans forget. Here's the big thing: If everything is available primarily in an electronic format, it is possible for all this information to be lost, even if it is backed up. Human archivers keep the hard copies or microfiche. (Artbot is not kidding.) They also make it possible for an Artbot to research in the classic sense - in a room full of precious documents, turning pages with a white glove on Artbot's claw. Artbot respects this. There are no Archivebots. It is a job for the most human of the humans.

Wanna Learn Some PowerPoint y'all?

David Byrne (of Talking Heads fame) will tell you how. He uses it as ART.
Artbot saw David Byrne give a live PowerPoint presentation at NYU back in the day. It totally rewired Artbot's circuits.

Artbot Learns to Teach with PowerPoint

Dear Mr Ray Yang,
Artbot suggests that next semester, you require that human students create a PowerPoint presentation on this Digital Literacy link. (Artbot loves the irony of this since Artbot's funny bone is made of iron. Ha ha! Artbot Pun!) (Just kidding, Mr. Ray Yang!)
Artbot thinks the presentation of the treatment of PowerPoint as a vehicle for teacher and student presentations is straightforward and nicely tongue in cheek. The quizzes are trippy, too. Check out this quiz.
Nice treatment of the subject matter. This site is a different in the fact that it seems not to be promoting an organization, business, etc. It's a site with something to say, and Artbot likes how they say it.
Ah, what the hell, Artbot also gives this site an A for Artbot.

What is the Stockyard Institute?

Artbot hearts the way that the Stockyard Institute puts it front and center. This is who we are, now you go deal with it. Artbot has never seen an organization convey its purpose so succinctly on the home page.
They're friends with AREA Chicago!!!
The projects portion of the Stockyard Institute web site gives concise overviews of the many many intensely community-based art projects that they do with Chicago youth. The organization is new to Artbot and seems outstanding. A great resource for Artbots.
The web site does so much more with less (in the vein of Google). Succinct, visually straightforward. Excellente. Control Machete.
Stockyard Institute Web Site gets an A (for Artbot).

Extra Credit Points for nice delicious link.