Streaming the Campus

Dartmouth students

studying film used to gather in classrooms, outside of class time, to screen required movies. Today evening film screenings with ones class and professor have largely been replaced by new technology that allows movies to be streamed directly to a laptop anywhere, anytime. Streaming—which sends video instantaneously over the Internet without downloading delays—allows anyone with a Dartmouth ID number to access films through the library Web site from any location.

While this technology allows students to watch movies on their own time, it also means some of the aesthetic qualities of film are lost in translation. Viewers often watch on small computer screens, and the image is roughly comparable to VHS quality.

Michael Bronski, a professor in the Jewish studies and women's and gender studies departments who teaches many film and film-based classes, believes that while streaming movies is not optimal, it is easier than film screenings or borrowing a VHS or DVD from the reserve desk. "Having grown up watching all movies on the big screen, streaming movies to a laptop is not ideal for the aesthetics of a film," Bronski says. "If I were teaching a class on Ingmar Bergmans use of black-and-white imagery, streaming wouldn't work."

Even so, Bronski believes that streaming movies makes complete sense pedagogically. "It is great for convenience, which means that everyone can watch assigned movies when they want to and are able to," Bronski says.

Perhaps the biggest drawback to video streaming is multi-tasking. Checking Blitz Mail while watching films required for class is the natural response of a busy Dartmouth student, but it also detracts from the learning experience. "Movies are an art form that require full attention, but that," Bronski explains, "can be found only in the theater."

uWIMUkh" M Here's a sampling of films recommended and required by professors from a variety of classes: History 65: "Modern Europe: 20th Century" Chariots of Fire History 28: "American Women's History Since 1920" North Country Classics I: "Antiquity Today" Spartacus English 72: "Transnationalism in Asian American Literature & Cultural Criticism" China Blue Closer to Home Bharati Mukherjee: Conquering America Women's and Gender Studies 21: "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall" Snow White and the Seven Dwarves The Company of Wolves Spanish 21: "Contemporary Argentine Culture" Eva Peron Evita

DID YOU KNOW? Homecoming football games have been good but not great to Dartmouth, which has won 13 of the last 20 contests. The Big Green has outscored opponents 490 to 426 during the span, but recent efforts haven't come close to the seven-year Homecoming winning streak enjoyed from 1990 to 1996.