AUSTIN, Texas—UTOPIA, a new digital gateway to The University of Texas at Austin’s vast resources of intellectual knowledge and cultural resources, was unveiled today (March 6) during the university’s annual Explore UT event.
On the Internet at https://live-texas-news.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2004/03/utopia1_2.jpg, the site provides—free of charge—aguided experience through the university’s art galleries, museums, librariesand laboratories. UTOPIA also affords K-12 teachers access to online curricula.
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More than just a Web-based product, UTOPIA is a sustained, systematic effort to digitize the university’s resources and share them with the public.
“The goal is to push the university’s value out to all citizens in new and imaginative ways,” said Larry R. Faulkner, president of The University of Texas at Austin. “What we are unveiling today is only a beginning. UTOPIA is a work in progress that promises to be an online service that will exceed anything else of its kind.”
UTOPIA is easy to use and fun to explore. Designed with the inquisitive visitor in mind, its content is presented in an easy-to-use, navigable format.
The project is being funded primarily through private gifts and grants. So far, UTOPIA has received a $2 million grant from the Houston Endowment and a $500,000 grant from the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund.
UTOPIA content will include information and visual material from such university resources as the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, the Blanton Museum of Art, the Center for American History and the Texas Memorial Museum.
Featured on UTOPIA are such items as the Gutenberg Bible and paintings from the Suida-Manning collection of Renaissance and Baroque art. Also among the offerings are resources for K-12 teachers, including classroom instructional materials.
For more information contact: Jim Kunetka, 512-475-9641, or Sheila Allee, 512-475-9672.
