Descriptive Entry
This accession consists of "Ocean Planet," one of the Smithsonian Institution's first websites, as it existed on April 23, 2015. A preview of the website was first made available on April 20, 1995, as part of the press preview of the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) website of the same name, but did not officially launch until May 7 as part of the first Smithsonian Institution homepage. The website was intended to be an online exhibition of the traveling exhibition which debuted at NMNH from 1995-1996 and then toured with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) through 1999. At some point, most likely at the end of the tour, the homepage was updated to note that it was an "archival version" of the SITES exhibition.
The website was developed by Gene C. Feldman, an oceanographer at the Goddard Space Flight Center, in consultation with Judith Gradwohl, Director of the NMNH Environmental Awareness Program and curator of the exhibition. It was (and has continued to be) hosted on a National Aeronautics and Space Administration server. It included an online version of the exhibition content, a final report on the NMNH exhibition, educational resources, fact sheets, and an extensive list of credits. Much of the content has likely never been revised.
Due to technical issues and the age of the website, some content is missing and some features do not function properly. Materials are in electronic format.
