Choosing the Information You Want

BY touching the ``Subject Matter'' label - one of four choices offered in a menu (first screen, below) for the Getty Museum's interactive video on Greek vases - a visitor can bring up a sub-menu for ``Gods'' and ``Heroes'' (second screen) and select a topic of interest. The program will then display scenes in the chosen category from a variety of vases (third screen) until told to stop.

Another option allows the viewer to rotate a vase and zoom in on a particular detail (last screen).

``We were able to build a tracking system into the equipment to find out what kind of selections people most often make,'' says Marion True, antiquities curator at the Getty. ``We found out they love exploring the subject matter of the vases and seeing replicas made.''

The Greek vase video system uses 13-inch Sony monitors, Pioneer video-disc players, and an NCR computer with hard disk and customized mother board.