Software Review
Acadia CD-ROM can take Cajuns
on armchair trip to ancestral
home
By CHERÉ COEN, The Advocate,
8/8/99
|
The Acadia CD-ROM By Portage Technologies
(Pelican Publishing Co., $59.95)
With today's technology, you can virtually visit or relive practically
anything. Now, there's a CD-ROM that allows a trip back in time to
Acadia, the Acadian settlements of the present Maritime Provinces of
Canada, before the English arrived and during le grand dérangement,
or
the great exile beginning in 1755.
This multi-media production offers virtual tours of villages such as Grand
Pré, letters written by Acadians in exile, a video version of an
Acadian
dance, and much, much more. There are passages by Carl Brasseaux of
the Center for Louisiana Studies describing the many places of exile for
the Acadians, Acadian genealogy by Stephen White of the University of
Moncton, New Brunswick, early Acadian folksongs recorded by Helen
Creighton of Nova Scotia -- even a dictionary of Acadian words and
phrases with audio.
The CD offers everything a Cajun would want to visit the land of her
ancestors without actually boarding a plane.
The CD-ROM is divided into several categories: "History of Acadia,"
which depicts Acadia before the exile and after; "Voyage to Acadia," a
virtual tour of the Maritimes; "Culture and Traditions," both past and
present; and "Acadia of the Maritimes," a 900-page volume by the
Chaires d'Études Acadiennes of the University of Moncton, which
includes a handy search engine. Hundreds of photos, plus video clips,
maps and printable texts are included, bringing the history of Acadia to
life. (The computer explanation of the Acadian dikes and how they
operated was fascinating.) For the younger set, there's Abbeville
children's book author Sheila Hebert Collins' Jean-Paul Hebert Was
There, a story of the exile from Port Royal and the family's travels to
Louisiana from a child's point of view.
There are a few items that could use improvement, such as the timeline
which includes Elvis' death and other miscellaneous American dates but
practically nothing on Louisiana history or the publication of Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow's Evangeline. The musical excerpts from
today's Acadian musicians left me wanting more; surely a complete song
would encourage people to buy their albums.
Overall, the CD-ROM provides a wonderful comprehensive guide to a
land and people who deserve to have their history told. Portage
Technologies does it superbly.
The Acadia CD-ROM, produced in English and in French, is available
for PC and Macintosh with a minimum of 16 megabyte Ram. |
