In the late 1920s, Harold Edgerton invented the stroboscopic flash–the instrument he used to capture the motion of everyday objects and processes. "Milk Drop Coronet" is one of the most renowned examples of his stop-action photography. There are a number of sites devoted to Harold Edgerton and his photography on the World Wide Web. Using a search engine, locate as much information as possible on the "Milk Drop Coronet" photograph. How did Edgerton capture the image? Why? Prepare a detailed set of notes that enumerate the ways in which Edgerton's photography has contributed to our understanding of ordinary objects.

If you are unfamiliar with the web, you might start with a standard search engine, such as yahoo.com or goto.com, and enter the product or information you want to find. You may not be able to locate the information requested in your web assignment for all products, so you may need to augment your online search with some library research.

Try typing in the same search criteria–"Edgerton" or "Edgerton + photography" or "Harold Edgerton," to name three examples–into three different search engines such as Google, All the Web, and Yahoo. How do the results of your searches at each of these sites differ? How might you shape your search terms differently to access the information you are seeking?

If "brick and mortar" store owners and managers rely on well-designed packaging to help sell ordinary objects, how do e-commerce sites "dress up" or package their items for sale? Visit an e-commerce site or a bookstore such as Amazon or Barnes and Noble . How are products such as books shown or described on the web? Can browsers judge books by their covers, so to speak? What devices do the creators of these sites use to entice customers to buy books? How do their strategies resemble or differ from those used in an actual bookstore?