I have reached the end of my project. However, I do not know if I will completely remove myself from this topic. There is still so much more that I would like to discuss. If I had a larger readership or at least 3, then I’d like the input and insights of them. What they got from my project. Or what museums were their favorite or which ones moved them and how.
In my first podcast, I interviewed Emily. We both visited the same museum, the Anne Frank House, and were both incredibly moved by it, but for different reasons. Multimedia is truly different experience for everyone. For me, the different sounds and visuals are what moved me. For Emily it was the space and atmosphere. Everybody has a different style of learning and experiencing things. An article from the Education journal titled “The Brain: Utilizing Multi-Sensory Approaches for Individual Learning Styles” recognizes people’s different way of processing information.
Whether or not a museum chooses to use an iPod for an audio tour or if it decides the surrounding environment is a better medium for enhancing the museum’s experience, the museum is still a great place for a multimedia experience.
I hope my viewers enjoyed this endeavor of mine. It was a process of learning and discovering new ideas.
Until next time- whenever that may be,
Son
"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." By Auguste Rodin
Monday, March 12, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Podcast 2 at the Jordan
As I mentioned before, I am doing my own unauthorized podcast of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum here in Eugene, Oregon. Well, as my second podcast I’d thought there would be much improvement. However, I’m afraid that my voice alone might you. I don’t think I’ve got that “Museum Voice.” I know preached about the importance of “Voice” in my earlier entries. And that is how I can safely say, I am not IT. The only thing I’ve got going for me is my age and even that is deceitful in my podcast.
But, to listen to it click here.
Anyways, instead of telling you what is in my podcast, I thought I’d tell you about the Jordan Schnitzer Museum. The “Jordan” as I am affectionately calling it, is technically the local museum.
In his book, Priceless Heritage, author Ian Finlay states, “the words ‘local museum’ have an almost apologetic ring about them. They conjure up memories of neglected little buildings, of venture born perhaps of the nineteenth-century passion for improvement, the initial momentum and the contents of which have been deteriorating ever since.”
However, the Jordan (doesn’t it have such a hip, but yet sophisticated sound to it?) is nothing like that of Finlay’s “local museum.” According to a Register Guard article, “The museum reopened two years ago after a $14 million renovation.” Need I say more? After a $14 million dollar face job anything is more than just a “local museum.”
The Jordan is one of only 81 university art museums nationwide accredited by the American Association of Museums. And it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. So, don't overlook a place just because it's from your hometown or because you don't read about it everyday in the New York Times.
Give 'um a chance.
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” By Robert Frost
But, to listen to it click here.
Anyways, instead of telling you what is in my podcast, I thought I’d tell you about the Jordan Schnitzer Museum. The “Jordan” as I am affectionately calling it, is technically the local museum.
In his book, Priceless Heritage, author Ian Finlay states, “the words ‘local museum’ have an almost apologetic ring about them. They conjure up memories of neglected little buildings, of venture born perhaps of the nineteenth-century passion for improvement, the initial momentum and the contents of which have been deteriorating ever since.”
However, the Jordan (doesn’t it have such a hip, but yet sophisticated sound to it?) is nothing like that of Finlay’s “local museum.” According to a Register Guard article, “The museum reopened two years ago after a $14 million renovation.” Need I say more? After a $14 million dollar face job anything is more than just a “local museum.”
The Jordan is one of only 81 university art museums nationwide accredited by the American Association of Museums. And it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. So, don't overlook a place just because it's from your hometown or because you don't read about it everyday in the New York Times.
Give 'um a chance.
“Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.” By Robert Frost
Saturday, March 10, 2007
The Matter of Museums
In my last entry, I tried to touch on the importance of museums and art. I wanted to discuss “Do museums really matter? Can and do museums make a difference?” However, I feel that I didn’t do museums justice. I somehow, neglected them, and concentrated more on art that museums house and not on the museums themselves.
So, to make up for my shortcomings last time, I did more research. And it turns out that I am not the only one concerned with the importance and role of museums.
I searched high and low for the correct answers to these questions. However, like most questions of discussion like this one, there is not a clear answer. Everything seems debatable.
I’m sure if I searched for evidence to support the claim that “Humans need air to breathe”, I’d find articles that rebutted it.
Anyways, in his book, Making Museums Matter, author, Stephen Weil, doesn’t address this issue head-on either. Rather he makes the assumption that museums matter. But he then asks his own questions, “If museums do matter, if they can make a difference, to whom do they matter, and what are the differences that they might make? Who determines, and when, and how, whether they are, in fact, making those differences?”
Well, here is what I’ve got to say about his questions.
1. Museums matter to those who care.
2. Museums make a difference in experience, knowledge, and environment.
3. Everybody that is part of a culture determines a museum’s worth.
Anyways, that’s all for now. I’m sure one of you readers has something to say about my assertions- it’s just the way we are. REBUT and REFUTE!
“Museums are just a lot of lies, and the people who make art their business are mostly imposters. We have infected the pictures in museums with all our stupidities, all our mistakes, all our poverty of spirit. We have turned them into petty and ridiculous things.” By Pablo Picasso
So, to make up for my shortcomings last time, I did more research. And it turns out that I am not the only one concerned with the importance and role of museums.
I searched high and low for the correct answers to these questions. However, like most questions of discussion like this one, there is not a clear answer. Everything seems debatable.
I’m sure if I searched for evidence to support the claim that “Humans need air to breathe”, I’d find articles that rebutted it.
Anyways, in his book, Making Museums Matter, author, Stephen Weil, doesn’t address this issue head-on either. Rather he makes the assumption that museums matter. But he then asks his own questions, “If museums do matter, if they can make a difference, to whom do they matter, and what are the differences that they might make? Who determines, and when, and how, whether they are, in fact, making those differences?”
Well, here is what I’ve got to say about his questions.
1. Museums matter to those who care.
2. Museums make a difference in experience, knowledge, and environment.
3. Everybody that is part of a culture determines a museum’s worth.
Anyways, that’s all for now. I’m sure one of you readers has something to say about my assertions- it’s just the way we are. REBUT and REFUTE!
“Museums are just a lot of lies, and the people who make art their business are mostly imposters. We have infected the pictures in museums with all our stupidities, all our mistakes, all our poverty of spirit. We have turned them into petty and ridiculous things.” By Pablo Picasso
Friday, March 9, 2007
Art and Museums- Why Care?
Dear Readers,
Yes, it’s still just my little cousin and my boyfriend. But as this project is nearing its end, I’ve realized that I may have not addressed why the topic of museums even matters to us.
Why bother with art and the museums?
In her essay, “The Museums’ Future”, Juliet Styen states, “art has been ceded variously to culture, commerce, politics, values and to experience.” It is representative of us; our culture and our past and present. However, she also states, “museums are inevitably contradictory—as are the concerns of art exhibitions that are always ambiguous. On the one hand, they connote our need for conservation, inventories, and for history: on the other, our desire for novelty and the affirmation of our new experience of art.” Museums provide us with an education, an experience and hopefully a chance to react.
As Styen expresses, museums are products of conglomeration and dichotomies. No matter to what extent or how vastly, as culture changes, so does art. Take Pop Art for example. It stemmed from the aspects of popular culture that had a powerful impact on contemporary life. And according to the Encyclopedia Britannica “It was also iconoclastic, rejecting both the supremacy of the ‘high art’ of the past and the pretensions of other contemporary avant-garde art. Pop art became a cultural event because of its close reflection of a particular social situation and because its easily comprehensible images were immediately exploited by the mass media.” This exemplifies how art and the museums that store this art become important to us. It includes, culture, social commentary, and the media.
‘Til next time,
Son
“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” By Andy Warhol
Yes, it’s still just my little cousin and my boyfriend. But as this project is nearing its end, I’ve realized that I may have not addressed why the topic of museums even matters to us.
Why bother with art and the museums?
In her essay, “The Museums’ Future”, Juliet Styen states, “art has been ceded variously to culture, commerce, politics, values and to experience.” It is representative of us; our culture and our past and present. However, she also states, “museums are inevitably contradictory—as are the concerns of art exhibitions that are always ambiguous. On the one hand, they connote our need for conservation, inventories, and for history: on the other, our desire for novelty and the affirmation of our new experience of art.” Museums provide us with an education, an experience and hopefully a chance to react.
As Styen expresses, museums are products of conglomeration and dichotomies. No matter to what extent or how vastly, as culture changes, so does art. Take Pop Art for example. It stemmed from the aspects of popular culture that had a powerful impact on contemporary life. And according to the Encyclopedia Britannica “It was also iconoclastic, rejecting both the supremacy of the ‘high art’ of the past and the pretensions of other contemporary avant-garde art. Pop art became a cultural event because of its close reflection of a particular social situation and because its easily comprehensible images were immediately exploited by the mass media.” This exemplifies how art and the museums that store this art become important to us. It includes, culture, social commentary, and the media.
‘Til next time,
Son
“They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.” By Andy Warhol
Thursday, March 8, 2007
A Podcast 2- The Interpretation
In my last entry, I introduced to you my first podcast.
If you missed it, click here.
In it, I interviewed my own friends that are frequent museum visitors. They have been to many museums all over the world and appreciate them in different ways and for many different reasons.
Douglas Miriello grew up less than an hour away from New York City and his grandmother, Marilyn Bodek, is an artist. He was able to frequent the museums that I still hope to visit and that I have mentioned before; the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
My other interviewee, Emily, is a different story. She grew up in a smaller town and not nearly as close to the large city and its museums as Douglas did. However, she soaked up the museum scene on a trip to Europe.
Through the interview session we came to a realization: Not all museum experiences are enhanced with the use of technology. Or rather, the experience (with or without the use of technology) is determined by the viewer. Interpretation is what it’s about.
In the podcast Emily describes her trips to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the Rodin Museum in France. At these intimate locations she felt that the space and its surroundings were what made the visit unforgettable. While he found them informative, Douglas felt that the tours somehow restricted his own interpretation of the work.
So, folks, I’m sorry. I don’t have a clear answer for you. Whether technology and multimedia actually enhance a tour or detract from it, is only in the eye of the beholder (I couldn't help myself).
"Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art." By Ralph Waldo Emerson
If you missed it, click here.
In it, I interviewed my own friends that are frequent museum visitors. They have been to many museums all over the world and appreciate them in different ways and for many different reasons.
Douglas Miriello grew up less than an hour away from New York City and his grandmother, Marilyn Bodek, is an artist. He was able to frequent the museums that I still hope to visit and that I have mentioned before; the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
My other interviewee, Emily, is a different story. She grew up in a smaller town and not nearly as close to the large city and its museums as Douglas did. However, she soaked up the museum scene on a trip to Europe.
Through the interview session we came to a realization: Not all museum experiences are enhanced with the use of technology. Or rather, the experience (with or without the use of technology) is determined by the viewer. Interpretation is what it’s about.
In the podcast Emily describes her trips to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam and the Rodin Museum in France. At these intimate locations she felt that the space and its surroundings were what made the visit unforgettable. While he found them informative, Douglas felt that the tours somehow restricted his own interpretation of the work.
So, folks, I’m sorry. I don’t have a clear answer for you. Whether technology and multimedia actually enhance a tour or detract from it, is only in the eye of the beholder (I couldn't help myself).
"Love of beauty is taste. The creation of beauty is art." By Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
A Podcast- The Technicals
Dear Readers,
First, listen to my podcast here!
In this entry, I am going to delight you with a podcast. It is my very first one, so I apologize for any mistakes I make or any rough spots you may stumble upon. This was done without a fancy microphone or much editing. However, I wanted to demonstrate the wide spectrum of podcasts, especially those concerning museums that are out there. Podcasts like my own and that of the Pez Museum are done without professional help. On the flip side there are institutions, such as, the Museum of the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian, China or even the Vatican that hire audio-tour professionals, such as, Antenna Audio.
According to Forbes writer, Missy Sullivan, in 1987 Antenna Audio, “the unknown Sausalito, Calif. Company, was trying to crack the audio-tour market for museums, historic sites and cultural attractions.” They were “up against Manhattan-based Acoustiguide, which had a virtual monopoly in the business since the late 1950s.”Acoustiguide is still in the running, according to its website, it’s client list still includes many world-wide attractions.
The point of this is, podcasts and audio tours will always differ. Professionals like Acoustiguide and Antenna Audio offer services that out-of-home podcasts couldn’t. One important advantage is the language capabilities. I can barely create a solid one in English, let alone one in French or Mandarin. These guys have people all over the world and from all over the world. Therefore, they can create an audio tour in twenty different languages. However, with such professionals something could be lost too. Through at-home ones like my own, I may be able to connect better with my listeners or convey an emotion better with my voice.
Well, this was part 1 of my podcast entry. In the next one, I will be discussing the actual content of the podcasts and not just the boring facts and figures.
“Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.” By Roger Ebert
First, listen to my podcast here!
In this entry, I am going to delight you with a podcast. It is my very first one, so I apologize for any mistakes I make or any rough spots you may stumble upon. This was done without a fancy microphone or much editing. However, I wanted to demonstrate the wide spectrum of podcasts, especially those concerning museums that are out there. Podcasts like my own and that of the Pez Museum are done without professional help. On the flip side there are institutions, such as, the Museum of the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian, China or even the Vatican that hire audio-tour professionals, such as, Antenna Audio.
According to Forbes writer, Missy Sullivan, in 1987 Antenna Audio, “the unknown Sausalito, Calif. Company, was trying to crack the audio-tour market for museums, historic sites and cultural attractions.” They were “up against Manhattan-based Acoustiguide, which had a virtual monopoly in the business since the late 1950s.”Acoustiguide is still in the running, according to its website, it’s client list still includes many world-wide attractions.
The point of this is, podcasts and audio tours will always differ. Professionals like Acoustiguide and Antenna Audio offer services that out-of-home podcasts couldn’t. One important advantage is the language capabilities. I can barely create a solid one in English, let alone one in French or Mandarin. These guys have people all over the world and from all over the world. Therefore, they can create an audio tour in twenty different languages. However, with such professionals something could be lost too. Through at-home ones like my own, I may be able to connect better with my listeners or convey an emotion better with my voice.
Well, this was part 1 of my podcast entry. In the next one, I will be discussing the actual content of the podcasts and not just the boring facts and figures.
“Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you.” By Roger Ebert
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Our Living History
In my last entry, I introduced you to living museums. They encourage the preservation of objects of the present and past- for the future. It’s encouraging to think that artists don’t have to die before they are recognized or that buildings don’t have to be destroyed before their worth is acknowledged.
When I was seven, I lived in an ugly little house that I was more than excited to move out of. A few years ago, I drove by it just to find out that it had been demolished (Yes, that is how awful it was) and some office building stood in its place. To my surprise, I was sad. Any memory that I had made there was now entirely part of the past. There would be no way to trace back and show the physical location of where I first climbed a tree or where I first grew a sunflower.
My point is that I recognize the importance of living museums and of preserving the marvels around us. Andrew Reeves states, “Museums are redefining their role with active input from the community at large. As such, they become reflections of diversity, and often, places of cultural reconciliation.” They are beginning “to deal with living communities rather than contained collections, to address issues of future partnerships as opposed to past orthodoxies.”
What would you choose as your living history?
“We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world- or to make it the last.” By JFK
When I was seven, I lived in an ugly little house that I was more than excited to move out of. A few years ago, I drove by it just to find out that it had been demolished (Yes, that is how awful it was) and some office building stood in its place. To my surprise, I was sad. Any memory that I had made there was now entirely part of the past. There would be no way to trace back and show the physical location of where I first climbed a tree or where I first grew a sunflower.
My point is that I recognize the importance of living museums and of preserving the marvels around us. Andrew Reeves states, “Museums are redefining their role with active input from the community at large. As such, they become reflections of diversity, and often, places of cultural reconciliation.” They are beginning “to deal with living communities rather than contained collections, to address issues of future partnerships as opposed to past orthodoxies.”
What would you choose as your living history?
“We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world- or to make it the last.” By JFK
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