Soul Searching in Amsterdam

I know you all are dying to learn more about museums and the technology they use, but I think I’ve dragged it on too long- at least for now. For the next couple of entries, I will be talking about my own experiences with museums and how the technologies they’ve used have kept me interested.

This past summer, I did some “soul searching” for four days. I was visiting my mom in northern England with not much to do except for cleaning out her refrigerator. I eventually grew restless. So, I found the cheapest ticket to a nearby tourist location. I “ended up” (trust me, that is not a complaint) going to Amsterdam- all alone.

Now let me tell you, traveling alone to a foreign country is everything you imagined and then some. I was the biggest loser. I was out of bed and on my way by about 8:oo am every morning. Needless to say, I was finished most days by 3:30 or 4:00. I was the first one in line at the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum. Well, that is a tiny bit of an exaggeration. I wasn’t the first, but I was there in line before they opened, waiting anxiously with my fellow museum dweebs.





Of the three museums; the Anne Frank House, the Rijksmuseum, and the Van Gogh Museum, I was captivated the most by the Anne Frank House. Unlike the other two, it did not offer PDA tours; instead it used technology in a different way. Documentary style footage was on view in rooms, readings from her diary were being played throughout and at the very end, virtual tour stations were set up for the visitors to discover more about Anne and the Frank family.



Maybe it is the extremely emotional side of me, but I was nearly in tears by the end of the visit. There were too many audio and visual elements that evoked emotion. Without them, I doubt it would have been the same experience. It was then when I realized how much we all depend on our senses to appreciate or to react. And this is another example of how technology can be used in museums to enhance the experience.

Folks, this was a long one. I apologize.

“Oh, I am so glad I brought you along.” By Anne Frank

Museum Technology- Right in Your Backyard

Dear Bloggers,

FYI: I’m starting something new today. In every entry, I am going to include a quote about art. Or a quote by an artist. Let’s just say, I’m looking for a little inspiration.

With the exception of the Pez Museum, all the previously mentioned museums are big name and well-known museums in big cities. However, readers beware that museums with this kind of technology are not far from reach.

For the University of Oregon students in Eugene, Oregon, it is right there on campus- at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum. The university’s paper, the Oregon Daily Emerald, reports “dozens of art exhibits are now more than a visual experience. Thanks to a year-long project - and a lot of work by a University student - visitors at the museum can experience art through their ears. On Feb. 14, the museum began offering its visitors audio podcasts called ‘I-Tours’ that explain background information on many of the art pieces, the architecture of the building or exhibits as a whole.”



To listen to a podcast from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum, click here.

In an upcoming entry (I am not exactly sure when), I will delight you with my very own unauthorized tour of an exhibit at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum. So, I hope you will listen to this one and the one that I will be posting.

Anyways, the point of my entry today is not to be afraid of museums. And not to view them just as places you visit as a tourist. Explore the museums that are near you. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Well, that’s it for now.

-Son

“I do not seek. I find.” By Pablo Picasso

Who am I Speaking With?

Some of my readers, and by that I mean my boyfriend and my eleven-year-old cousin, have expressed some confusion over my use of the term “Voice.” Much like the creation of a television show, the creator of a podcast must choose a voice.

Now what do I mean by voice?

In this case, the actual voice used determines the seriousness of the exhibit as well as the audience that exhibit is attempting to attract. If a museum is looking for a younger, hipper crowd, then the voice in the podcast may include hints of sarcasm, humor, some more recent music, and often times, some visual effects.

This is clearly seen in Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe’s podcast of The Last Supper.



Click here to watch!

In his podcast, Mr. Witcombe is informative, interactive, and fun to watch. His voice targets the younger generation. This generation, accustomed to technology of all sorts, needs more than just narration. They need effects, quick wit, and humorous commentary. In many ways, in these podcasts, the information given about the piece being discussed is almost secondary.

On the other end of the podcast spectrum, we have something like the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.



This voice is clearly targeting the more mature and probably savvy museum audience. The narrator speaks with a professorial voice. He is not reliant on anything other than the information he can provide about the exhibit being discussed. Most likely this voice would not be as effective with Mr. Witcombe’s audience.

Interested? Click here to listen.

I hope that this has cleared up some of the confusion surrounding the role of the “voice” in podcasts.

A Challenge for the Museums

Museums understand or should understand the potential threat that the previously mentioned unauthorized podcasts carry. They can threaten the image of the museum or turn potential visitors away from the museum.

That is why museums like SFMOMA and other bigwig museums are paying much detail to what image they are creating through their podcasts. People of all ages are experiencing and taking advantage of these new technological opportunities. However, keeping image in mind, the above-mentioned museums are targeting a younger audience through their podcasts.

According to a Denver Post article written by Steven Rosen and published on July 4, 2006 “more than 20 million Americans 18 and older have Apple iPods or other digital music players. And because the iPod revolution has been youth-driven, the challenge for museums is to make podcasts less didactic and one-dimensional than traditional on-site audio tours.”

Understanding these statistics, the SFMOMA’s Peter Samis (associate curator of interpretation) chose to not use formal voice-over professional- it sounded “too professional.” Instead, another more informal voice was chosen. However, Samis says, “It’s still a little bit more than what we want. We’re not looking for Mr. Museum Voice. Not Charlton Heston.”




For those of you like me who don’t know who Charlton Heston is, click!

Anyways, back to “The Voice.”

Click here to listen to this month's SFMOMA artcast.

This goes to show that it’s always important to keep in mind who your audience is. In my next entry I will talk about another case of “The Voice.” This one however, puts statistics aside and sticks to tradition. Which one is better? Well, you can be the judge of that.

Unauthorized Podcasts- The Dirt

Dear Readers,

I know I left you high and dry after my last entry. So dry, that according to some of my readers, it made it hard to breathe. Moving on, the topic for today is unofficial or unauthorized podcasts for museums.

These unauthorized podcasts are very useful for the lay museum goer. They provide a basic, honest, and often humorous interpretation of the art being viewed. It is not unusual to hear a reviewer say something like, “I didn’t like the modernist art section because I felt that the whole dot-on-the-canvas thing was stupid.” For those just looking for a nice day at the museum, these podcats are quite helpful. This is not to say that the authors of such podcasts are uninformed. To say this would be an unfair statement.

The online magazine Slate has started its own unauthorized podcasts. “If you happen to be in New York (or plan to be soon), you can start right now with Slate art critic Lee Siegel's tour of what he considers the most overrated and underrated paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Modern Art Gallery.”

Click here to listen to one of Slate's unauthorized podcasts.

What makes podcats like Slate so useful, is that they have the ability to provide information that museums wouldn’t be caught dead sharing with you. Things like unflattering critiques on the “overratedness” of certain artists and their “incredible” works. Because these podcasts are not part of an official museum, they are able to act almost as a gossip column would. The readers are given the true, unadulterated info about each of the artists and/or their art.

Podcasting- Part II

Today’s blog will pick up where I left off last night.

A perfect example of a small budget museum using podcasts to send out their information is the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia. I mentioned this museum in my first blog. Here at the Pez Museum, owner and curator Gary Doss hosts the 49 minute long podcast tour of his collection. The podcast offers much more detail and historical information than what is available at the museum. While this homemade production is enjoyable it is by no means an exciting broadcast. But here’s the thing- it’s everywhere! There must be something to it. In all my research and all the websites that I’ve come across while doing this blog, the Pez Museum’s podcast has been discussed and credited many a time.

In case you are inclined to listen to the podcast from the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia here it is for your enjoyment.

In my previous entry I also mentioned San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s “Artcast.” Each month the museum highlights pieces of art and includes the voices of the curators, the artist and/or the visitors.

Here is an episode from this month.

There is one more interesting feature from SFMOMA’s Artcast section. They have something called the “Artcast Invitational.” This is a competition where anyone who is inclined and hopefully talented, enters their own unofficial podcast tour in hopes of being featured in a SFMOMA Artcast episode.

This leads me to my next topic of discussion- unofficial or unauthorized podcasts.

But you are going to have to wait until next time. I know, it’s a cliff hanger.

Podcasting and Artcasting

Today I will introduce to you “artcasting.”

Artcasting is a term coined by Peter Samis, an associate curator of interpretation at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. As you might have guessed, artcasting is used for describing podcasts about art! I really don’t understand our obsession with combining words and names for everything these days (Bradgelina and Bennifer), but here it is: artcasting. This is on a side note, but if I were to combine my name with my boyfriend’s it would be, Sonthony or Santhony- take your pick. Anyways, back to museums. Artcasting. Yes, artcasting.

This form of podcasting has an interesting beginning. Previously mentioned Randy Kennedy from the New York Times reports that, “in the spring of 2005, (when) a professor and a group of students at Marymount Manhattan College made waves by creating their own, unauthorized MP3 audio tour for the Museum of Modern Art.” At this point few museums recognized the potential of podcasting, but the power was soon realized. Since then it has taken off.

Podcasting works for a couple of reasons. For now I won’t go in depth. I will save that for a later entry. But for now, podcasting allows people to enjoy and learn about museums and their exhibits without being present. If he/she didn’t make it to the museum or it was all the way in London then the podcast allows he/she to still able to hear about it in detail. Many podcasts not only include the curator, but the artist themselves speaking about their work.

Another great aspect of podcasting is that it can be done on a smaller budget. So, smaller museums that don’t have the same resources as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art can still create their own podcast and have it available to the public.

Well, I must go for now.

But this is to be continued.

Navigating Your Way

Dear Bloggers,

Today’s entry serves as a sort of tool to the reader. I will be discussing various websites that will assist you in best finding your ideal museum (location, genre, current collection, etc.). Seeing as the focus of this Blog is to analyze the role that technology plays in the modern day museum, online databases regarding museums seem quite poignant.

If you’re seriously trying to plan a day at the museum, I’d advise doing your research before hand. This can range from calling the museum itself (which requires you to actually speak to someone, not to mention to already know where you’re going) to looking it up online. The latter option allows you to see what exhibits are being shown and when, view the location and travel time that it may take to get there, and peruse anything else that the site may have to offer. A great place to begin your search is USA Museums Database. Here, you can choose the state of your residence, the area you’re interested in visiting, and find a link that sends you directly to a selected museums direct website. It’s a huge time saver and is very easy to navigate.

Why is this necessary? Why cant you just go? Well, you can. Odds are, you’re always going to find something you like. In fact, we’ve all walked into our favorite museums at the right time and seen an outstanding exhibit that we hadn’t anticipated to see. However, this type of “off the street” luck is rare. In fact, in my experience it usually seems to work in the opposite direction. Tell me if this sounds familiar. You plan a day at the museum. You wake up early, in hopes of viewing the great exhibit you’ve heard so much about. Then you get there, and find out that the exhibit you’ve been so anticipating is tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or maybe just plain canceled.

Anyway, I found this to be of great help in my adventures to various museums. Take it or leave it.

See you again tomorrow,

Sonja

Multimedia & Museums: Its Beginning

As I’ve discussed and you have surely noticed, museum goers are becoming more and more in touch with technology. The finesse in which the 74-year-old grandmother and the college student mentioned in my last blog operate their PDAs may differ. However, no matter the type of crowd these little tiny handheld devices, such as PDAs and MP3 players, are flooding the museum scene. Why wouldn’t they? They enable viewers to learn more and experience more on the spot. But these multimedia experiences in museums did not just begin with the invention of the PDA. Like all things, they have a more humble beginning.

Just as the computers we carry in our backpacks today were originally larger than the average bedroom, multimedia tools in museums also had a less than attractive beginning. In his May 19, 2006 article New York Times writer, Randy Kennedy, reports that “in 1958 the National Gallery of Art in Washington embedded transmitters under its floorboards and handed out radio receivers so the electronically inclined could listen to something called LecTour.” LecTour was a audio guide of the masterpieces in the museum. However, it suffered from poor sound quality. And unless he/she was lucky, the museum goer would have to wait for the lecture to start over to hear it from the beginning.



In 1963 the Metropolitan Museum of Art introduced its version of the technology. The sound quality was improved, but it was heavier. Kennedy states that it was so large and heavy that it was “carried around with a leather shoulder strap.”

Imagine our 74-year-old grandmother who was then 30.

Then, fast forward 40+ years. It’s the same museum and the same masterpiece she's standing in front of. Only, she isn’t carrying the leather strapped radio around her shoulder, but a PDA that fits right in the palm of her hand.

It makes me wonder, how different things will be for us 40+ years from now.

Headsets in hand, the young come to learn

In today’s entry I will challenge the common notion that museums are both entertainment for the elderly as well as ancient relics themselves. When imagining a day at the museum, one might picture a grandmother of 74, taking a leisurely stroll through the MET with a pad of paper in one hand and a canvas-carrying bag in the other.

However true this notion may often be, museums today rarely reflect this image. Upon walking into the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, one is amazed by the expansive stone ceilings, the gigantic marble columns, and the presence of a young and bustling college-aged audience. The reasoning behind this is simple. Museums today offer an interactive experience for the viewer. No longer is one required to read the small print to the left of the masterpiece. The viewer is able to stand back, view the picture in its entirety, the way it was meant to be viewed, and simultaneously receive an auditory history of that very masterpiece.



This auditory and often visual convenience allows for people of all ages and different educational backgrounds to receive and enjoy an in depth view of the history behind the art they are observing. In the article, “MoMo: enabling hybrid museums”, J. Jaen discusses the integral function of personal digital assistants (PDAs) in today’s museums. Jaen states that PDAs allow museums the ability to “satisfy both visitors’ desires and the museum’s goal of spreading culture.”

Could this new and easy accessibility to knowledge be responsible for the young and engaged crowd? I’ll let you be the judge.

Getting Started: The Louvre and the Pez Museum

All across the world, there are museums of all sorts. The Louvre in Paris, France of course attracts a wide variety of people from art enthusiasts to tourists that feel they have to go simply because they are in Paris. And really, what’s a vacation to Paris without a trip to the Louvre?

While there’s the Louvre in Paris, there is the Burlingame Museum of Pez Memorabilia in Burlingame, California. Here, you can see and admire every Pez dispenser ever made. Although I, myself, am in no dire need to go visit the Pez museum, I image there is someone that would rather visit Burlingame, California’s Pez Museum than seeing the Mona Lisa in Paris.

However different and far away the Louvre and the Pez Museum are, they have something in common. They both use multimedia tools to enhance the museum. The Louvre offers a virtual tour of the galleries and exhibitions. And the Pez Museum has a podcast that walks you through the museum’s entire collection.

The Louvre and the Pez Museum are just two examples of how today’s museums are using tools such as, virtual tours and podcasts, to enhance and/or create the museum experience. For me, the podcast creates a sense of appreciation for the Pez Museum and now if I am ever in the area, I may be temped to go visit it. And while I am still crossing my fingers for my trip to Paris and the Louvre, for now the virtual tour offers me a glimpse of what I have to look forward to.

This blog, “Today’s Museums” will introduce and focus on multiple museums that use multimedia tools to enhance and/or create the museum experience. These tools can be used by those that are going, hope to go or are just interested in the wide range of museums that the world has to offer.

I hope you enjoy.