What I have learned!!

I have learned so much throughout this thesis process:
 First to not get downhearted when the original thesis idea does not work out. Second to talk to be very proactive in getting a new topic. About my actual topic, I have learned the history of the Diorama. How panorama paintings were the "first" types of immersive exhibition. And how the Diorama was the advance of this with more 3D elements.

I still need to know how Dioramas create a sense of place for visitors and what specific things in the diorama contribute to this.     

What I've Learned

Thesis is hard! My thesis project vision has changed so many times. I have found it difficult to find contemporary sources. Most pieces look at black hair in the larger scope of black society rather than targeted stories. I have also found that most academic papers on black hair are written by black men, which can be insightful but not as concentrated as I need. Looking on project muse has been a great help as I have found more contemporary pieces of women analyzing how black hair from societal and intellectual scope.

As of now, my goal for my thesis is to explore how black hair shapes black women through the scope of college students. My target demographic are college aged women that are apart of the new chapter "Campus Curls" on campus which explores natural hair and provides a safe space for black women. The end goal will be a transcribed oral history interviews that can be donated to the RIT archives. Black women and their experience on this campus is one that is extremely underrepresented and creating something that can be recorded and documented for future students is important!

What I've learned

I have found that the whole research process can be frustrating but that too is a part of the process. I find that it is not as flexible as I would like but at the same time that is what is keeping me on track. But I'm finding that its all rewarding because the scale is so huge and the topic is varying, I really enjoy communicating and discussing with all sorts of people during this process.

The topic that I've found the most interesting, is the whole global process of digitization. Since my topic is specifically on the Haudenosaunee, I'm finding that the commonalities between a lot of Indigenous cultures is that they are all given the resources, but they all cater the resources to what they need specifically. The most interesting topic is how the many cultures are choosing to display their own history. It's almost as if there is a revival of culture and their history into the mainstream.

I still need to find and research a lot more on the Haudenosaunee, specifically. But I'm finding a lot of interesting trends and possible changes in how we view our history that I really want to highlight. I want to bring into light how if you train and give a lot of these cultures the ability to tell their own history it changes how we view history as well as how we can more accurately depict it. I need to look more into the actual impact their digital presence is having on the world, but from what I've been finding its all been quite impact and freeing.

What's Next

Hello All,

I can't believe we're more than half way through the semester! Since our discussions in class about the literature review, I've been focusing on finding research that connects to my topic and slowly but surely bringing different pieces together. I am trying my best to find literature that links to each other and also finding the best way to insert my own opinion into my review.

I've mostly been focusing on the digital side of my research, examining articles/books that are reviewing the digital space and that center their argument on ideas like accessibility, digital tourism, digitization, and interactivity. I really want to know what participants are looking for when utilizing an online platform and what they seem to learn the most from. I was researching one article that discussed interactivity and how it can be used as a learning tool, promoting the idea of finding one's own learning path through the use of different materials. I've also been going through case studies. One was very helpful, and was a tour that could be accessed through a website from anywhere. This helped me to think about my own tour and the type of platform I wish to use when creating the space. I hope to find other examples that could help when thinking about what online platform I want to use and what could be the most easily accessible for my audience.

There is still material that I need to dive further into for my thesis, and will be my focus for the second half of my literature review. I would like to look at the bigger narrative for my project, how my work could be applicable for other organizations (i.e. how could smaller institutions use my methods to work on similar projects). I also would like to further examine what system I should use to pick the material I will be working with for the tour. Also how I frame these points in history when thinking about the 100th anniversary and what stories will be considered the "most important" or crucial  in the camp's history to those who will be viewing the site/digital space.

Post #5: The Light of Knowledge Shone Upon the Topic

Before saying what I have learned, I'll start with restating my research question, which has been recently revised, “How can African and Asian museums identify the European influences within their professional practices, deconstruct those influences, and form new models that better serve to reaffirm their native cultures?” Firstly, I have learned that Non-European museums are more willing to tackle controversial topics related to imperialism than European museums. For example, even in the French overseas territory of Reunion Island, in the planned Maison des Civilisations et de l’Unité Réunionnaise (MCUR), the staff was prepared to interpret the history of slavery on the island. Secondly, Non-European museums tend to interpret native cultural patrimony and ethnographic objects differently than European museums traditionally do. European museums have displayed these cultural objects as primitive or in such a way as to imply that the cultures that produced them are historical rather than modern. Museums in the countries/territories themselves, however, interpret their cultural objects as part of an ongoing story about the people -- the past informs both the present and the future. They want to distance themselves from a view that their cultures are primitive or dead.

Thirdly, I have learned about some of the challenges museums face in Africa and Asia. The MCUR was never ultimately created because of political backlash from the French mainland. Funding is a big problem in developing countries, where the central government does not have much money to spare to support cultural institutions. In recently independent countries, many museums face the struggle of convincing the public that they are no longer puppets of the former imperialist governments. Local communities often distrust museums because of the theft and appropriation of their cultural artifacts, and the apparent pandering to tourists. The National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) is attempting to counteract these historical tensions and build relationships with communities by establishing "community museums" that promote local culture, including arts, language, and crafts. Because of the NMMZ's decolonizing efforts and culture affirmation, I have chosen one of their community museums, the BaTonga Community Museum as my case study.

I still need to learn about the sociological/anthropological reasons why it is important for a cultural group to have agency over the presentation of their own culture. It could also be interesting to look more into why communities distrust institutions. There may be some psychological and political aspects there. I also have to do more research about the history of European globalization and colonization, especially of the British in Zimbabwe.

Blog Post 5: Feelin Good!

Hey y'all, long time no see!

It's week 9 and progress is definitely being made. I have both my advisors locked in and I've started my story-board. Right now the story-board is just my research question and and some major topics i'm thinking of hitting on but its something!

I think for the first two weeks of my research I was spending too much time looking at language acquisition studies and discourse analysis studies and then I tried to mold my topic around that. I'm definitely branching out now after writing and revising my lit review. I feel like I have a much better idea of where my topic is going. I'm definitely going to focus less on language acquisition and more on language barriers, power structures, and communication through multiple modes. Within this I will be addressing the ways in which language use can alienate visitors. Two of these ways are high level language use and jargon in label copy, and the ways certain groups are talked about (i.e. are they being voyeuristic, oversimplifying, patronizing, paternalistic, or primitivist in any way). 

After meeting with my secondary advisor and doing my own research, I'm grounding my research in a socio-cultural direction and running with it. I need to do more research on things like code-switching, museum accessibility, and meta-discursive functions. Meta-discursive functions are basically how the language we use is interpreted by other people and then integrated.  An important part of meta-discursive functions is lexical indexing, meaning how we want people to interpret us through the way we speak. Focusing on these parts of linguistics will help me make my recommendations about language use changes that can happen in the museum. I'm excited for the next few weeks and the things I'm gonna learn in them! 

Blog post 5: what am I learning?

Hello, long time no write, but we're back and my thesis idea is stronger than ever!

Some updates before I delve into the prompt:

• I officially will be working with the Rochester Museum & Science Center (RMSC) to get objects for my program! I'm visiting and choosing the objects on Saturday, 11/2.
• My lit review is happening! It's not great, but we had a draft due last week that was 5 pages and used 7 sources. Baby steps, but progress nonetheless.

 So, since our lit reviews are coming along, I have been learning quite a bit about techniques and tricks for running programs, different statistics about adult learning, other projects similar to mine, and so on. For example, this afternoon I dove into sources I "stole" from my Muse Ed class from last fall, and I read about questioning strategies for getting students to arrive at an answer without just telling it to them. I also looked at some lesson plan templates and different verbs for describing outcomes. In one source, I read about how adult learning has 3 steps: acquiring knowledge, analyzing and reflecting on the knowledge, and applying the knowledge. The reflection part is apparently incredibly important, but something I would never have thought to include in my plan, so I'm glad I was able to find this source.

What do I still need to know?

Since I haven't picked out collection items yet, I still need to choose them. Once I know what I'm working with, I'll be able to construct a theme and research the facts behind the objects so that I am prepared to effectively facilitate a program about them. One of my sources said that adult learners expect the facilitator to be an expert on the subject, so I will have to be prepared for this and put in my research!
I also need to do a little more research on facilitating programs. While browsing the library stacks I came across a book that was supposedly a museum educator's handbook and I was incredibly excited to find it, but it didn't end up being that helpful. These are the two areas I'm going to concentrate future research on!

Some Revision has occurred

My thesis will be on the repatriation of non-native artifacts in small museums, 
more specifically, what should small institutions do when they do not reasonably 
have the funds to send objects back to their homes? What kinds of obligations do 
they have to these objects in regard to their care and exhibition? What can they do 
to best pay respects to these objects? With all the technology of the modern age, 
what options does this open up for them moving forward?

Using The Cazenovia Library as a case study, I will look into what museums have 
been doing with objects like these. I will be Researching not only what the Library 
has been doing with this item already, but also look to create a plan/proposal that c
an be implemented within the space to make the history of the objects transparent 
and respectful towards their origin country. Part of my plan will be to look into 
digital solutions to the situation on what can be done to further increase the 
transparency and knowledge about the items of this specific collection and 
how similar ideas could be implemented in other institutions facing a similar situation.

Sources:

David Maurice Smith, Tony Perrottet. “A 42,000-Year-Old Man Finally Goes Home.” 
Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian Institution. Accessed September 26, 2019.
 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/mungo-man-finally-goes-home-180972835/?
fbclid=IwAR0_PgbGW1y6B4p00sUbTPYVqUoeX_R23QFOGtkkzE6CmqKfIvltU1ClD
rY#xlj2Pjw7mFI2G0Ij.01.

This article talks about the history and discovery of Aboriginal human remains in 
Australia and the history of these remains being taken away and the more 
recent movement to give them back -- specifically highlighting the return of
 the “Mungo Man”-- one of the oldest human skeletons in good condition -- to the aboriginal people for reburial.

For my research, it doesn’t quite hit exactly what I'm looking for but I can still
 see value in it. Admittedly I’m looking very specifically at objects being returned 
over large distances whereas this one was occurring on the same continent, however, 
this article does provide some really good thoughts and narrative on why we repatriate 
and the impact of taking and returning that can be of use to me in setting up aspects of my thesis.

Green, Jack. "General Treatment: Museums as Intermediaries in Repatriation." 
Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies 5, no. 1 (2017): 
6-18. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/649728.

This article focuses on the repatriation efforts of a couple of different case studies of 
larger museums returning artifacts to Mediterranean countries.

This article has the potential to be very useful for me, doing a quick read through, 
I can already so in the conclusion section of the paper them talking about efforts that 
Museums can make in regards to these kinds of objects and beginning to open 
conversations up about smaller-scale museums in this sort of conversation.
 I should be able to use that to bring in some initial ideas of what steps small museums should be taking.

Day, Jasmine. "‘Thinking Makes it so’: Reflections on the Ethics of Displaying 
Egyptian Mummies." Papers on Anthropology 23.1 (2014): 29-44. ProQuest. Web. 26 Sep. 2019.

This article primarily focuses on the ethics of displaying human remains like the 
mummy in public locations, tackling both sides of the argument, being for and against it.

Considering I’m considering avenues of using technology to do make information 
on the mummy back home more transparent to the people who visit them this could 
offer me some insight on what sorts of things to be considerate of and push for in 
regards to what more exactly to do.

Cuno, James. "Culture War: The Case Against Repatriating Museum Artifacts." 
Foreign Affairs Nov 2014: 119,124,126-V. ProQuest. Web. 26 Sep. 2019 .

Cuno’s article is an argument against the repatriation of museum objects, claiming that 
returning artifacts help create a narrow sense of identities rather than and instead by 
maintaining these objects in their collections and on display they are creating ideas of
 pluralism, diversity, and the idea of a larger shared culture. Instead of giving in to calls for 
repatration they should encourage mutually beneficial relationships.

While I certainly don’t agree with the ideas of Cuno here, I do think it is beneficial to
 look at opposing viewpoints on repatriation if in my thesis I am entering that domain of conversation.

Revision Be Like !

Research Question: 

What can the education system implement into their curriculum to educate students on mental health?

My thesis will focus primarily on New York’s Education system, and take data from Rochester based school districts. 

My research will see what resources if any, schools have in place for their students to use when it comes to their mental health. I will include focus areas on; what is required by New York State’s Board of Education when it comes to teaching about mental health, when schools implement these requirements into their curriculum and where/how they go about it, see how access to resources, funding, and location of the school affects how they tackle this problem and ways the state can improve this.

I will take data from the school district on what students think of what the school is doing by surveying classes in multiple schools about the topic of mental health and see the baseline of what they know, what the school has taught them, and if the school itself helps them in a way they feel is adequate.

The point of my research-based thesis is to find ways to improve the curriculum on mental health in secondary education based upon research in psychology, and medical-based facts.

Sources:

1. Board of Education, New York State. “Mental Health Education Literacy In Schools: LINKING TO A CONTINUUM OF WELL-BEING,” July 2018, 1–78. http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/curriculum-instruction/educationliteracyinschoolsfinal.11.2018.pdf.

2. Reinke, Wendy M., Melissa Stormont, Keith C. Herman, Rohini Puri, and Nidhi Goel. 2011. "Supporting Children's Mental Health in Schools: Teacher Perceptions of Needs, Roles, and Barriers." School Psychology Quarterly 26 (1): 1. https://ezproxy.rit.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/862146515?accountid=108.

3. Atkins, Marc S., Kimberly E. Hoagwood, Krista Kutash, and Edward Seidman. 2010. "Toward the Integration of Education and Mental Health in Schools." Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research37 (1-2): 40-47. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10488-010-0299-7. https://ezproxy.rit.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/742995414?accountid=108.
4. Specht, Jacqueline A. 2013. "Mental Health in Schools: Lessons Learned from Exclusion." Canadian Journal of School Psychology 28 (1): 43-55. https://ezproxy.rit.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/1449795363?accountid=108.

Revised Topic Discussion

Research Question: Through the use of interactivity, can online guided tours create a meaningful experience and allow participants to easily move about the digital space?

To promote interconnectivity I would like to introduce an online guided tour for the 100th year anniversary of Camp Kawanhee, connecting those who cannot be at the reunion to the camp, and promoting the historic milestone that the area is celebrating. The online guided tour would be centered on a map, providing a useful way for individuals to move about the space, and recognize areas from the past. The map would enable the experiencer to be taken through a digital tour, that allows visitors to look through photographs, audio, and archival material in the hopes of simulating an experience that reminds them of camp life. The map would look at both the past and present in an effort to replicate changes made over time. My research question centers on how these interactives play a role in digital tourism, and how the material presented makes a strong personal connection between the “visitor” and the digital space, creating a more authentic and impactful experience. 

By utilizing ArcGIS, I will create an interface, where participants are able to easily review various mediums, while also remembering and reflecting on the camp site. Reviewing where past activities were and where they are now, and listening to well known individuals at camp discuss their own memories, allowing for nostalgia and wistfulness to take hold. Connecting individuals to a place that they are not able to visit at that time. 

__________________________________________________________

Sources: 

1. Benyon, David, Aaron Quigley, Brian O’Keefe, and Giuseppe Riva. “Presence and Digital Tourism.” Ai & Society 29, no. 4. 2013: 521–29.
1. This reading provides insight on how digital tourism blends with physical material, and provides a definition and introduction to what the authors define as digital tourism. 
2. "Digital Huntsville, AL, History Tour Offers 24/7 Online, Guided Tour of City Center." PRWeb Newswire 6 Oct. 2014. Business Insights: Essentials. Web. 21 Sept. 2019.
1. This is a great example of a project that is similar to the one I would like to do. The tour is guided and includes photographs and other archival material. 
3. Grau, Oliver, ed. Museum and Archive on the Move : Changing Cultural Institutions in the Digital Era. Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, Inc, 2017. 
1. This article reviews how the digital space has impacted cultural heritage. I thought it would be interesting to note the different thoughts about digitization of archival material and other artifacts for my thesis. 
4. Kennedy, Michael. “Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS: a Workbook Approach to Learning GIS. Hoboken.” NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2013.
1. This will help to guide my work in ArcGIS. The source provides information on the system and explains different features that users are able to access. 
5. Schoenau-Fog, Henrik. Interactive Storytelling 8th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling, ICIDS 2015, Copenhagen, Denmark, November 30 - December 4, 2015 ; Proceedings. Cham: Springer, 2015.
1. This reading had a number of articles that spoke to the topic of interactive storytelling, which I think might be an important part of my own thesis. Individuals can connect with the story and be able to share their own thoughts.

Blog Post #4: Revised Statement of Topic, Research Question, and Sources

Research Question: How can digital memory capture add context to and increase emotional accessibility at an existing public memorial site? 

________________________________________________________________

Paragraph Statement of Topic: 

(Biographical/Historical Note) 

On March 1, 2006, Trooper Andrew J. Sperr was killed during a routine traffic stop in the town of Big Flats, NY. Unbeknownst to Trooper Sperr, the vehicle he had stopped contained suspects from a bank robbery that had just occurred nearby. He was able to wound both suspects, which aided in their later arrest, before succumbing to his wounds on-site.

Out of tragedy, something beautiful was created: the site where Trooper Sperr lost his life was quickly transformed into Sperr Memorial Park. The park, notable for its two stocked bodies of water and scenic walking trail, has become a popular site for both public reflection and recreation. Many believe that Trooper Sperr, who was an avid outdoorsman, would be delighted to know that his legacy lives on in this manner.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Sperr Memorial Park operates as a locus of public memory surrounding the life and legacy of Trooper Andrew J. Sperr, as well as the other fallen members of law enforcement memorialized on-site. This project was born of the earnest desire to tap that memory font before it is lost to the desensitizing pressures of time.

Through the use of an app-enabled audio tour, visitors to Sperr Memorial Park will be able to access the public memories surrounding Trooper Sperr in an unprecedented way. App users will be invited to listen to stories from Trooper Sperr's friends and loved ones, and will also be afforded the opportunity to share memories of their own. It is hoped that through the app's creation of increased emotional accessibility, that the users' understanding of public memorials will be both informed and transformed by their experiences at Sperr Memorial Park.
____________________________________________________________________________
Sources
Dickinson, Greg, Carole Blair, Brian L. Ott, and John Louis Lucaites. Places of Public Memory: The Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials. Tuscaloosa, UNITED STATES: University of Alabama Press, 2010. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rit/detail.action?docID=565716.

Doss, Erika. Emotional Life of Contemporary Public Memorials: Towards a Theory of Temporary Memorials. Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, THE: Amsterdam University Press, 2008. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rit/detail.action?docID=419805.

Hamilton, Paula, and Linda Shopes. Oral History and Public Memories. Philadelphia, UNITED STATES: Temple University Press, 2008. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rit/detail.action?docID=368716.

Papailias, Penelope. “Witnessing in the Age of the Database: Viral Memorials, Affective Publics, and the Assemblage of Mourning.” Memory Studies 9, no. 4 (October 1, 2016): 437–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698015622058.

Tumblety, Joan. Memory and History: Understanding Memory As Source and Subject. London, UNITED KINGDOM: Routledge, 2013. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rit/detail.action?docID=1170329.

Post #4: Repentance (Revised Statement of Topic)

My research question is, "How can African and Asian museums identify the European influences on their professional practices, techniques, and standards, deconstruct those influences, and form their own models of practice?" For the purposes of my research, I will define practices to include curation, exhibition design, interpretation, education, architectural design, and administration. For ideologies, I will include the valuation of art, selection of subject matter, judgement of what is appropriate to be preserved or accessioned, what should be displayed and how, and other topics. The ideologies of a museum inform its practices, and the standardization of practices can further endorse the ideologies. The themes I plan to explore in my research are European imperialism, globalization, and decolonization. In order to narrow the scope of my research, I will select one African or Asian museum to use as a case study. I will also examine global museum trends and trends within the country in which the case institution is located. The ideal case study candidate would be a museum that has a staff and administration that largely consists of people of color who are native to the country.

Sources:

• Ford, Caroline. “Museums after Empire in Metropolitan and Overseas France.” The Journal of Modern History 82, no. 3 (2010): 625–61. https://doi.org/10.1086/654828.

I will use this essay to research the relationship between French museums and museums in France's former colonies, including the socio-political tension created by French's possession of art acquired during the colonial period.

• Wandibba, Simiyu. "Museums in Africa." In Media and Identity in Africa, edited by Kimani Njogu and John Middleton, 245-57. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1r2b0x.24.

This text is a useful source for information about museums in pre-colonial Africa and the transformation to a European model during and after colonialism.

• Mawere, Munyaradzi, and Genius Tevera. “Zimbabwean Museums in the Digital Age: A Quest to Increase Museum Visibility in Public Space through Social Media.” In African Museums in the Making: Reflections on the Politics of Material and Public Culture in Zimbabwe, edited by Munyaradzi Mawere, Henry Chiwaura, and Thomas Panganayi Thondhlana, 247–68. Mankon, Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, 2015. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9vwmh.13.

I will use this chapter to research how some African museums use engagement techniques compared to European museums.

• Mawere, Munyaradzi, and Tapuwa R. Mubaya. “‘A Shadow That Refuses to Leave’: The Enduring Legacy of Colonialism in Zimbabwean Museum Governance.” In African Museums in the Making: Reflections on the Politics of Material and Public Culture in Zimbabwe, edited by Munyaradzi Mawere, Henry Chiwaura, and Thomas Panganayi Thondhlana, 137–62. Mankon, Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, 2015. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9vwmh.9.

The chapter will provide insight into how museums in Zimbabwe endeavor to decolonize their administrations in order to become socio-politically relevant to the Zimbabwean public, as well as tourists.

Blog Post 4: Revision

Research Question:

How did the Haudenosaunee people cultivate a digital presence as it pertains to preservation as well as dissemination of their culture?

Research Paragraph: My topic that I want to explore is what are Indigenous groups in New York doing to maintain a digital presence? I really want to look at how smaller and much less budget heavy institutions, keep up in the digital landscape. More specifically the Haudenosaunee people. When I talk about the digital landscape I'm talking about both preservation, conservation, and protection of their cultural objects. This is also coupled with how they keep their voices loud and heard on the internet as that is where our society is drifting towards, online. I really want to explore not only the evolution of some of these tactics, but also where the trends are pointing to as a next step or where the digital goals are actually leading to. I also want to explore the idea of how these cultures in particular view digital preservation, as it has many benefits but also a lot of what we view as solutions in the modern museum, often will not suffice with their beliefs and goals as they do face different challenges than some of our more familiar cultures. They also have some similarities that I feel should be highlighted.

Sources:

1) Plocky, Florance Dedzoe-Dzokotoe. "The Role of Ghana Public Libraries in the Digitization of Indigenous Knowledge: Issues and Prospects." 2014. June. Journal of Pan African Studies. Volume 6 Issue 10. 

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.rit.edu/docview/1553380494/fulltextPDF/AFDA07B76F404B25PQ/1?accountid=108

2) Koch, Gertraud "Digitzation: theories and concepts for empirical cultural research" 2017. July 7. Taylor and Francis.

https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rit/detail.action?docID=4891025

3) Nicholas, Herriman "Management of Biodiversity: Creating Conceptual Space for Indigenous Conservation" 2017. Journal of Ecological Anthropology. Volume 19 Issue 1. 

https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.rit.edu/docview/2117320202?pq-origsite=summon

4) Multiple Editors and Authors "Digitisation of Culture: Namibian and International Perspectives"2018. May 10. Springer, Singapore. 

https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.rit.edu/book/10.1007%2F978-981-10-7697-8

oh yeah, its all coming together

Carmen Lopez

Revised topic paragraph

Research question: Are dioramas and miniature models still a good medium for a museum to use or are they a thing from the past?

In this revision of my project, I have focused more on the use of dioramas and miniature models in the exhibition space, rather than specifically looking at how to exhibit paper theatres. I would still develop my project hinging on the paper theatres at Geva, but I would be looking at a bigger range of replica models that museums use in exhibitions spaces. I also want to discuss the idea of some dioramas being extremely inaccurate and this possibly making them be a dying museum trend. My project would be an investigation of dioramas made to represent actual size things, miniature dioramas and taxidermy, to see if they have an educational use. “The Cinema as Taxidermy: Carl Akeley and the Preservative Obsession” is an article that is speaking about the history of dioramas, specifically looking at the work of Carl Akeley. “Postmortem Exhibitions: Taxidermy Animals and Platinated Corpses in the Theaters of the Dead” is addressing the problem some visitors have with taxidermy and displaying dead remains.  “A Window on the World—Wildlife Dioramas” is a book discussing the dioramas in the American Museum of Natural History. “Learning With: ‘What’s Wrong with This Diorama? is an article talking about the case study of the American Museum of Natural History’s diorama depicting the Lenape indigenous tribe. And how the museum is now using its inaccurate historical details as a tool, to teach people the true history.

Alvey, Mark. “The Cinema as Taxidermy: Carl Akeley and the Preservative Obsession.” Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media 48, no. 1 (February 8, 2007): 23–45. https://doi.org/10.1353/frm.2007.0000.

Desmond, Jane. “Postmortem Exhibitions: Taxidermied Animals and Plastinated Corpses in the Theaters of the Dead.” Configurations 16, no. 3 (2008): 347–78. https://doi.org/10.1353/con.0.0062.

  

Morris, Pat. “A Window on the World—Wildlife Dioramas.” In Natural History Dioramas: History, Construction and Educational Role, edited by Sue Dale Tunnicliffe and Annette Scheersoi, 33–37. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9496-1_4.

Engle, Jeremy. “Learning With: ‘What’s Wrong With This Diorama? You Can Read All About It’: Article of the Day.” New York Times (Online); New York, March 22, 2019. http://search.proquest.com/docview/2195092040/abstract/9B42DB19727846E5PQ/1.

Blog post 4: revised topic paragraph

As the semester marches on, my topic grows ever narrower and more focused. Since last week's post I have been in contact with Solstice, the senior living community I plan to work with. I have also reached out to the Strong Museum of Play, yet have not heard anything from them as of the time I published this post. Once I secure a collection to work from, I will be able to further narrow my topic and outline, broadly, some lesson goals and themes I want to accomplish with my project.

Research Question: How can museums facilitate effective object-based learning 
programs for independent living community residents?

With the baby boomer generation approaching retirement and the average age of Americans increasing, 
industries must evolve to serve the growing 55+ population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, "1 
in every 5 (U.S.) residents will be retirement age" by 2030.¹ A larger aging population means more 
people living in nursing homes, assisted living, and independent living communities. 

Traditionally, museum education has focused on school children, and more recently 
programming has branched out to include 21+ events as well. Now, however, is the time 
to expand our horizons even further and embrace museum education for all ages, especially 
for those who may not be able to visit the physical museum on their own. We have one 
decade before 20% of the population is eligible for retirement, and we must plan for this change 
in demographics in order to be prepared for the shift in visitorship.

My project will act as a bridge between a Rochester-area museum and the Solstice Senior Living 
community in Fairport, NY. I hope to create a lesson plan which will utilize a teaching collection 
chosen to both spark memories from the past and teach the residents something new. I will implement 
the program sometime in early spring semester. Following the program, I will reflect on the effectiveness
of it and make recommendations based on my experiences for those wishing to host a similar program 
in the future.

Cited: 

¹ Bureau, US Census. “Older People Projected to Outnumber Children.” 
The United States Census Bureau. Accessed September 23, 2019

Other sources I will be using:

Smiraglia, Christina. "Qualities of the Participant Experience in an Object-Based Museum 
Outreach Program to Retirement Communities." Educational Gerontology 41, no. 3 (2015): 238-248.

"Case Studies: Museum Programs for Older Adults." Roundtable Reports 9, no. 4 
(1984): 9-13. http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.rit.edu/stable/40478630.

Morrell, Roger W., and Katharina V. Echt. "Presenting Information to Older Adults."  
The Journal of Museum Education 26, no. 1 (2001): 10-12. 
 http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.rit.edu/stable/40479197.

“September 2019 Activities Calendar.” Solstice Senior Living, n.d. Accessed 
September 16, 2019. https://solsticeseniorlivingfairport.com.