bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analysis of cytokine genes polymorphism as markers for inhibitor development in haemophilia A
Authors: Chaves D. , Belisário A. , Castro G. , Santoro M. , Rodrigues C.
Published: January 2010

Antibodies that block factor VIII (FVIII) activity appear in some haemophilia A patients treated with FVIII replacement therapy and severely impaired treatment. To date, the mechanisms that lead to this immune response are unknown. In this work, haplotypes of cytokine interleukin 10 (IL‐10) gene have been associated with the presence of FVIII inhibitors in a group of Brazilian haemophilia A patients. The coexistence of a haplotype defining high IL‐10 synthesis and one defining an intermediate production of cytokines is found to be associated with the group of patients who have a history of inhibitor development. Additionally, the coexistence of haplotypes defining high and low IL‐10 syntheses is strongly associated with the group of negative inhibitors. These results have shown that the simple association considering only the presence or the absence of a haplotype and the development of inhibitors in haemophilia A is not sufficient. Data obtained in this work sustain the idea that the genetic studies may partly explain why only approximately 25% of haemophilia A patients develop FVIII inhibitors. Other genetic issues and details of the protein replacement therapy should be considered to measure the chances of a patient to develop anti‐FVIII antibodies.
Invisible Branding
Authors: Levine Josh
Published: January 2010

For those whose eyes begin to glaze over at the very mention of brand, try thinking of reputation instead. And now here's a question: What influences your company's reputation? The correct answer is: Everything. And what you can't see or touch is just as important as what you can.
Storyboard Your Strategy: Think About, Design, and Measure the Whole Experience
Authors: Norton David W.
Published: January 2010

Sometimes, views of brand remind one of the blind men and the elephant—everyone sees only his or her piece of the whole. But there is one way of coaxing the business consultant, accountant, ad agency exec, and product designer to see the whole animal all at the same time.
It's Not What Design Is, It's What Design Does
Authors: Sharma Pradeep , Poole Dean
Published: January 2010

Sometimes, it's easier for small and medium‐size enterprises to make greater use of design in their operations than it is for larger organizations—they may be nimbler than their large competitors and often hope to find a better way to grow and transform their businesses. As evidence, these authors point to several New Zealand companies that are making a “designful” end run around the competition.
Moving Toward Innovation: Informal Science Education in University Natural History Museums
Authors: Diamond Judy
Published: January 2010

University natural history museums are in a strong position to assume leadership roles in informal science education. This will emerge through extensive experimentation, innovative educational practices, broad collaborations, and grantfunded programs. Higher expectations for cutting‐edge programs of outstanding quality create a climate in which striving for innovation becomes the norm.
Finding the Natural Interface: Graduate and Public Education at One University Natural History Museum
Authors: Cordell Linda S.
Published: January 2010

University natural history museums are much like their public museum counterparts, yet they differ in some important ways including how they are funded and staffed and how they serve their parent institutions. These circumstances provide some unique opportunities for university‐based natural history museums but they also present challenges, especially for their public education goals. While there are surely a variety of creative solutions for resolving these dilemmas, this article explores how the graduate program at the University of Colorado Museum may be seen as an example serving as an interface between diverse facets of the Museum and its several audiences and constituencies. The usefulness of the program as a model and as a means of training and nurturing future museum professionals is discussed.
A Synopsis and Perspective of Concerns and Challenges for the International Community of University Museums
Authors: Tirrell Peter B.
Published: January 2010

University museums and their collections are among the oldest and most significant in the world, yet their role and future is being questioned. They have critical needs for facilities, staff, and support. At risk are millions of objects that document our natural and cultural history and programs for research, teaching, and public education and exhibits. The museums are attempting to redefine, reposition, and clarify their educational mission. Museums such as the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural history are successfully meeting the challenges through strategic planning and funding for new facilities. Other museums are finding solutions with partnerships, links, and tailor‐made service programs. New leadership and management will need to emerge for university museums to reestablish their stature and relevance. Physical and intellectual access to the museums and their objects is a key to their future. The new technologies are tools that museums can use to improve their interpretive programs and increase the depth of their research. Facing shared concerns and challenges, the museums are generating a growning sense of collective urgency and a call for intenational organization, advocacy, and cooperation, resulting in formation of the International Committee for University Museums and Collections.
THE CHANGING NATURE OF MUSEUMS
Authors: Freedman Gordon
Published: January 2010

Abstract  This informal essay explores the changes natural history and science museums may encounter as their purpose, foundation, and patronage evolve from this histroical era to the next. The historical circumstances—scientific, social, and economic—that brought forth the great museums of the world no longer exist. In their place is a new public context that shifts attention from museums whose business is objects to organizations whose business is information. At the same time, the economic‐survival mechanism of museums is shifting from grand philanthropy to innovative development programs and market‐sensitive commercial endeavors. Meeting the needs of the next generations of visitors and cultivating the next generation of funders will not be simple. Massive changes in the social fabric of the nation will soon demand new kinds of institutions that play new roles in society. Museums that meet this challenge will not simply be competing with other sectors of society for public attention and funds. Future success will require the fundamental reinvention of museums so that their purpose is obvious and their mission is clearly aligned with the needs of future generations.
Raising Standards In Natural History Dioramas: The Background Painting of James Perry Wilson
Authors: Anderson Michael
Published: January 2010

Abstract  James Perry Wilson transformed the subjective methodology of diorama background painting into a more objective practice by replacing an emotional and interpretive model with one based on the science of optics and other supportable references. He also succeeded in creating an overall mood in each of his diorama paintings. This article documents the step by step process of Wilson's methods. Wilson's two methods for documenting the site chosen for the diorama were: a plein air field painting, and panoramic photographs. At the museum, he created a complete scale model of the diorama and its background, accurate in all aspects, though miniature. On the full‐scale diorama background, a charcoal underdrawing preceded the painting. The sky was painted first, next the horizon, then the mid‐range distances, and finally the foreground. Each stage increased in colorvalue contrast and in resolution of detail. Wilson's mastery is most evident in the “tie‐up,” where the painted background meets the three‐dimensional foreground.
Storytelling: The Real Work of Museums
Authors: Bedford Leslie
Published: January 2010

Abstract  This article examines the ways in which the narrative or story form generates personal connections between visitors and content and thus is ideally suited to the work of museums. Starting with a review of the qualities of narrative, the article provides specific examples of how stories and storytelling have worked in exhibitions, public programs and outreach to schools.
Museums, Public Service, and Funding: Today's Conundrum, Tomorrow's Partnership?
Authors: Butterfield Anne
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Museums have become adept at working with giving allies in foundations, corporations and government agencies who prefer to make grants for specific projects. This works well for discreet activities such as planning an exhibition, cataloguing a collection, or setting up a new store designed to eventually strengthen earned income. It even worked well as museums began to experiment with creating new products such as curriculum kits that would “reach out” to specialized audiences. However, truly providing museum‐wide public service for a broad audience and creating social capital in our communities is not a discreet project, therefore the project‐funding model can thwart the mutual goals museums and institutional funders are trying to achieve. This article explores the problem and suggests that museums work with philanthropic allies to find better ways to create and sustain true public service.
Working at Play: Informal Science Education on Museum Playgrounds
Authors: Chermayeff Jane Clark , Blandford Robert J. , Losos Carol M.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  This article discusses the importance of play in informal science education and the growth of science playgrounds as an international trend among museums to create safe, challenging outdoor environments that use play to explore the foundations of science.

Play is characterized by intrinsic motivation, active engagement, attention to means rather than ends, non‐literal behavior, and freedom from external rules, a means for acquiring information about and experiencing the environment. Successful exhibitions for children and families share these qualities and outdoor exhibitions encourage a degree of exploration and full‐body experience often not possible nor appropriate inside a museum.

Two case studies are provided as evidence of the importance of play in the interpretation and design of science playgrounds. The first, Science Playground at the New York Hall of Science (opened 1997), uses an interpretive strategy in which evaluation and remediation are continually incorporated into the educational process. Experimental workshops were conducted to observe children's intuitive uses of the physics‐based exhibits, uninhibited by any authoritative explanations. From this evaluation, the institution elected not to produce interpretive signage at each unit, but rather to develop a guide for visitors and one for educators that outline the exhibition's basic physics principles and encourage visitors to experiment and make connection to their own experiences.

The second case study, Exploration Park at Prisma, Zona Exploratoria de Puerto Rico in San Juan (opening 2002), outlines ten design criteria used to develop the playground. These include bringing together a diverse team to respond to institutional and audience needs, ages, interests, and cultural backgrounds; creating a specific sense of place, making use of the local environment and taking advantage of natural elements including water, soil, wind, and sun. Practical considerations of safety, materials, and prototyping are also addressed.

The article concludes with the idea of play as essential not only in child development, but also in development of successful outdoor science exhibitions.
Is There a Core Literature in Museology?
Authors: Rounds Jay
Published: January 2010

Abstract  While critics have often asserted that museology is underdeveloped as a discipline and lacks a “core literature,” no empirical evidence has been introduced to support this claim. A citation analysis of journal articles and books published over the past several years shows clear evidence that a core literature is in fact evolving in the field. Highly‐productive and influential authors are easily identifiable, as are seminal works that have received large numbers of citations by other authors. The majority of those highly‐cited works belong to the discipline of museology itself, and sizable numbers of influential publications cluster around key unifying themes.
A Wonder Lost or Wander Lust: Tourists Visit Monkeys in the Wild
Authors: Marsh Laura K.
Published: January 2010

A pilot study was conducted on tourists' behavior in the Community Baboon Sanctuary, Belize, where tourists observed the Central American black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra). The most visited site was a 1.25‐ha semi‐deciduous forest fragment surrounded by private homes and tropical pine savanna. Out of 83 visits by tour groups, nine were longer than 25 minutes and six were less than two minutes. Eliminating the high and low values, an average of 12 minutes was spent by tourists viewing the monkeys (range 4.0–25.0 minutes). By comparison, great apes in captivity are also viewed for an average of 12 minutes. Thus, tourists watch wild primates approximately as long as they watch captive ones. This study challenges researchers to further investigate in situ ecotourism as it relates to the broader conservation goals of zoos.
Children's Museum Experiences: Identifying Powerful Mediators of Learning
Authors: Anderson David , Piscitelli Barbara , Weier Katrina , Everett Michele , Tayler Collette
Published: January 2010

This article reports on a study of young children and the nature of their learning through museum experiences. Environments such as museums are physical and social spaces where visitors encounter objects and ideas which they interpret through their own experiences, customs, beliefs, and values. The study was conducted in four different museum environments: a natural and social history museum, an art gallery, a science center, and a hybrid art/social history museum. The subjects were four‐ to seven‐year old children. At the conclusion of a ten‐week, multi‐visit museum program, interviews were conducted with children to probe the saliency of their experiences and the ways in which they came to understand the museums they visited. Emergent from this study, we address several findings that indicate that museum‐based exhibits and programmatic experiences embedded in the common and familiar socio‐cultural context of the child's world, such as play and story, provide greater impact and meaning than do museum exhibits and experiences that are decontexualized in nature.
Gaining Visitor Consent for Research: Testing the Posted‐Sign Method
Authors: Gutwill Joshua P.
Published: January 2010

One method for studying visitors in museums is to audiotape their conversations while videotaping their behavior. Many researchers inform visitors of the recordings by posting signs in the areas under scrutiny. This study tests the assumptions underlying that method—that visitors notice, read, and understand such signs. Signs were posted at the entrance to an Exploratorium exhibit which was being audio‐ and videotaped. Researchers interviewed 213 adult visitors as they exited the exhibit. The interviews revealed that 75 percent of the visitors had read and understood the sign. Of the 52 visitors who had not, 8 reported that they felt bothered to some degree by the recordings being made. The implications of these results are discussed.
A History of Ways of Seeing the Land: Environmental History at the National Museum of Australia
Authors: Smith Mike
Published: January 2010

One of the distinctive features of the National Museum of Australia is the prominent role of environmental history in the Museum's programs and in its organizational structure. Environmental history is a field that operates best at the boundaries of science and the humanities, where the natural sciences and social history meet. The National Museum is one of few museums that facilitate this, drawing historians, geographers, archaeologists, earth scientists, and biologists into program development as members of the one curatorial and design team. This article discusses the advantages of environmental history as a strategic focus for the Museum, and looks at one of its major exhibitions.
The Zoo Science Program: A Successful Zoo/University Partnership
Authors: Maccarone Alan D. , Batdorf Brad
Published: January 2010

In 1988, Friends University and the Sedgwick County Zoo, both located in Wichita, Kansas, began a cooperative undergraduate program in zoo science. This program combines a modified biology curriculum offered through a medium‐sized, private university, with the specialized instruction and practical experience provided by curators and keepers at a zoo. Students who complete the zoo science curriculum meet the needs of zoos seeking to fill entry‐level positions. The program has grown in size, and now has more than 50 majors. About one‐half of all zoo science students come from outside Kansas, and about one‐half enter the program as transfer students. Graduates find entry‐level positions in zoos, aquariums, nature and environmental centers, and veterinary clinics; others go on to graduate or veterinary schools.
All the (Natural) World's a Stage: Museum Theater as an Educational Tool
Authors: Hawkey Roy
Published: January 2010

This paper describes a range of theatrical events developed by the Education Unit of the Natural History Museum, London. Theater is used to target non‐traditional audiences, thereby helping meet the museum's educational mandate in innovative ways. The museum's galleries have recently hosted a variety of characters, traditional and contemporary, historical and fictional, in a number of dramatic formats: ensemble pieces, role‐playing, puppetry, dance, mime, and acrobatics. The examples described here provide the occasion for exploring related issues, such as the museum's overall objectives for the program, the responses of visitors, and the spatial and temporal limitations to the design process.
Digital Futures I: Museum Collections, Digital Technologies, and the Cultural Construction of Knowledge
Authors: Cameron Fiona
Published: January 2010

Digital technologies and their uses within museum collections have until recently been explored primarily from a technical viewpoint. Increasingly, museum professionals are moving beyond technologically‐driven reasoning to entertain new ways of conceptualizing both collections and information. This is leading to knowledge models beyond those already imagined. This paper considers the synergy between theoretical ideas in the academy and the computer ontologies that have been brought to bear on collections information. Drawing on user research findings from the Themescaping Virtual Collections project and the work of leading literary and media theorists, the paper examines how user needs and digital technologies are reformulating our understanding of museum collections and the relationships between museums and audiences.
Margaret Bourke‐White: The Photography of Design, 1927–1936
Authors: Thomas Selma
Published: January 2010

Phillips Collection, Washington, DC: 11 February‐11 March 2003.

John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL: 25 October 2003‐4 January 2004. Mint Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN: 13 November 2004‐9 January 2005. Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME: 22 January‐27 March 2005.
Managing a Resident Volunteer Program at a Remote Research Station
Authors: Sherbrooke Wade C. , Sherbrooke Emily E. W.
Published: January 2010

Museums are ideal institutions for the development of volunteer programs. A museum's commitments to education and research and to expansion of learning, as well as its physical resources, offer potentially attractive forms of involvement for various segments of the population. We discuss aspects of a long‐established, self‐funded resident volunteer program that integrates the resources of a museum's field station with seasonal staffing needs, resulting in economic benefits to the museum and educational and career‐advancement benefits to volunteers. The practices used to bring together these objectives are discussed, with the goal of providing an example for museum administrators so they might better appreciate the potential diversity of volunteer programs as methods of broadening museums' roles in society.
CULTURE and culture at the Royal Ontario Museum: Anthropology Meets Marketing, Part Two
Authors: McCracken Grant
Published: January 2010

This paper reports anthropological research conducted at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) by the author over three years. The purpose of the research was a traditional anthropological one: to listen to visitors at length and in depth. Part One, published in Curator 46 (2), offered ethnographic data, anthropological analysis, and a marketing perspective to suggest why the visitor's point of view may seem vertiginously strange to museum personnel. It characterized the conflict between host and guest as the outcome of two competing models of culture: “preferment” and “transformation.” In Part Two, visitors' experiences of the museum serve to illuminate a shift in attitudes toward museum culture. This research establishes a typology of consumer segments and a set of strategic recommendations for freeing the museum from the preferment model without abandoning those visitors who continue to embrace it.
Interactives and Visitor Learning
Authors: Falk John H. , Scott Carol , Dierking Lynn , Rennie Leonie , Jones Mika Cohen
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Interactives—computers and other multimedia components, physical manipulatives (including whole‐body and tabletop activities), and simulations—occur in all types of museums. There is considerable interest in the nature of the learning that happens when visitors use interactives. Museum professionals have enlisted constructivist theory to support the notion that interactive elements are invaluable components of any exhibition experience, and are effective learning tools that enable active visitor engagement. Interactives are also seen as vital to sustaining institutional image and expanding institutional popularity.

Despite the increasing use of interactives in exhibitions and the substantial investments being made in their design and maintenance, there is a paucity of research as to whether these constructivist assumptions are supported. There is little work exploring visitors' perceptions of specific types of interactives, or the role of interactivity in the visitor experience generally. Museum staff thus have a limited ability to make informed decisions about the level and type of interactivity that might enhance exhibition experiences.

This paper describes a collaborative effort in 2001 by researchers at the Powerhouse Museum (PHM), Sydney; the Institute for Learning Innovation (the Institute), Annapolis, Maryland; and Curtin University of Technology (Curtin) and Scitech Discovery Centre (Scitech), both in Perth, Western Australia. This study investigated two aspects of interactivity: 1) visitor perceptions of interactivity in two different contexts, a museum and a science center; and 2) the types of short‐ and long‐term learning that resulted from use of interactives in these two institutions.
Designing With Multiple Interactives: Five Common Pitfalls
Authors: Allen Sue , Gutwill Joshua
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Interactive museum exhibits are ubiquitous in science centers, and are becoming increasingly popular in art, history and cultural museums. At an interactive exhibit, visitors can act on the exhibit and the exhibit reacts. While there is much theoretical and empirical support for the idea that interactive features promote science learning, we believe that serious design problems can arise if an uncritical “more is better” approach is taken to interactivity. This article describes five common pitfalls of designing exhibits with high levels of interactivity or multiple interactive features: 1) multiple options with equal salience, 2) features allowing multiple users to interfere with one another, 3) options that encourage users to disrupt the phenomenon being displayed, 4) features that make the critical phenomenon difficult to find, and 5) secondary features that obscure the primary feature. Examples of each of the five problems are presented, and possible design solutions are offered.
The Economics of Interactivity
Authors: West Robert “Mac”
Published: January 2010

Abstract  The increasing use of interactivity obliges museums to make decisions about the most appropriate interpretive strategies for exhibitions and experiences. Interpretive strategies have immediately apparent costs for an institution, as well as other less obvious implications. Interactive exhibits generally cost significantly more to develop, design, fabricate, and operate. There also are other, non‐quantifiable costs. For instance, environments might be very appealing to some visitors but less appealing to others. Some activities may inhibit social interaction among visitors. There is a danger that broken interpretive exhibits may convey a perception of low confidence in the museum, or that obsolete technologies may suggest inadequacy (especially in a science presentation). Finally, interactive exhibits that don't function optimally may create internal and public uncertainty about the core mission of the museum.
Art and Its Publics: Museum Studies at the Millennium: Andrew McClellan, ed.
Authors: Fern Alan
Published: January 2010

New Interventions in Art History 2. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2003. 213 pages. Paperback, $24.95.
Measuring Success in the “Congo Gorilla Forest” Conservation Exhibition
Authors: Hayward Jeff , Rothenberg Marilyn
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Most zoo visitors are primarily motivated by the joys of watching animals, which may preclude attention to major ecological issues that are the focus of research in biodiversity, habitats, and other matters pertaining to the survival of wild animals. The Wildlife Conservation Society exhibition Congo Gorilla Forest is a popular animal‐watching experience, but it also communicates considerable educational content, stimulating visitors' interest in and awareness of ecological relationships. This article reviews the phases of an evaluation process that assisted WCS staff in making decisions about exhibition design and interpretation; it discusses measurement challenges in assessing outcomes; and it uses key findings from the evaluation process to define and explain the interpretive success of the project. Success for this conservation exhibition is described in terms of achieving three educational goals while recognizing the diversity among audiences. The exhibition's effectiveness is attributed to understanding visitors' expectations and interests, creating an array of exhibit formats to engage people, and communicating conservation messages visually and experientially.
Emotional Dimensions of Watching Zoo Animals: An Experience Sampling Study Building on Insights from Psychology
Authors: Myers Olin Eugene , Saunders Carol D. , Birjulin Andrej A.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  There is little research about how visitors to zoos and aquariums respond emotionally to the animals they experience. The research that does exist has seldom been informed by current psychological literature on affect, which examines the nature and roles of sentiments, moods, emotions, and affective traits. Emotion is multidimensional: it focuses on a person's core goals; directs attention and interest; arouses the body for action; and integrates social group and cultural factors. It is thus a central component of meaning‐making. This article provides an overview of the literature on emotion as it applies to human emotional responses to animals. Informed by this literature, this paper presents results from a research study conducted at a zoo. Subjects (279 adults) were each electronically paged once while viewing one of three zoo animals (snake, okapi, or gorilla). Subjects completed scales on 17 specific emotions, seven items measuring evaluation and arousal, and other scales and responses to the animal. Four patterns of emotions emerged, ranging from “equal opportunity” emotions to “highly selective” emotions. The variables that were most important in influencing emotions were not demographic ones, but the kind of animal, subject's emotionality, relation to the animal, and other items predicted by emotion theory. Implications for biophilia, conservation, and the study of emotional responses to animals are discussed.
Using a Behavior Change Model to Document the Impact of Visits to Disney's Animal Kingdom: A Study Investigating Intended Conservation Action
Authors: Dierking Lynn D. , Adelman Leslie M. , Ogden Jackie , Lehnhardt Kathy , Miller Lance , Mellen Jill D.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Over the last 10 to 15 years, zoos and aquariums have set out to influence visitors' conservation‐related knowledge, attitudes, affect, and behavior. In 2000, the Institute for Learning Innovation collaborated with Disney's Animal Kingdom (DAK) on a comprehensive baseline study conducted to assess the outcomes of a DAK experience on visitors in four areas: knowledge, attitudes, affect, and behavior. This article describes one aspect of the comprehensive study: an investigation of the long‐term (two‐to‐three‐month) impact of a visit to Conservation Station at Disney's Animal Kingdom on visitors' intended conservation action. The study used a behavior change model from the health arena: the Prochaska Model of Behavioral Change. The model proved helpful but had some drawbacks, suggesting the need to develop a more sensitive change model. The implications of this study could assist institutions in thinking about what audiences or messages to emphasize in order to influence behavior.
John Dewey and Museum Education
Authors: Hein George E.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Although John Dewey's educational concepts have been discussed previously in relation to museums, his own writing about museums has received little attention. Dewey, who visited museums frequently throughout his life, recognized the powerful educational value of museums. He assigned a central role to museums as integrative components of raw experiences in his educational theory, and he made extensive use of student visits to museums at the Chicago Laboratory School. Early twentieth‐century museum educators and directors applied Dewey's ideas, and advocated a museum education philosophy, based on the progressive education movement, that has significance for current exhibition and educational practice.
“Cyberpals!/Les Cybercopains!”: A Look at Online Museum Visitor Experiences
Authors: Soren Barbara J. , Lemelin Nathalie
Published: January 2010

This article examines approaches to creating museum Web sites that offer quality experiences to online users. In six case studies, museum Web developers in the U.S. and Canada describe how they have made the most of available human and financial resources. The development history of each site offers insights into the origins of a design and its subsequent versions, and describes the influence of institutional missions, philosophies, success indicators—and financial and human resources, the most crucial factors. The study found considerable variety in the backgrounds, expertise, titles and training of people developing Web sites within institutions. Web teams developed “exchange” experiences through online discussion, and by creating links among users, or between museum staff and users. In three case studies, Web sites encouraged visitors to cycle between online and on‐site museum visits. Web developers describe using quantitative and qualitative online audience research strategies. WebTrendsTM software has enabled Web teams to report complex log analyses. Creating online experiences in partnership with users is the intention of Web developers.
Education Collections as Museum Collections
Authors: Macfarlan Shane J. , Johnson Eileen
Published: January 2010

Museum education collections are inarguably a part of a museum's actual collection, just as are the research/permanent collections. However, past practices indicate that education collections are typically not given equal stature in museological terms. This paper argues that techniques and practices used with research/permanent collections should be applied to education collections, a viewpoint that has not yet been readily embraced. Several methods are addressed for upgrading an education collection to a level similar to a museum's permanent collection. The Lubbock Lake Landmark's education collection serves as a case study to demonstrate the need for the application of proper museological techniques to conform to best practices. A scope of collection was created, preventive conservation techniques were applied, a gap analysis was performed, and legal issues concerning the education collection were addressed.
The Animated Muse: An Interpretive Program for Creative Viewing
Authors: Clarkson Austin , Worts Douglas
Published: January 2010

Explore a Painting in Depth, an experiment presented in the Canadian Collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, consisted of a booth that offered seating for two visitors and, opposite them, The Beaver Dam, a 1919 landscape painting by the Canadian artist J. E. H. MacDonald. In a 12‐minute audio‐guided Exercise for Exploring, visitors were invited to engage in a creative process with the imagery of the painting. This paper sketches how the experiment evolved, presents the background of the Exercise for Exploring, and surveys the effects of the exhibit on a wide range of visitors. The question is raised: How can facilitating visitors' creative responses to artworks be part of the museum's educational mandate and its arsenal of interpretive resources? More broadly: Do strategies that foster and privilege visitor creativity, as well as honor the creativity of artists, affect the accessibility and relevance of the museum for the general public?
A Case Study of “Planetary Landscapes: Sculpting the Solar System”
Authors: John Mark St. , Huntwork Dawn
Published: January 2010

This article presents a case study of the design, development and evaluation of a science museum exhibition called Planetary Landscapes: Sculpting the Solar System. The exhibition was created by Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, California, in collaboration with the artist Ned Kahn. (A slightly smaller version has been traveling to science museums around the country, and has been sent to the Middle East and Asia.) This exhibition affords a chance to explore the work of a gifted artist as he seeks to merge art and science and create beautiful inquiry‐based exhibits. The story also relates how a museum design team and an evaluation team sought to support the exhibition design in ways that would augment and not interfere with the expertise of the artist.
Doing Identity Work in Museums
Authors: Rounds Jay
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Museum visitors typically look at only about a third of the elements of an exhibition, and often give only limited attention to those. Can visitors really be getting something worthwhile from such partial usage of an exhibition? This article explores how visitors use exhibitions for “identity work,” the processes through which we construct, maintain, and adapt our sense of personal identity, and persuade other people to believe in that identity. Museums offer powerful opportunities for doing identity work, but the visitor does not need to engage with exhibition content deeply or systematically in order to gain the benefits that museum experiences offer for identity work.
An Identity‐Centered Approach to Understanding Museum Learning
Authors: Falk John H.
Published: January 2010

This paper advances the thesis that museum visitors' identities, motivations and learning are inextricably intertwined. All individuals enact multiple identities, many of which are situational and constructed in response to a social and physical context. Identity influences motivations, which in turn directly influence behavior and learning. Visitors to museums tend to enact one or various combinations of five museum‐specific identities, described here as: explorer; facilitator; professional/hobbyist; experience seeker; and spiritual pilgrim. Preliminary findings suggest that these identity‐specific motivational categories might help to explain the long‐term learning impacts of a museum visit.
Books
Authors: Butler Barbara H.
Published: January 2010

Under the Palace Portal: Native American Artists in Santa Fe: Karl A. Hoerig
Memories of Math: Visitors' Experiences in an Exhibiton about Calculus
Authors: Gyllenhaal Eric D.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Handling Calculus is a set of interactive exhibits about mathematics developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota and TERC. The exhibits are designed to engage visitors with kinesthetic, application‐oriented, and concept‐focused approaches to calculus and pre‐calculus concepts. As we examined visitor interviews collected during the evaluation of Handling Calculus, it was striking how often respondents' experiences with the exhibits stimulated memories they associated with school math. Respondents recognized math terms and symbols, reconstructed graphing skills, and recalled fragmentary concepts they had learned in school. In addition, they recounted stories about their former math teachers and the ways in which they had been taught mathematics, as well as a range of both positive and negative emotions they associated with school math. Respondents recognized and valued the hands‐on and whole‐body approaches used in Handling Calculus, contrasting the exhibits with their paper‐and‐pencil school experiences. Some respondents wondered if they would have done better at school calculus if their teachers had used the approaches taken by Handling Calculus.
Understanding Teachers' Perspectives on Field Trips: Discovering Common Ground in Three Countries
Authors: Anderson David , Kisiel James , Storksdieck Martin
Published: January 2010

The school field trip constitutes an important demographic market for museums. Field trips enlist the energies of teachers and students, schools and museums, and ought to be used to the best of their potential. There is evidence from the literature and from practitioners that museums often struggle to understand the needs of teachers, who make the key decisions in field trip planning and implementation. Museum personnel ponder how to design their programs to serve educational and pedagogical needs most effectively, and how to market the value of their institutions to teachers. This paper describes the overlapping outcomes of three recent studies that investigated teacher perspectives on field trips in the United States, Canada, and Germany. The results attest to the universality of some of the issues teachers face, and suggest improvements in the relationship between museums and schools.
The Future of Zoos: A New Model for Cultural Institutions
Authors: Fraser John , Wharton Dan
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Over the last 30 years, the international zoo movement has gradually adopted conservation as its mantra. World‐class zoos have invested substantially in species conservation and animal research as part of their involvement in wildlife conservation. However, zoo exhibit interpretation, policy development, and strategic planning are yet to be organized around a well‐developed agenda with a clear set of conservation objectives. As museums increasingly redefine their role in society to speak about alternative futures for living with nature, zoos have the potential to become much more focused cultural change agents, potentially crafting a new vision for how society can live in a productive relationship with the world's remaining biodiversity. This article argues for an activist approach in which institutions with living collections would take on unique conservation tasks including scientifically grounded promotion of conservation values.
The Authority of objects: From regime Change to Paradigm Shift
Authors: Hein Hilde S.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Objects have never been quite as bluntly material as is conventionally claimed. Nothing is just a thing. We carve objects out of a blurry reality as we need them, creating narratives that adhere to them in greater or lesser degree. Traditional museums were held to be “about objects”—which were esteemed as material bearers of accrued significance. Why then the current disputes among museum professionals and observers who question the role of objects? Museums have always been about ideas and about objects. They foster human and physical interactions in which neither persons nor things take precedence.
Hyperconnection: Natural History Museums, Knowledge, and the Evolving Ecology of Community
Authors: Hennes Tom
Published: January 2010

Abstract  Interviews conducted during the summer of 2006 with people in and around the international museum community suggest that the interests natural history museums share in common with each other and with other kinds of organizations and communities are creating an array of new links across institutional, social and cultural boundaries. These links are active, complex, networked relationships directed toward common purposes. Museums that are taking advantage of this emerging environment are becoming “hyperconnected hubs” across which knowledge is exchanged and action initiated. In forging a multitude of “weak ties” outward at different institutional levels, museums are finding that their shared activity with others brings to themselves new and often unexpected value across the “strong ties” that bind them together internally as institutions. Those natural history museums most able to participate as members of larger, interconnected entities are finding powerful new opportunities to more vigorously engage the world they study and the constituencies they serve. In the process, they are becoming increasingly open, active and relevant.
Do Museum Exhibitions Have a Future?
Authors: McLean Kathleen
Published: January 2010

Abstract  A 50‐year retrospective return to the first volume of Curator: The Museum Journal suggests that colleagues half a century ago were vitally aware of the cultural potential of museums, the well‐being of visitors, the need for interpretation and learning, and even the appeal of staying open 24 hours a day. So the more things change, the more they stay the same? The question leads to others: Are exhibitions an obsolete medium? Can museums keep pace with the interactions available elsewhere: virtual games, video arcades, jazz clubs, even a good Chinese restaurant? Is the glass half full of optimism or pessimism?
Studying Visitors and Making Museums Better
Authors: Pekarik Andrew
Published: January 2010

Abstract  If we examine the agendas embedded in studying visitors in museums, we are able to see where the optimal effects of these studies are. Ultimately, the aim of studying visitors should be to deeply understand other people, to respond to their needs, to make evident the respect we feel for them, and to express the ideal of service that motivates our work.
Museums, Corporatism and the Civil Society
Authors: Janes Robert R.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  The prevailing worldview in North America is grounded in the belief that continuous economic growth is essential to individual and societal well‐being. One result of the dominance of this worldview is the rise of museum corporatism, characterized by the primacy of economic interests in institutional decision making. This paper provides a critical overview of the growing dominance of marketplace thinking in museum affairs, and argues that this market‐oriented viewpoint is enfeebling or diverting otherwise competent museums from realizing their unique strengths and opportunities as social institutions in civil society. The meaning and implications of the “civil society” are discussed with particular reference to museums, along with several examples of museums and galleries that are currently playing key roles as agents of the civil society. This paper contends that departing from the status quo of marketplace imperatives opens the door to more creative definitions of museums as social institutions. Rather than becoming more like businesses, museums must exploit their uniqueness, resisting the domination of marketplace thinking, and testing alternative means of achieving meaning and sustainability within their communities.
Adult Learning Experiences from an Aquarium Visit: The role of Social Interactions in Family Groups
Authors: Briseño‐Garzón Adriana , Anderson David , Anderson Ann
Published: January 2010

Abstract  How and what adults learn in the context of a family visit to an aquarium is a valuable and important question to ask, given the significance of this demographic to institutions such as these. Based on a larger empirical work,1 this paper reports on the nature and character of adult learning within a family group context while visiting the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre (Canada), and the longitudinal effects of such experience in the weeks following the visit. In this study a multiple or collective instrumental case study approach was employed to examine the learning experiences of the adult members of 13 family groups; this approach demonstrates that adults visiting the aquarium as part of a family group are active social learners and not merely facilitators of the experience for younger visitors or caregivers. Our outcomes also indicate that the adult members of the participant family groups learned in a multiplicity of domains including the cognitive, the social, and the affective, as a result of their visit to the Vancouver Aquarium. In addition, we discuss the longitudinal impacts of the aquarium visit and provide valuable insights as to the relevance of these experiences in visitors' everyday lives.
Maternal Scaffolding in Two Museum Exhibition Halls
Authors: Melber Leah M.
Published: January 2010

Abstract  This study investigates the effect of two different types of exhibitions on maternal scaffolding or teaching conversations within a natural history museum. A total of 31 mother‐child dyads were observed and videotaped within two different exhibition halls and the conversation was transcribed for analysis. Using categories of coding that compared higher‐level conceptual conversation versus perceptual conversation such as naming, the different types of teaching techniques were examined via paired t‐tests. More conceptual, higher‐level verbal teaching was observed within the traditionally designed exhibition hall than within a hall designed specifically for children and families. Interviews with the mothers indicated that they were aware of physical differences between the two exhibition halls and intentionally varied their scaffolding in relation to the physical context.
Beyond Learning: Exploring Visitors' Perceptions of the Value and Benefits of Museum Experiences
Authors: Packer Jan
Published: January 2010

Abstract  This paper explores the beneficial outcomes that visitors seek and obtain from a museum visit, in terms that are not related to learning outcomes. It uses a deductive qualitative approach to investigate the meaning and value of a museum visit from the visitors' perspective. Three different levels of the meaning of the experience are considered: the attributes of the setting that visitors value; the experiences they engage in; and the benefits they derive. The findings confirm the importance of the “satisfying experiences” framework for understanding visitor experiences in museums, and extend this understanding in relation to the beneficial outcomes these experiences produce. The study also highlights the importance of “restoration” as an outcome of a museum visit. It is argued that the concept of the museum as a restorative environment, which enables visitors to relax and recover from the stresses of life, is worthy of further research attention. These insights will enable museum practitioners to better understand and meet their visitors' multiple needs and expectations.