"If you can't get the people to the museum
then bring the museum to the people." Me, it was me, I said that.
Museums like the Smithsonian have it easy. Well, for the most part. The museums are known worldwide and with a massive range of subjects and topics, it's pretty hard to not find something of interest even to the most stubborn of visitors.
The entire concept of a target audience is something all museums should keep in mind. Speaking from experience, I might delve deep into a specific moment in U.S. history, but my dad might hang back. Same with vice-versa - my dad will spend all day in a museum about planes and their components while I stare glassy-eyed at the 60th engine of the day.
Sometimes that's just the way people are. Not every person that walks into a museum is going to feel the same way as another, but at least they are setting foot in the door. Where we really have a problem are the people who just do not go to museums.
In our theory class, we read an article by Marilyn Hood titled, "Staying Away: Why People Choose Not to Visit Museums". In her article, Hood questions how there are not more museum visitors noting that no in-museum surveys can tell us why. What I did find incredibly interesting was how Hood defined nonparticipants and occasional participants. The former find museums to be formal, formidable places that are inaccessible to them because they are unprepared for the "museum code". The later are socialized as children to be involved in active participation, entertainment, and social interaction. Both groups find family-centered activities more important than frequent participants who typically visit museums alone.
If museums wish for successful programming they need to ensure they place plenty of consideration into nonparticipants and occasional participants. I've seen a few examples of museums trying to break out of the predetermined fate of this so called "museum code". For example, historical societies sometimes swap society for center as a way to appear less like a club and more like a gathering place. Another is the encouragement of taking photographs, talking, and throwing in plenty of interactive exhibits that everyone can enjoy.
Museums like the Smithsonian have it easy. Well, for the most part. The museums are known worldwide and with a massive range of subjects and topics, it's pretty hard to not find something of interest even to the most stubborn of visitors.
The entire concept of a target audience is something all museums should keep in mind. Speaking from experience, I might delve deep into a specific moment in U.S. history, but my dad might hang back. Same with vice-versa - my dad will spend all day in a museum about planes and their components while I stare glassy-eyed at the 60th engine of the day.
Sometimes that's just the way people are. Not every person that walks into a museum is going to feel the same way as another, but at least they are setting foot in the door. Where we really have a problem are the people who just do not go to museums.
In our theory class, we read an article by Marilyn Hood titled, "Staying Away: Why People Choose Not to Visit Museums". In her article, Hood questions how there are not more museum visitors noting that no in-museum surveys can tell us why. What I did find incredibly interesting was how Hood defined nonparticipants and occasional participants. The former find museums to be formal, formidable places that are inaccessible to them because they are unprepared for the "museum code". The later are socialized as children to be involved in active participation, entertainment, and social interaction. Both groups find family-centered activities more important than frequent participants who typically visit museums alone.
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| The Historical Society of Berks County changed its name in 2013 |
Still, depending on nonparticipants to show up for a guided tour is not always the best practice, sometimes, as my title says, the museum needs to be brought to the people.
One example of this are “traveling” museums. At the Berks County Heritage Center for example, schools would order a traveling trunk program for the day where we would go to the schools with bins of models, artifacts, and pictures and create engaging presentations. Plenty of museums have taken up this practice, but why not push farther?
We are undoubtedly in a digital age. Computers are everywhere including our pockets, so why not put a museum online?
So begins my own little experiment in exhibit design. I’d been stewing over possible final projects for my digital public history class and initially settling on Omeka, I just couldn’t get over my dissatisfaction with working with the platform. I just didn’t want to use it. I could see the benefit for sure, but something in my gut told me to try to find something else.
Then, Google delivered.
I was introduced to the magic that is artsteps.com; an online platform that is meant for artists to exhibit their own artwork as well as those of whom they find interesting. Exploring some the exhibits revealed that people were getting creative with the interface. One exhibit was about World War posters, another told the history of the Titanic’s disastrous voyage.
But that’s not all artsteps can do. All photos and text on the wall is interactive and clicking on it can reveal more information. When finished with the exhibit, you can create a guided tour where viewers can hit "play" and let the website do the rest. Finally on mobile devices with a gyroscope (so not mine darn-it) you can view the exhibit in VR.
Honestly, I have no idea how I have never heard of the site before, but it's been around since about 2011 so I am excited to try it out with the topic of (drumroll please) Civil War Music!
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| So far so good(ish) |
So all I can say is look out for this exhibit in the near future, I'm sure there will be plenty of trials and successes (because I'm already thinking I will have to account for a few upload limits), but all in all, it will be another possible way to engage the public.
Have you every found a website that you could use for something that it wasn't necessarily to be used for?
--Jess--
Have you every found a website that you could use for something that it wasn't necessarily to be used for?
As always,
Festina Lente my friends,
--Jess--
I am completely fascinated by your civil war music idea for the project, artsteps seems like a pretty neat little website! Heck I might use it to display my artwork, that way friends and family that I don't see very often can explore my work from the comfort of their couch. I think that leads into a good point about museums, in most cases, a lot of museums are inaccessible for a variety of reasons. The major one is distance. My family never really had the money to go on vacations to far away cities or countries, let alone even account for going to visit a museum most of the time. I visited a lot of the museums in my home town, but most of them I got in free through school, personal connections or it was by donation so I could afford it. Distance and travel was the biggest factor for me. It would be a dream to go back to the War Museum of Canada or go to the Smithsonian! But in reality I know it wont happen for a long time. So having traveling museums or little "sneak peaks" of galleries/exhibits that could allow people to explore a museum while not having to travel far from home is a really interesting way to get nonparticipants or occasional participants to become more active participants. That's why I am super excited about working on the Banting project. It will be a travelling exhibit that way people across the province (maybe beyond?) can engage with Banting's history and explore his significance in Canadian history and also in medical history (I mean, he's the reason I am alive today!). I know a lot of diabetics back home alone who would be interested in seeing the panels we put together, so it's a great way to reach an even broader audience without burdening the participants too much! Awesome post, really excited to hear more about your civil war music project as you continue to work on it! Kat
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