Dear Dr. C:
This is, I believe, the third time you have referred to the "duties" of
museums under ICOM. I have been to the ICOM website, and am having trouble
finding these "duties." Yes, they define museums as places that interpret
and educate. But I'm not seeing any language that describes HOW museums are
to accomplish these tasks, nor any section that prohibits involvement of the
general public. If you could direct me to the passages which you are
referring to, I would be greatly appreciative.
Also, this is I believe the third time you have stated that others on this
thread have proposed doing away with the expertise of the museum specialist,
and turning over all interpretation to the lay public. I have carefully
read these threads many times. (Indeed, I have copied the posts onto my
computer for future reference, as they are quite relevant to some projects I
am working on.) But I cannot find any instance of anyone proposing that
museums do away with educated experts and specialists and replace their work
with public comment. (The very first post in the "community curators"
thread referenced a journal article which described museums collaborating
with the public, not "yielding" to it. And the Wikipedia tangent was not a
proposal that museum follow that model, but rather an example showing that
using an open source system to tap in to distributed knowledge need not
result in "anarchy.") Again, if you could point out which posts promoted
public interpretations INSTEAD OF museum interpretation (as opposed to "in
addition to"), I would be most grateful.
Finally, inching back toward the subject at hand, I believe the topic of
"unauthorized tours" began as a comment on the new phenomenon of "iPod
tours." I was a little bit shocked, though I guess not really surprised, to
learn that some museums still try to control information. But, as the news
media, corporate PR departments, political parties, and other "gatekeepers"
of knowledge have learned, the Internet has thrown open those gates. I
suppose one could resist -- banning iPods in the galleries, perhaps -- but
only at the risk of becoming draconian, alienating the audience, and having
to do it all over again in 18 months when the next new technology becomes
available.
It just so happens that a new book on this very topic is being released
today: "An Army of Davids" by Gelnn Reynolds. It describes how the Internet
empowers ordinary people to share information and bypass the traditional
gatekeepers. Whether one celebrates this phenomenon or bemoans it, it is
here, and we'd best figure out ways to make it work for us rather than
against us.
Eugene Dillenburg
On Wed, 8 Mar 2006 18:30:00 GMT, "Dr. Christian Müller-Straten"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>Dear Diane,
>
>I do see these differences - I try to understand it and I am always
>getting back to different philosophical backgrounds. On the other hand,
>also North American Museums are members of ICOM. ICOM defines very
>clearly the duties of each museum worldwide. This was agreed also by
>North American Museums. But more and more I see differences of
>interpretations of these common ICOM views. For example, with regard to
>a real scientific museum definition (Declaration of Calgary), it has
>been mostly the European museologists defending a museological real
>definition of "museum" and not the old functional description of
>"museums" defended mostly by the North American Museums - being nothing
>else than a mission statement.
>On the other hand we also have a few people here influenced by North
>American thinking always being very keen to propose everything anarchic
>(today even possible by digital information) as the better model. But
>this has nothing to do with democracy. In a specialized society, we do
>have specialized museums, museum specialists, specialized narrators and
>educators, etc. As I have mentioned before, they do good to include
>input from the outside. But during the discussion of the last weeks, two
>ideas/proposals of INSTEAD were made. Equality and fairness has to be
>included by the specialists themselves. But do not forget that also
>equal rights in a democracy are limited. I am avoiding to repeat the
>"Nazi example" mentioned.
>
>Best regards
>
>
>Christian
>
>
>
>"Diane Gutenkauf" <[log in to unmask]> schrieb:
>Dr. Christian Müller-Straten:
>
>It isn't about BETTER, it's about DIFFERENT. Perhaps this is a
>particularly American attitude...something arising from the American
>notions of equality and fairness that formed early in our Colonial
>period
>and are strongly held today.
>
>Judith Martin (aka Miss Manners) wrote a fascinating book defending
>American etiquette and exploring the social and political milieu under
>which many of our modern attitudes arose.
>
>I highly recommend it as a tool for understanding why the Americans on
>this list are more open to "outsider" interpretations than are the
>Europeans.
>
>
>Diane G.
>
>On Sun, 5 Mar 2006 21:28:00 GMT, "Dr. Christian Müller-Straten"
><[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>>"Jeremy" <[log in to unmask]> schrieb:
>>Hi Darryl,
>>
>>Just to clarify, I am entirely in favour of
>>'unauthorized' tours. I was using the term simply to
>>distinguish them from the official tours produced by
>>museums themselves.
>>
>>Jeremy.
>>
>>Dear Jeremy and rest of the list,
>>
>>Before getting into another discussion about a wonderful chaotic idea,
>I
>>would like to remind all in favour of unauthorized tours that such
>group
>>tours by real persons from the outside are forbidden in many museums
>>allover the world to prevent the worst (just imagine Nazis conducting
>>unauthorized tours in European former concentration camps and
>memorials)
>>and protect the right of work of their own interpreters. Have you
>>forgotten the conflicts with the museums missions?
>>
>>Why always thinking that outsiders are better than the staff? Is the
>>staff in US museums really unable to do a good job? Have they lost
>their
>>inventive power, their creativity, their scientific impetus? Why
>always
>>being in favour of something totally anarchic?
>>
>>I am satisfied with ordinary work done well. For me as a longtime ICOM
>>member it is up to museums to care for the objects, inform, to
>>interprete, to combine education with entertainment. This can nowadays
>>only be done knowing the vested interests of the visitors. If they
>don'
>>t do it for any reasons, they loose the right to be called "museum".
>>
>>Sorry to be that rigid again, but I do not esteem the background of
>>these proposals.
>>
>>Best regards
>>
>>Dr. Christian Müller-Straten
>>
>>Verlag Dr. Christian Müller-Straten / MUSEUMS AGENTUR
>>Kunzweg 23, 81243 München, T. 089-839 690 43, Fax -44
>>Mails werden mit täglich aktualisierter PANDA-Software geprüft.
>>[log in to unmask]
>>Are your institution and exhibition already listed under
>>http://www.museum-aktuell.de?
>>Last count for January 2006: more than 181,000 hits. For 2006, we
>>expect 2 million hits.
>>
>
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>Dr. Christian Müller-Straten
>
>Verlag Dr. Christian Müller-Straten / MUSEUMS AGENTUR
>Kunzweg 23, 81243 München, T. 089-839 690 43, Fax -44
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>[log in to unmask]
>Are your institution and exhibition already listed under
>http://www.museum-aktuell.de?
>Last count for January 2006: more than 181,000 hits. For 2006, we
>expect 2 million hits.
>
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