Hi Darryl,

> Thank you Jeremy, but who is to say that
> 'unauthorized' tours don't already
> occur, and have for the entire history of museums?

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.

--- Darryl MacKenzie <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thank you Jeremy, but who is to say that
> 'unauthorized' tours don't already
> occur, and have for the entire history of museums?
> 
> Person A brings her family to the museum, and rather
> than take a tour with
> someone 'authorized' to give tours, leads her
> children through the museum,
> telling them about her views on the objects. She
> relates to them stories
> about her grandmother who helped make the butter on
> the family farm. She
> tells about her grandmother's youth, and how she
> used to climb trees where
> the local mall now stands. A few months later, her
> husband takes the
> children through the same museum. His stories and
> how he relates to the
> collection is going to be different than his wife's.
> The children each will
> synthesize the two presentations into their own
> unique method of interaction
> with the collection, which they will share with
> their classmates at future
> visits to the museum. 
> 
> I can see museums offering a recording/downloading
> site upon entering the
> museum eventually. Who cares if the tour is
> 'authorized'? Who gives museum
> professionals the right to say they are the only
> people with valid views
> about the meaning of the collection? The curator is
> there to facilitate the
> community's discussion around its history and
> culture, not indoctrinate what
> the community's beliefs about their past should be.
> How can a curator, who
> might often come from outside the community, say
> that they have a better
> understanding of the community's past and tell them
> how they should be
> relating to that past? I suppose my views about
> museums are different in
> that I see them as a community space for sharing
> stories. They are the place
> where the community can develop a shared sense of
> identity, and the more
> safe the community feels in being able to share
> those thoughts, the more
> healthy the community becomes as it faces common
> problems in the future.
> 
> Darryl
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf
> Of Jeremy
> Sent: March 5, 2006 2:00 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] "community curators"
> 
> --- Darryl MacKenzie <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > A type of community curatorship that I have heard
> > about as well is the use
> > of iPods as interpretive tour guides through a
> > museum.
> 
> These links all relate to 'unauthorized' audio
> guides
> of museum collections. They are mostly about
> interpretation by 'outsiders' rather than
> collaboration between curators and others.
> 
> The initial hype about this started last year,
> however
> a big problem is that users need to download the
> recording before visiting the museum, and it seems
> that very few are organized enough to do this. The
> idea doesn't seem to have taken off yet.
> 
> Network technologies will in the future mean that
> unauthorized guides will be downloadable to phones
> or
> PDA's while in the museum (linked to the museums
> location via GPS) which should make them much more
> accessible.
> 
> Actual tours:
> 
> smARThistory
> http://www.smarthistory.blogspot.com/
> 
> MoMA 'unofficial' Audio Guides
>
http://homepage.mac.com/dave7/ArtMobs/FileSharing52.html
> 
> Take One Museum - BBC museum audio tours
>
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/take_one/downloads.shtml
> 
> Gallerycast directory
> http://www.gallerycast.com/directory
> 
> Articles about tours:
> 
> Introducing Slate Audio Tours (July 26, 2005)
> - The commentary museums don't want you to hear.
> http://www.slate.com/id/2123266/?nav=ais
> 
> ArtMobs
> - Art Mobs to Remix MoMA (With Your Help)
> http://mod.blogs.com/art_mobs/
> 
> New York Times
> - With Irreverence and an iPod, Recreating the
> Museum
> Tour
>
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/arts/design/28podc.html?ex=1275019200&en=4
> da0e3ceb749d4e6&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
> 
> Walker Art Centre Blog
> Podcasting museum audio tours – the sanctioned and
> unauthorized
> http://blogs.walkerart.org/newmedia/?p=81
> 
> Jeremy.
> 
>
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