Dear Eugene,
going back to original sources very often in email treads is a very
good
idea. If I remember well, the original one was another. I cite:
"Hello-
I was just reading my latest issue of the Curator
Journal (p. 122) about the Brooklyn Museum of Art and
the National Museum of the American Indian having
"community curators", that is, "ordinary" museumgoers,
write the object labels in exhibits. Has anyone done
this with success/failure? Is there a place I can go
to learn more about it? I think it is a great concept
but I'd like to see who else has tried it.
Thanks,
Marieke
But anyway: I guess, nobody is against colloboration with visitors,
potential visitors, former owners, people from the original cultural
background etc. in order to prepare an exhibition of any kind. But the
last decisions on presentation (visual and by content) should provided
always by museum specialists, because museums are in charge and not
anybody else. If ONLY visitors would act as providers of knowledge, this
has to lead to chaos. Why? Not because they are stupid, but because of
their different interests. The museums specialist first of all has to
objective.
There might be a difference in the concept of thruth in Europe and the
States (going back to different philosophical traditions). Most
scientists in Europe think that truth in sciences (and museums as well)
can be achieved step by step while in Northern America scepticism is
widespread and the general idea of truth can be called even a
misconception. I am not able here to go too deep into details because
theory of language, logics, theory of perception, knowledge, of general
sciences are concerned.
Within this traditional frame of difference, the knowledge of the museum
specialists and the knowledge of the visitors should be discussed. It is
- by far - not a matter of power. Most of us are living in very
specialised societies. Why accepting any specialism and rejecting it in
the museum field? We need museum specialists EXPLAINING natural laws,
past and present in order to allow each visitor to find its way into the
future. Nobody denies that visitor might sometimes know a lot. But
visitors are not responsible.
Coming back to the Wiki idea and to all I know about it: this
encyclopaedia exists in quite some languages. Not all Wiki language
levels contain the same content! Authors of the Wiki are scientists,
teachers etc. But up to my personal knowledge no correction or article
is to be published here without critical examination of a competent
editorial board. This is the secret why they need a lot of money to
exist and why more and more people trust on wiki contents. It is not
because of the useful original contributions...
Best regards
Christian
"Eugene Dillenburg" <[log in to unmask]> schrieb:
Before this discussion strays too far off-topic, I think it would be
good to
go back to the source. The original post cited page 122 of the January
2006
issue of Curator (49 / 1). I believe this is the passage:
"The channel [MTV] recignizes that it is in dialogue with its viewers;
they
form the brand together. The Brooklyn Museum of Art realized the same
thing. Along with the usual anonymnous labels written by curators, its
'American Voices' installation also offers Community Voices labels
written
by ordinary museumgoers. The National Museum of the American Indian in
Washington, DC went a step further. Staff not only worked with
'community
curators,' but also identified the author of each label, effectively
undermining the idea of a single, authoritative version of truth and
promoting a more inclusive, provisional one."
(Jason Petrulis, reivew of the books "Branded Nation: The Marketing of
Megachurch, College Inc. and Museumworld" by James B. Twitchell, and
"No
Logo" by Naomi Klein)
So, just to be clear, from the very beginning we have been discussing
museum-visitor collaborations. The initial post may not have stated
this
explicitly, but since it did give the citation, there was probably
little
need for it to do so.
PS -- I thought the whole point of wikis was that they *didn't* have
large
editorial boards? I could be mistaken.
Eugene Dillenburg
Exhibit Developer
The Science Museum of Minnesota
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