The more I read about 'community curators' in these  post, I've become more 
interested in developing a structured program and  involvement for our museum. 
Thus far our experiences and 'use'  have been  informal, but we certainly have 
relied on many aspects of what can be considered  the use of 'community 
curators.'
    
     I've seen more positive aspects than  negatives ones. We've discussed 
our concerns here about presenting factual  information, but most all of us know 
how to discern that which is  fictional among what is 
historical/social/cultural/economic facts/constructs. We  can use the former to supplement and not 
supplant the facts.
    
    The question you're asking about the  labels...quirky (yes, perhaps), 
interesting (absolutely) a gimmick (no way!).  Think of the 'community curators' 
labels as adding another dimension for  describing a 3-dimensional object.
    
    I find the original work project documents for the  Civilian Conservation 
Corps to be very interesting but they do not stand alone  when we're 
interpreting the CCC program and projects. The  social/cultural/economic/political 
aspects are just as interesting, if not more  so, than the information provided 
in the forestry commission records. We would  be doing a disservice to our 
visitors if we only presented information from  these documents. The program was 
not one-dimensional and it would be inaccurate  to depict it as such.
 
    The CCC enrollees very rarely referred to 'gipsy  moth crews'  as such. 
CCC administrative records only refer to 'gipsy moth  crews' and not the slang. 
There were many names used by enrollees to describe  these crews - the 'Bug O 
Guys' is among one of many. It may be seemingly  quirky to use 'Bug O Guys' 
on a label...but the use of slang (of which there was  for just about 
everything) provides some insight into the social phenomena  occurring in the camps and 
at a macro level, the youth movement of the  30's.
 
    I need and use information like this all the time.  I can't do everything 
I want to do or that needs to be done as the only staff  person in this 
museum (and part-time, volunteer) either. I serve as a vessel for  gathering 
documentation and info, organizing, interpreting/disseminating it.  This is a 
service to the public, but community curators can do this directly  without having 
to totally rely on me at the other end. I can provide them with  the tools to 
work with. I wouldn't consider the community curators as a gimmick  to recruit 
volunteers to help me though, so that wouldn't be an  underlying agenda.
 
    What I'd like to do is come up with an exhibit to  involve community 
curators, as a case study and see how it works out.
 
    I don't want to over think this involvement or  create issues that simply 
don't exist. I don't think there is any mystery here  either. We're not 
supplanting, we're supplementing. Wikipedia, the same.
 
Pam
 
 
In a message dated 3/4/2006 11:46:49 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Both Dr.  Müller-Straten and Jeremy's comparisons of the Wikipedia to 
Encyclopaedia  Britannica raise what is a parallel question in the 
museological  discussion, namely, is the point of inclusion simply to 
involve 'others'  or 'outsiders' in the museum (as Lola Young has 
phrased it, 'to be more  like us')?

Or should the objective be to redefine the parameters of  collecting and 
narratives told by the museum? (The parallel being, can a  collaborative 
encyclopedia like wikipedia only go as far as to  recapitulate the 
Encyclopedia Britannica, or can it go farther?)

Or  are 'community curators' just a gimmick to get some interesting, 
sometimes  quirky, display labels?

-L.D.





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