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Great idea on the digital frames Dan. Thanks for sharing!

Keni Sturgeon
Curator
Willamette Heritage Center
Salem, OR

--- On Fri, 10/8/10, Dan Bartlett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

From: Dan Bartlett <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Exhibit (displays) on the Cheap
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Friday, October 8, 2010, 3:19 PM

Commercial grade dvd player= $550. Cheap dvd player from Wal Mart I installed in the exhibit = $35. How long did it play? Six days a week, 7 hours a day for 3 years.

I have worked in many small museums where the choice was in house on the fly, or not at all. Carefully considered interpretive techniques using off the shelf consumer electronics are possible, appropriate, affordable and effective if the museum understands the limitations, some of which are listed by the original poster. If you get tens of thousands of visitors a year, the cheap touch screen is a poor choice. If your attendance is more modest then it might be right for you. We're experimenting with 15" digital picture frames ($100 each at TigerDirect) that play MPEG video. Students create short interpretive programs in Powerpoint that we export to Windows format video then convert on a free video converter to MPEG. We can move them around, change the content in seconds. We've improved our interpretation and we spent almost nothing to be able to do it.


BTW, the original poster is from http://www.madsystems.com/?page_id=1272, an interpretive multimedia design firm, so they may not be the most unbiased of sources.


Just sayin'

Dan



On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 2:54 PM, unknown <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

On subject #1 : “There’s never enough money to do it right the first time, and always enough money to do it twice because it got screwed up the first time.”
 “cheap” encoder $26.50  “expensive” encoder $450
Life expectancy of cheap encoder : 24 hours after opening day, fudging and daily maintenance to keep it going thereafter
Life expectancy of expensive encoder : 10 years absolute minimum if applied correctly (which costs more money)Difference in gallery: “Out of order again” sign
 “cheap” resistive touchscreen $350  “expensive” capacitive touchscreen $800
Life expectancy of resistive touchscreen: until someone decides to rub it with a nail or a coinLife expectancy of capacitive touchscreen: years
Difference in gallery: “Out of order again” sign 
“cheap” signage $100 “expensive” equivalent $250Difference in gallery: edges peeling on sign
 It is truly better spend money on quality and have a few very good things than it is to spend a little money everywhere and have something that doesn’t work and looks shabby inside of a few weeks….
   
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Cass Karl

Sent: Friday, October 08, 2010 12:07 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Exhibit (displays) on the Cheap
 Laurie,When exactly is your conference? Where is it to be held?  I live in SE Texas, but have friends in the Atlanta area who I have been trying to visit for a while now.  I co-led a workshop for the Wisconsin Federation of Museums on cost-effective exhibit design, so I believe I'd be qualified.  Please send me more information to the email below.  Good luck!
-Cass [log in to unmask]
On Fri, Oct 8, 2010 at 12:38 PM, las <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello: I am a curator at a small museum in West Georgia.  I am tired of looking at my own exhibits and thinking "surely this could look better!", feeling like some of my text looks one step above an elementary school bulletin board!  Sometimes I feel like I am the only one who doesn't know the secret of quality displays with little expense and all of you are experts at it, because I am often very impressed at the brilliant suggestions that come across this email in regards to text, lebels, production, furniture, etc. Well, because I have just about had it with my own limitations in these areas, I am potentially planning to moderate a conference session at January’s Georgia Asso of Museums and Galleries on the topic of cost-conscious exhibit design/fabrication and are currently looking for people who would like to be on our panel.  The three topics areas are:  
1.       Interactives (mechanical, hands on, audio, video, intro films, interactive kiosks, etc),
2.       Furniture and supports (platforms, pedestals, acrylic bonnets, cases (all-in-one), artifact supports and artifact mounts, etc),
3.       Graphics (large background photographs, smaller images, titles, text, i.d. labels, graphic panels, etc) 
 Now, I am guessing that not many of you are here in the south, but if you are or would like to attend our conference, or just, by chance, are passing through (yea, right!) and could potentially be on my panel, and you are one of those brilliant people out there who knows the secret of fabricating these types of things (mostly in house, especially for #2 and #3) at very little cost but WITHOUT sacrificing/compromising quality, please respond to this email and I will contact you to discuss further off list.
 Best Regards,Laurie Sedicino, CuratorLegacy Museum on Main
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-- 
Dan Bartlett
Curator of Exhibits and Education
Instructor of Museum Studies
Logan Museum of Anthropology
Beloit College

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