Friday links

It's been a while between drinks but here are a couple of interesting projects and sites I've come across lately...

• Have you heard about this exhibition? We're quite excited about it in Collections. It's called 'Move: Choreographing You - Art and Dance' and it's on at the Hayward Gallery in London. Using interactive sculptures and installations this show explores the intersection of dance and art over the past 50 years by encouraging people to actually dance there way through the exhibition.You can check out more about the show at this great microsite.
•  Caboodle is a fun kids/museums/digital project.You can read more about it here and here but basically it's a great way of getting kids invloved with collections by visiting museums, talking to curators, taking photos and uploading them to the Caboodle site. They can also become part of an online club and it is used both by schools and individuals. Kids don't have to interact with collections they can also draw, build, find something they want to photograph and upload.
• The site where I found out about Caboodle is also worth a look. It's called Culture24 and it's run by a not-for-profit group working across the areas of arts, heritage, education and tourism in the UK. If you haven't come across it before it's definately worth exploring and being inspired.

Friday Links to the Outside World

Glowdoodle @ Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum

Here's a few interesting bits and pieces I've found in my travels through the Interweb this week:

• Zeum: San Francisco's Children's Museum have some great public programs not unlike those offered by   the Digital Learning Hub (check out the Music Video Field Trip). Their new program Glowdoodle also has me intrigued. They have a lively presence on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Yelp and YouTube and take the 3Cs of 21st century literacy - Creativity, Collaboration and Commuication  - very seriously.
• This useful page from MIT TechTV which explains why people should use royalty-free music for their videos and where they can get it.
•  These public programs offered as part of Seattle's Arts Crush 2010. I especially like the one about making your own stage blood!

Any links you'd like to share?

On the radar...

We've been discovered! One of the sites I profiled in my post on Teenagers and Social Participation, Seattle's Teen Tix has sent us back some 'Blog Love'.

Ben Cameron: The True Power of the Performing Arts

If I was trying to raise money for a show I'd want Ben Cameron on my team. He is a true lover of the arts both high and low and he's passionate about the live performing arts even in a world that seems to be increasingly over-run by the digital and the virtual. If you can find 12 minutes in your day I really recommend that you listen to what he has to say.

Teenagers and Social Participation

Image via Museum 2.0

A while ago Hannes sent through a great link to MoMA's teen website Red Studio. If you didn't have a chance to look at it then it's really worth checking out. It has lots of great interviews with artists, creators and museum staff as well as plenty of opportunity for taking part in interactive activities. It sets a pretty high benchbank for this kind of site.

Recently I've come across another couple of teen-focussed projects that provide both 'real-life' and online connections between teens. The first is the Teen Program at the Brooklyn Museum. One of the great things about this program is that the social events are programmed by the kids themselves. Inspired by the collections these nights have included everything from yoga classes and henna tatooing, to scavenger hunts and curators talks.

Getting teens to interact with each other in this way is not always as easy it seems according to Nina Simon who recently wrote this interesting post on recent research into 'Teenagers and Social Participation'. Many teenagers feel happier 'geeking out' with people online who share their own interests. A great example of this is the participatory blog run by Teen Tix, an arts access program based in Seattle for kids aged 13 -19. A Teen Tix pass entitles the holder to purchase $5 tickets to 36 different theatre companies and many museums in and around Seattle. Kids can also access free tickets through the Teen Tix site if they agree to write a review for the blog. The calibre of writing is very high and puts paid to those nay-sayers who think that such sites just end up full of crap.

If you know of any other good examples of programming for teens let me know and I'll put the links on the sidebar of our blog so that we can keep them all in one place.

Caz

The Odditoreum

Image: Powerhouse 'Photo of the Day' blog

Yesterday Robin mentioned the Powerhouse exhibition, The Odditoreum so I thought you might be interested in finding out a little more about it. The Odditoreum began life as an idea for a small school holiday program but became a popular exhibition, book and limited edition print. The project had many constraints including a budget of only $7000 (excluding staff time) and was conceived as a 'low-tech' way of engaging visitors with the permanent collection.

The show was 'curated' by children's book author Shaun Tan. Tan chose 10 objects from a long list he was sent by the Public Programs Producer who had compiled and refined the list in consultation with curators, registrars and conservators. He then wrote fictitious labels of approx. 100 words for each object. Visitors were also invited to write their own labels. The 'real' label information was also included but only at the end of the exhibition.

The show was a big hit with audiences of all ages and is a good reminder that you don't always need a million bucks to pull off a good idea. It is also a good 'real-life' example of a the type of engagement people are also seeking online.

Virtual Museum Experiences

Originally uploaded to Flickr on June 12, 2007by bcg8

As we struggle to get our heads around how best to present ourselves in the virtual world, the Smithsonian is, of course, light years ahead. When you have a spare moment check out these amazing online projects. The first is the Ghosts of A Chance alternative reality game which was held last year. The project was set up as a way for visitors to interact with the collection at the Luce Foundation Centre for American Art. The project ran for three months and attracted 6,000 online visitors as well as over 200 on-site visitors. It was a pretty crazy combination of creating, gaming, online communication and detective work and it takes some time to get your head around (reading about it after the fact), but what a concept!

The other project takes virtual reality even further. This is the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum hosted on Second Life. This really is out there! Basically you set up an avatar for yourself in Second Life and he/she walks through the Museum and visits the exhibitions.
Have fun!
Caz

The Networked Student

Uploaded on August 31, 2005by Robin Hutton

Here's a little light reading from the Australasian Journal of Educational Technology. In her article, 'The networked student model for construction of personal learning environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy', Wendy Drexler provides an interesting insight into the networked teacher/ student relationship using a test case undertaken with a group of 15 k-12 students in south-eastern USA. It's a bit long but if you are interested in this area it might be worth printing off to read on a 'rainy day'!

A website really designed for kids!

I found this website by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery education arm and thought I'd share it with you. It is one of the rare sites I've found that really seems to be designed with children in mind. Many of the others I've seen all have that corporate branding look that adults are all so keen on whereas this one with its lovely illustrations seems much more child-friendly to me (I plan to check it out with my own kids to test my theory!). I can imagine this sort of vibe working well for our Circus project.

If you have time the web links at the bottom of the page are also quite interesting especially Bedazzled the kids online fashion magazine done with a Flash plug-in and Bemused which is the Museum's interactive page for kids where they can upload their drawing, watch videos etc.

Like Sands Through the Hourglass...

Uploaded to Flickr on June 15, 2009by choreographics

Over the past few weeks Julian, Paul and I have been researching interactive timelines to try and pick apart the functionalities that might work for our timeline. Some of the more interesting ones we have looked at inlcude:

BBC's British History timeline

MOMA's Colour Chart timeline

Biography.com's Black History timeline

The Museum of London's Exploring 20th century London

Design company White Void's use of Flash in presenting layered information

We are hoping to start talking to Flash developers some time after Easter so if you know of any other good timelines please let us know!

Don't Dream It's Over...

Thanks for making me feel so welcome at the EFYP meeting yesterday and for responding so enthusiastically to our project. As Julian mentioned we have just finished most of the 70s and 80s section of our timeline but are struggling a bit with the late 80s/early 90s. Not that we have a lack of material rather we have too much! A funny thing happens when you come to examine recent history especially if you lived through that period as a young adult. This is the period we usually hold dear to us for the rest of our lives. It is a time (before real adult responsibilities set in!) when we are free to indulge all our passions and we often find it hard to separate things that were important to us from things that have been shown to be historically significant.

What/who was important to you from 1985-2000? We have a pretty good selection of bands and significant single and album releases from alternative to commercial but we are now trying to narrow down our themes. Some of the ones we are toying with are the resurgence of the music festival; women in rock/pop, and the advent of national FM radio (especially TripleJ).

We'd love to know what you guys think. Were there any pivotal moments for you? Seminal bands, venues, feastivals, movements? Don't be shy - all feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Caz

'Let's Make More Crowns', or the danger of not looking closely at your web metrics!

Kids taking part in the 'Thriller Experience' linked to the Powerhouse's exhibition 'The 80s Are Back' Image: Copyright Powerhouse Museum

Welcome to the first VCN team blog for 2010 especially to our newest member Paul. Given all the great work EFY did on the Education website before Christmas I thought you might be interested in this post from the Powerhouse. It looks at the reasons why they chose to put up certain content for their kids pages, how it has been used and by whom. The Powerhouse take their web metrics very seriously and are considered leaders in the field. I think that this post shows very graphically why it is prudent to do so.

Caz