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.