In the Pleistocene era, when I was in grad school, there was interesting work being done by historians and so-called visual anthropologists, who evidently still exist but remain an obscure branch of the field. One study that really struck me was by a historian named (Richard?) Borchert, who analyzed a mountain of photographs in various DC archives and museums that were taken in residential alley ways in that city. From these, he derived a whole bunch of interesting hypotheses about how social life was conducted in the African American underclass that lived there -- information that you couldn't really get anywhere else. I hadn't seen anything quite like it and haven't since, but I keep wondering if anyone out there is doing stuff like this. With the incredible tools we now have, these kinds of studies could be much more interesting. Again, if we could find anybody doing work like this, I think it would be an eye opening session.
Chuck -----Original Message----- From: Leslie Johnston [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2000 3:30 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: teaching and technology When I was working with both the Cantor Arts Center and the art history faculty at Stanford I undertook a needs analysis where faculty members claimed that they wanted/needed/would use the museum's collection resources if made available on the web. After the public database went live, as did some topical guides, I can verify that there was no integration of the resources into the curriculum, at least during the first year that the material was live and I was still at Stanford. The only way in which museum collections and the associated information showed up in a course was as a slide or the digital surrogate of same in the electronic reserves for the course. I find it interesting that, now that I am at the Harvard Design School and working on creating digital resources based on visual resource and archival collections the faculty seem more willing to both ask that certain topical resources be created for their courses and to use the more general resources that we have live. I don't know whether it's some difference between teaching art history and teaching architecture/landscape architecture, or if its a perception of the usefulness of image and archival collections over museum collections. Thoughts? Leslie At 01:08 PM 4/26/00 -0700, you wrote: >Thanks Chuck. This would be interesting. However one scary thought occurs >to me; who IS using the information and resources we're working so hard to >provide. The telecollaboration I'm helping out with does not use museum >content (even my own museum's), but does use museum methods and languages. >So I opted to use museum processes rather than museum things. When I think >about it, the other faculty I know (mostly digtial media/art types) also >do not use museum content in their teaching. > >I don't mean to create a picture of empty "content" lots with no visitors >- because I know that instructors, faculty, teachers, and students do use >our sites, but I'm wondering about the nature of that use right now. Is it >limited to individual research (especially in college level education)? Or >is museum content (or processes) being integrated more substantially into >any curriculae or assignments? Does anyone on this list have any evidence >(and better yet, names :) ? > >Rick Rinehart > > >>Rick, >>A session on pedagogies involving art and technologies, or for that matter, >>any academic specialization involving technologies that use museum and/or >>archival data in interesting or novel ways would certainly interest me. I >>tried to pull together a session last year on visual anthropology and fell >>flat on my face, but I still think it would be interesting to go to a >>session made up of (one or more of) our "audience(s)" and find out what they >>actually DO with the information we provide. >>Chuck >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: Richard Rinehart [mailto:[email protected]] >>Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 4:33 PM >>To: [email protected] >>Subject: Re: Wired Rick >> >> >>Thanks; I'm blushing. I never thought of this as subject for a >>session! Something about pedagogies involving art and technologies? >>(I have thought of doing this again, but using our museum >>collections). Hm. I do know some other art/digital faculty I could >>invite - but then again I invited them last time and they failed to >>show :( Anyway, it turns out that I'm going to teach digital media at >>UC Berkeley this summer in the Art dept. and maybe ongoing, just part >>time, in addition to the museum, so this project really fired up some >>energy! Thanks for forwarding it :) >>Rick >> >> >> >> >MCN Board Member and SIG liason Richard Rinehart makes Wired >> News *again*. >> > Really Cool! And do I detect here a great presentation for Las >> Vegas...? >> > >> >Congratulations! >> > >> >----------------------------------------- >> >When Art Imitates Art >> >by Terence Chea >> > >> >WIRED NEWS 3:00 a.m. Apr. 25, 2000 PDT >> > >> >BERKELEY, California -- Art students at two California universities are >> >learning that art takes on a life of its own when it's hung on the virtual >> >gallery walls of the Internet. >> > >> >Students at the University of California at Berkeley and Sonoma State >> >University have teamed up for the online art exhibit CU: A >> >Tele-collaborative Art Inquiry. >> > >> >Berkeley students are displaying their work on the Internet while Sonoma >> >State students evaluate and criticize its digital representations on the >> >Internet. The originals are not digital. >> > >> >"We are using the Net as our medium instead of print," said Richard >> >Rinehart, an instructor of art and technology at Sonoma State. "The >> idea is >> >that they get them to interpret their own work through another medium." >> > >> >CU was developed by Rinehart, Kevin Radley, an instructor of new genres in >> >the UC Berkeley art department, and Tony Le, a Berkeley student who serves >> >as the project's technical manager... >> > >> > >> > <http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,35810,00.html> >> > >> > >> > >> >Amalyah Keshet >> >Head of Visual Resources, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem >> >Board of Directors, the Museum Computer Network >> >Chair, MCN Intellectual Property Special Interest Group >> >[email protected] >> >[email protected] >> >> >> >>Richard Rinehart >>---------------- >>Digital Media Director >>Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive >>@ University of California >>www.bampfa.berkeley.edu >>---------------- >>& Board of Directors >>Museum Computer Network >>www.mcn.edu > > > >Richard Rinehart >---------------- >Digital Media Director >Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive >@ University of California >www.bampfa.berkeley.edu >---------------- >& Board of Directors >Museum Computer Network >www.mcn.edu ------------ Leslie Johnston Head of Instructional Technology Graduate School of Design, Harvard University [email protected]
