My mantra and challenge for interpretation has evolved to
So what?
Who cares?
What difference does it make?
What will people do as a result of engaging with the stories, place, objects, landscapes, living collections, processes, traditions, etc.
And, a strong hats off to Freeman Tilden.
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Kathryn Boardman
Principal, Cherry Valley Group
Adjunct Faculty, Cooperstown Graduate Program - SUNY at Oneonta
Cooperstown NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-20-2017 06:49 AM
From: Colin Windhorst
Subject: Museum Interpretation
It is a good question. Interpretation is a guide to meaning. It is achieved in many ways, which is the art of curating an exhibit. One way to do this is by providing context in space and time. Where did this artifact or document come from? Who made it and when? How was it used, how did this change over of time? The context can be social, economic, agricultural, diplomatic, or however we choose to see it. Meaning is also expressed through reflection on the item, in either written, oral form, or in some other medium, which shows, depicts, remembers, analyzes, measures, observes, listens to or acts upon it in some manner. Interpretation can be enhanced by demonstrating how the artifact is, was, or possibly will be used in the future. Meaning is also acquired through more formal means, as part of records in catalogues, encyclopedia's, and other mechanisms of definition; though this is often seen as secondary, it is still valuable. With so much information on-line these days, the digital records surrounding an object can be vast, and yet are accessible to a much wider audience. The poet John Donne famously declared that no-one is an island. The same could be said of any material or digital object used by human beings. They matter to us in some way or another, and interpretation is the art of explaining that. and conveying it to others in an interesting and engaging way.
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Colin Windhorst, PhD
Digital Curation
University of Maine
Orono, Maine, USA
Original Message:
Sent: 12-19-2017 03:48 PM
From: Edward Malouf
Subject: Museum Interpretation
As curators, developers and history and science enthusiasts, we do not need much prompting to understand the stories that give meaning to objects and works of art. For instance, if I encounter <g class="gr_ gr_531 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar multiReplace" id="531" data-gr-id="531">a</g> 18th-century bellows used for a hearth in <g class="gr_ gr_309 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar multiReplace" id="309" data-gr-id="309">a</g> early colonial era house I can imagine the water freezing in the tankards in a home of that time period, and the things people did to stay warm, such as a pan of coals under the bed. It is because of the mental extension I make that give the object significance. However, for many viewers of this moderately valuable historic <g class="gr_ gr_514 gr-alert gr_gramm Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="514" data-gr-id="514">object</g> it will seem quaint, and others will not understand even what it is used for.
That is why we must provide context for our visitors, to enrich their understanding of the human experience.
Please excuse the analogy, I suspect water frozen in your drinking cups in the morning is not an issue in most of Nigeria, but it is an <g class="gr_ gr_712 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar multiReplace" id="712" data-gr-id="712">images</g> that was provided by a tour guide in a historic house near where I live in Hingham, Massachusetts.
Thanks for putting out a query like this, sometimes we need to revisit our basic <g class="gr_ gr_832 gr-alert gr_spell ContextualSpelling ins-del" id="832" data-gr-id="832">tenents</g>.
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Edward Malouf
Principal
Content•Design Collaborative LLC
Original Message:
Sent: 12-15-2017 06:06 AM
From: ISHAQ BELLO
Subject: Museum Interpretation
Interpretation and object display are crucial to making your collections engaging for your audiences. Why is that so important to museums today?
Need your ideas.
Thanks a lot.
Ishaq Mohammed Bello,
Chief Technical Officer (Education),
National Commission for Museums and Monuments,
Kaduna, Kaduna State - Nigeria.
+2348033303587.
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.