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Museum Podcast Newsletter
MuseumPods |
October 2006 - Vol 1, Issue 7
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In This Issue |
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Quick Links |
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Greetings! |
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Over the next several months MuseumPods will begin more comprehensive research on museum podcasting and new media. Please visit our web site regularly to participate
in our new comprehensive surveys.
Museum Podcasts on MySpace? - yes it is true. Visit or post Museum and College Podcasts on MySpace.com
Museums on MySpace
Colleges on MySpace |
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by Kurt Stuchell, Founder MuseumPods
The significance of podcasting and new media in the
museum context parallels that of the introduction of web sites as a teaching tool and dissemination mechanism for museums.
Podcasting and new media will be pervasively utilized in the museum environment for didactic programming purposes by 2010,
extending the reach and bolstering the effectiveness of these programs. More people - regardless of geographic location -
will gain greater exposure to the lessons and cultural experience offered by museums ranging in type across the spectrum from
world-renowned national institutions with extensive and changing collections, to niche-audience historical houses with small,
static collections.
Museums, in their efforts to meet the mandates of their
mission statements, typically offer educational programming, in many forms, to their patrons. Meeting these educational objectives
is the driver for evaluation of podcasting technology as a cost-effective programming delivery mechanism.
What is the role of new technology with regard to museum
educational programming? Museum education departments, staff, and administrators face a variety of challenges when dealing
with the shift between traditional educational programs and new media technologies known as “Collaborative Media Culture”
(Wikipedia definition) that are quickly merging as delivery mechanisms for museum educational programs. It is important to examine what the mission
statements of museums intend, what types of educational programs exist in museums, in what manner technology has been applied
to serve educational programs over the past decade, and how new technologies will influence museum mission statements and
educational programming in the new millennium.
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by Lisa Falk, Director of Education, Arizona State
Museum, University of Arizona, Tucson
What do Mexican masks, wrestlers and iPods have in
common? The Arizona State Museum! On Tuesday, September 12th the Arizona State Museum (ASM), part of The University of Arizona,
launched our first audio tour and podcast at a Pod Party. The podcast audio tour guides visitors through the Masks of Mexico:
Santos, Diablos y Más exhibition. Visitors hear curators, scholars, Mexican luchadores (wrestlers), a mask maker and others
tell stories about the masks on display and the role masks have played in Mexico since before conquest to the wrestling rings
of today.
Like the Spaniards 500 years ago, eight months ago
I ventured into a new world. I’d heard of podcasts but had neither listened to one nor used an iPod. But I was hooked.
I wanted to use this new technology as a way to expand our interpretation and in so doing to also reach out and draw college
students to the museum. 90 people attended the Pod Party, predominately university students (and more would have come if it
had not been pouring rain!). Lured by free food, the opportunity to meet Mexican wrestlers, and a chance to win an iPod, students,
museum members, and university staff came and listened to the podcast audio tour episodes and toured the exhibition.
What was our process to reach this point? First I wrote
a grant and was awarded $5,000 from Gateway for a student initiative project. Since I wanted the podcast to be by students
for students (and others), I created a semester-long internship class that promised students that they would create a podcast,
learn about museums, and go on a trip to Mexico. Four students were chosen to work with me on this venture: David Kemper (journalism
major), Erich Healy (music major), Shannon Kolder (interdisciplinary arts major) and Adan Martinez-Kee (media arts major).
None of us had created a podcast before.
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The Museum Podcast Directory on MuseumPods started with only five museum podcasts in March and now we
have over 73!
Thanks,
Museum Podcasting Team
MuseumPods
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