New Bio Hall Exhibit Thought

In our syllabus, one of the project options listed is designing a series of web pages for the Bio Hall. As the handout states, the Bio Hall is in a current state of flux and is about to change dramatically. Instead of just creating a web page for what the new hall will be, what if we were to have a mini-exhibit on-line documenting how we're creating the new exhibit? Not too long from now that space will be closed off, and I know from past experience how frustrating it is to visit an exhibit and discover it's closed. If we can't allow visitors to watch the actual renovation process (although watching me measure mounted birds is a thrilling way to spend an afternoon), perhaps we could at least document it on-line so that they understand not only why it's closed, but what we're doing (and there will be things happening that are much cooler than me and the birds).

The California Academy of Science has done something similar with their Howard St. exhibit (they're currently building a new building, and created an exhibit on how you move collections and create an exhibit: http://www.calacademy.org/aquarium/aquarium_under_construction.php)
and while we probably don't have the space to have a physical exhibit on the renovation the way that we do, we could at least have a virtual one.

This also plays back into the idea of museums being transparent, and letting the public always know what's going on (something I think every museum should strive for).

An Intro of Sorts

Caveat: I have no technological intuition/savvy. The clocks on my microwave, stove and dvd player all say 12:00 all the time, because I can never manage to set them correctly. Last week I broke a guy's blackberry while trying to put my phone number into it. However, I refuse to fear the unknown, and plan to attain the seemingly unattainable. Therefore, amongst (hopefully) many things, I hope this will be a forum to explore the role of technology in museums, and in our lives. That's the plan, anyway. We'll see how it actually plays out.