Performing heritage: the use of live 'actors' in heritage presentations

This paper investigates the phenomenon of 'living history' presentations of heritage, using live 'actors' to portray historical characters. Its aim is to discuss these presentations in the context of what may be understood as 'heritage', and of the nature of 'performance'. Four case studies of heritage sites, each important as a tourist attraction, have been selected for detailed study, together with a number of other examples of heritage performance. It is clear from the empirical work that different performance strategies are employed within the heritage industry and by individual 'actors'. Most of the performers take part as a leisure activity, and many do not consider themselves to be 'performing' at all. The greatest concern of participants lies in the degree of authenticity of the performance. Through 'living history', the 'actors' are drawn into an experience of heritage which has real meaning for them, and which may contribute both to a sense of identity and to an enhanced understanding of society, past and present. The popularity of such presentations with visitors also indicates that similar benefits are perceived by the 'audience'

Museums as disseminators of niche knowledge: Universality in accessibility for all

Accessibility has faced several challenges within audiovisual translation Studies and gained great opportunities for its establishment as a methodologically and theoretically well-founded discipline. Initially conceived as a set of services and practices that provides access to audiovisual media content for persons with sensory impairment, today accessibility can be viewed as a concept involving more and more universality thanks to its contribution to the dissemination of audiovisual products on the topic of marginalisation. Against this theoretical backdrop, accessibility is scrutinised from the perspective of aesthetics of migration and minorities within the field of the visual arts in museum settings. These aesthetic narrative forms act as modalities that encourage the diffusion of ‘niche’ knowledge, where processes of translation and interpretation provide access to all knowledge as counter discourse. Within this framework, the ways in which language is used can be considered the beginning of a type of local grammar in English as lingua franca for interlingual translation and subtitling, both of which ensure access to knowledge for all citizens as a human rights principle and regardless of cultural and social differences. Accessibility is thus gaining momentum as an agent for the democratisation and transparency of information against media discourse distortions and oversimplifications

Old Stories, New Narratives: Public Archaeology and the Politics of Display at Georgia\u27s Official Southeastern Indian Interpretive Center

Presenting a case study of an American Indian exhibit at the Funk Heritage Center, I critically examine how this museum’s ideologies and preferred pedagogies shape public discourse about Southeastern Indians in the past and present. Using the methodology of Visitor Studies, this public archaeology project illustrates the benefits of incorporating applied anthropology into museological practice through collaboration with museum staff, volunteers, visitors, and American Indians. Operating within the theoretical frameworks of Charles R. Garoian (2001) and Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (1991), my results imply that inserting archaeological narratives into institutional pedagogy alters a museum’s traditional “performance” of the past by challenging its own authority; ultimately, I show how this process can increase viewer awareness about the politics of display

On the edge of inclusion: A look at the shifting of representation in museum display and archival cataloging

This project, entitled On The Edge of Inclusion: A Look at the Shifting of Representation in Museum Display and Archival Cataloging by Natalie Ray delves into how the growing trend of social justice has raised new questions about how to better represent marginalized populations and how museum work has followed this pursuit. The digital age continues to impact the dynamism of exhibiting. Accurate representation becomes more imperative now that representative texts are able to reach more people than ever before. This increasing access coupled with the expanding interest in social justice and cultural reconciliation renders it necessary for curators and archivists to create accurate and culturally sustaining work. The exhibits and collections being viewed are in flux, and the texts that have been prepared for the public have been conceived by individuals and institutions with their own motivations and directives. Awareness of this fact allows for visitors to be critical of these possible inflections and misinterpretations. The first chapter provides an overview of the field and structuring of the project, the second chapter analyzes the current conversation among practitioners, the third chapter reviews the methodologies of this project, and the fourth is the project’s conclusion. This project aims to recognize practices that are creating new schemas by which archivists and curators will structure history. And more specifically, the literature review of this project is looking at those schemas that are working to promote previously regulated or oppressed histories. Following the literature review are suggestions for how the archival process might be changed through teaching integration and increased public outreach

Drawing Survivance, Embodying Survivance: The Work of Contemporary Ledger Artists Dwayne Wilcox and Monte Yellow Bird Sr.

This paper examines the work of two contemporary Indigenous Artists, Dwayne Wilcox and Monte Yellow Bird Sr. using Gerald Vizenor\u27s theory of suriviance. I first discuss survivance, drawing on the ways both Vizenor and other scholars have used survivance in their academic works. I then move on to situating ledger art in its historical context, analyzing the ways ledger art has been historically examined and written about. The last two sections of this paper are dedicated to highlighting the ways in which two contemporary Indigenous artists, Dwayne Wilcox and Monte Yellow Bird Sr., have embodied Vizenor’s theory of survivance in their artwork. By analyzing the works of artists Dwayne Wilcox and Monte Yellow Bird Sr. through the lens of survivance, I propose that examining ledger art through survivance gives scholars a nuanced way of understanding both nineteenth century and contemporary ledger art

Supporting group coherence in a museum visit

Visiting museums as part of a group poses the challenge of managing engagement with exhibits while preserving group cohesion. We respond to this by reconfiguring the social dynamic of visiting with an experience designed specifically for groups, that invites the group members themselves to design and ‘gift’ interpretations to one another. We present a trial of this experience with groups of family and friends at a museum. We show how groups managed and configured themselves during the visit, revealing the strategies involved in maintaining different group behaviors. We discuss how our design accommodated different visiting styles by making objects social and scaffolding rather than directing the group experience. We interpret our findings to frame group coherence as a flexible and configurable phenomenon within CSCW

ENHANCING USERS’ EXPERIENCE WITH SMART MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

The aim of this thesis is to investigate mobile guides for use with smartphones. Mobile guides have been successfully used to provide information, personalisation and navigation for the user. The researcher also wanted to ascertain how and in what ways mobile guides can enhance users' experience. This research involved designing and developing web based applications to run on smartphones. Four studies were conducted, two of which involved testing of the particular application. The applications tested were a museum mobile guide application and a university mobile guide mapping application. Initial testing examined the prototype work for the ‘Chronology of His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah’ application. The results were used to assess the potential of using similar mobile guides in Brunei Darussalam’s museums. The second study involved testing of the ‘Kent LiveMap’ application for use at the University of Kent. Students at the university tested this mapping application, which uses crowdsourcing of information to provide live data. The results were promising and indicate that users' experience was enhanced when using the application. Overall results from testing and using the two applications that were developed as part of this thesis show that mobile guides have the potential to be implemented in Brunei Darussalam’s museums and on campus at the University of Kent. However, modifications to both applications are required to fulfil their potential and take them beyond the prototype stage in order to be fully functioning and commercially viable

Advancing Literacy Through the Arts: Lessons from Settlement House After School Programs

The report opens with brief profiles of the seven arts/literacy projects supported by the E.H.A. Foundation grant. In the second section, the report describes some of the challenges involved in operating these kinds of projects and best practices used to make them as appealing and meaningful as possible to children. That discussion is followed by a section that offers insights from staff and program managers of the seven projects who reflect on how the projects have contributed to the education of children. The report ends with brief conclusions. The report draws on information gathered through site visits to the seven projects, observations made at UNH-sponsored discussion meetings of project managers, and interviews with selected staff and managers