Preserving the impossible: conservation of soft-sediment hominin footprint sites and strategies for three-dimensional digital data capture.

Human footprints provide some of the most publically emotive and tangible evidence of our ancestors. To the scientific community they provide evidence of stature, presence, behaviour and in the case of early hominins potential evidence with respect to the evolution of gait. While rare in the geological record the number of footprint sites has increased in recent years along with the analytical tools available for their study. Many of these sites are at risk from rapid erosion, including the Ileret footprints in northern Kenya which are second only in age to those at Laetoli (Tanzania). Unlithified, soft-sediment footprint sites such these pose a significant geoconservation challenge. In the first part of this paper conservation and preservation options are explored leading to the conclusion that to 'record and digitally rescue' provides the only viable approach. Key to such strategies is the increasing availability of three-dimensional data capture either via optical laser scanning and/or digital photogrammetry. Within the discipline there is a developing schism between those that favour one approach over the other and a requirement from geoconservationists and the scientific community for some form of objective appraisal of these alternatives is necessary. Consequently in the second part of this paper we evaluate these alternative approaches and the role they can play in a 'record and digitally rescue' conservation strategy. Using modern footprint data, digital models created via optical laser scanning are compared to those generated by state-of-the-art photogrammetry. Both methods give comparable although subtly different results. This data is evaluated alongside a review of field deployment issues to provide guidance to the community with respect to the factors which need to be considered in digital conservation of human/hominin footprints

Louisville Science Center

The Louisville Science Center a leading resource for informal science education and is the largest hands-on science center in Kentucky, with 150 interactive exhibits and activity stations, a four-story IMAX Theatre, teaching laboratories, a variety of educational programs, and distance learning capabilities. The World We Create is a 12,500 square-foot permanent exhibit lets visitors make use of their creative and problem-solving skills with activity stations involving the fields of chemistry, physics, engineering, telecommunications, and manufacturing encourage visitors to discover how math, science, and technology are at work in their everyday lives. The World Within Us explores the life sciences, and The World Around Us is a natural and earth sciences exhibit where visitors explore their connections to, and impacts on, the world around us. Center Stage serves as a gateway to three major ecological galleries, including Atmosphere, Air That Surrounds Us, Aquasphere, Water That Sustains Us, and Terrasphere, Environments That Support Us. The Center has also developed some traveling exhibits available for rent. There are online games, links, and educational resources for teachers, as well as information on teacher professional development, activities, workshops and special events. Educational levels: Informal education

The Future of Fossils: The Evolution of Paleontological Research in the Modern Age

Dinosaurs are awesome. They hold a special place in everyone’s childhood, and new discoveries in what they looked like and how they lived and might have behaved are exciting news. It’s more common to come across an article unveiling a new fossil as opposed to novel breakthroughs in understanding the paleobiology of these organisms. Although discoveries in the research field are less widespread than field discoveries and new dig sites, even though the datapool of fossils grows every year, new advances in technology allow for new analytical methods to study these fossils. Researchers are now able to test a wider range of more specific hypotheses. Scientific understanding of dinosaurs and how they lived has not progressed as rapidly as would be expected in the new digital age given the abundance of fossils to study. Paleontology is commonly thought of as digging in the field, piecing bones together in a museum, and analyzing morphological characteristics of bones to describe new species. With the new digital age and the development of many distinctions within helpful fields, such as histology, how people think about paleontology and the ways it’s explored can be expanded from just dig sites to include the laboratory setting where even more discoveries happen. Within the professional world of paleontology, there is a lot of discourse over how the field is changing, integrating new technologies, and adapting to be more efficient to researchers in the future. However, amateurs may not be aware of this discussion. My project is designed to investigate what the modern paleontologist does, articulate obstacles the field currently faces, address the plausible solutions that are being, or can 4 be, integrated into the field, and finally to create an online resource for aspiring paleontologists

Are fossils enough? Palaeontological tourism based on local dinosaur discoveries

Fossils of dinosaurs and other tetrapods have long aroused interest of scientists and the public opinion alike. Every finding of a new (especially large) species receives coverage in national and international media, and thus, local fossil discoveries might constitute a good basis for local tourism development. The paper aims to examine whether fossiliferous sites on their own may be enough for the development of palaeontological tourism to occur, or do they require the support of additional amusement infrastructure. For this purpose, the interest in chosen localities was analysed using Google and Wikipedia searches, and was further discussed against a survey on dinoparks and their elements. The above-mentioned data reveal that local tourism can be indeed predicated on local paleontological findings, however, it is deemed considerably more efficient if such attractions are backed with an extensive infrastructure of amusement theme parks

Computer-Mediated Communication Of History Museums In The Midwestern United States: A Web Content Analysis

Adult museumgoers have come to expect increased access to museum information and resources through computer-mediated communication (CMC). Current research suggests that museum websites can increase the desire to visit the museum physically. The purpose of this study is to investigate how small, medium, and large history museums in the midwestern United States communicate the value of digital experiences to adult museumgoers. This qualitative content analysis follows Pauwels’ (2012) Multimodal Framework for Analyzing Websites as Cultural Expressions. The data was collected from 16 history museum websites, then analyzed using MAXQDA. The data collected provides insight into the methods and language museums use to describe the value of digital experiences to adult museumgoers. Culturally specific meanings can be found in the explicit and implicit content of an organization’s website. This content can reveal information about the organization, such as mission, beliefs, and values. The results of this study suggested that visitors of history museums are the recipients of embedded messages either explicit or implicit. The second theme that emerged from visual analysis was building digital communities. This study elucidated how smaller museums often promote the physical museum experience over the digital, but they frequently rely on social media technology to communicate the socio-cultural context of the museum, regardless of the geographic location of the museum. Museum educators need to provide online opportunities that go beyond information exchange and target the identity-related needs of adult learners. A second recommendation is that they prioritize social exchange in online platforms with a focus on cultivating and strengthen relationships between museumgoers as well as connectedness to the museum

Information Outlook, May 2007

Volume 11, Issue 5https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2007/1004/thumbnail.jp

Rasch analysis on individual cognitive styles for museum learning performances

The advantages offered by the web-based environment have successfully convinced museums around the world to employ the technology in enriching their visitors’ learning experiences.However, the design and development of such environment in presenting the museum exhibits is challenging due to the complexities of human-computer interaction. The diverse profiles of museum visitors also add to the dilemma in designing effective museum leaning experiences for all.This paper addresses the issue by focusing on the effects between media representation formats and individual cognitive preferences.The data collected utilizing a quasi-experimental design was then analyzed using Rasch Model. The findings reveal that cognitive styles do have an effect on the learning performance thus should be consider during the design process of the learning environment