The Art of Facts: Four Ways that Art Protects You in the World of “Fake News”
Observation: They say seeing is believing. Sure, there are plenty of invisible, real phenomenon, including the gravitational pull that prevent you from flying off the earth as you read this. But, so much of our understanding of the universe is based on observation. Attempt to draw something you see. For your drawing to have any …
Continue reading “The Art of Facts: Four Ways that Art Protects You in the World of “Fake News””
Signs of Our Peoples Voice
On January 21, 2017, more than 3.3 million people shared their feelings about American politics in the largest one-day global protest ever. I might argue it was also the largest collective art assignment in history. As of today, more than 7000 signs tagged #protestsigns and 2000 as #womensmarchsigns. As with the best of education, this …
Five Reasons that Museums are Radical Spaces
Museums often hold diverse collections. Think of the Royal Ontario Museum whose holdings include dinosaurs, building columns, and moccasins in one collection. Accusations of privilege and elitism are regular criticism of museums as making museum more old guard than future leaning. Museums have acquisition policies and hierarchy, certainly, but even anarchists need to organize …
Continue reading “Five Reasons that Museums are Radical Spaces”
#MCN2016 Notes
Overview: Staff: A great deal of the panels focused on staff issues, particularly on the way that new, young, off-beat voices bring more visitor-centered projects. Also, there was a lot of conversation about people moving out of the sector due to the low moral, pay, promotion. Social Media: A fabulous tour for connecting, but must have …
The Near-Future of Museum Education for K-12 Audiences
This afternoon I had the privilege of participating in the North Carolina Museum of Art’s project, #NCMAAsk (search twitter for more), which is focused on museums, technology, and the future. There were a number of issues that came up, but, many of them centered around hearing, listening, and flexibility. Museums in their partnership with …
Continue reading “The Near-Future of Museum Education for K-12 Audiences”
Donald Draper on the Way of Museums
“You are the product. You feel something.” Mad Men The television show Mad Men celebrates the way that advertising men transformed brands like Hershey and Jaguar from things you buy into personas with which you identify. In the show, Don Draper, a complicated anti-hero, was shown developing poetic narratives that made people connect with products. …
Usability for Users; Consumerability for Consumers?
Usability is one of those words that has a faint jargon-style feeling to it. In pitching the power of eyetracking, card sorts, and participant design, you are wisest to avoid all those terms. These are terms that alienate your clients. As John Rhodes discusses in Selling Usability, focusing on the customers, rather than the testing, will help …
Continue reading “Usability for Users; Consumerability for Consumers?”
Why play games in museums?
One of my clearest memories of childhood is being beaten soundly at Uno by my uncles and aunts. Strangely, I felt belonging and comraderie. It made me begin to think strategically. It made me want to play more. In the end, it was the doing that I liked. We were actively engaging in a shared …
What kind of games can you play in museums?
There is no one game solution for museums. In fact, as a game developer it is often fun to try to continue to break boundaries with your museum game. Some of the things to consider: The game structure and mechanics are related to the level of social engagement. In some instances, more individual games allow …
Continue reading “What kind of games can you play in museums?”
How do you actually make a game?
Designing a game? Well, there are many ways to start, but, in essence, you want to think about some big issues: 1. What is your goal? What do you want your players to get out of it? What is your project goal? How does it relate to your game goal? 2. Where are you going …