Museum of Flight

Located in Seattle, WA, the Museum of Flight houses an impressive number of airplanes ranging from planes of pleasure to those used in war. But the museum isn't what this entry is about - it is about the website associated with this museum.
What with society's advances in technology, it is only expected that museums keep up with the times. Set up in plain print and minimal distractions on the page, the Museum of Flight's website is very easy to navigate and makes it simple to find information desired. For example, it was no large feat to find the museum's mission statement, which is "to acquire, preserve, and exhibit historically significant air and space artifacts, which provide a foundation for scholarly research, and lifelong learning programs that inspire an interest in and understanding of science, technology, and the humanities."
Looking at this mission statement, the question arises: does the website contribute to this museum's mission statement's success? In my opinion, I would say it does. While the actually museum succeeds in preserving and exhibiting the air and space artifacts, the website allows people in, say, Pullman to access them with ease. It is possible to search what you are looking for, and then a picture, along with excess information (such as serial number, weight, model number, year used) is brought up. With the choice to view an entire gallery as well, it is very easy to view the exhibits, almost as if you are indeed standing there, gazing with your own two eyes.
All in all, I would say that the Museum of Flight's website is very successful. It allows me (and others, of course) to view the artifacts being presented in the museum, and see just as much information as is available at the actual exhibit. However, if you want the pure enjoyment of viewing such large and impressive items in person, I would definitely recommend actually going to the museum. There is nothing else like it.

The museum's website is: http://www.museumofflight.org

the "Grand Slam Collection"

When one walks into the Connor Museum, the first thought is that there are so many animals in so many cabinets! Making your way through the galleries, most of the exhibits are the same: white walls covered with cabinet upon cabinet, holding different birds, mammals, amphibians, and insects native to the region and from other places around the world. But then, walking into the East Gallery, the eye is drawn to an exhibit located in the center of the room: a big rock structure housing five intimidating mountain goats.
Most of us haven’t seen a mountain goat, also known as a bighorn sheep, on a very up close and personal level, and so this first taste of close proximity to one in astounding. One can examine their fur, their body shape, and also get a glimpse of them in their natural habitat. This exhibit does a good job in displaying the goats in a plausible setting, allowing the visitor to draw his or her own conclusions as to how the mountain goat lived its life, while also letting him or her imagine the goats in the wild.
The five sheep in display (the Stone Sheep, Desert Bighorn, Rocky Mountain Bighorn, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Ewe, and Dall Sheep) stare down at the visitor as he or she approaches. Coming upon such formidable creatures, and having those creatures higher up than me, certainly is slightly unnerving. Though it’s clear and understood that these sheep have been dead for a good amount of time, and have no ability to move and spring down from their ledges, showing you the brute strength of their horns (for which they are being proudly displayed), the set-up is every just as frightening. This is a result of the strategic way in which they are set-up. Posed in lifelike positions, it seems as if they could move, no longer being stationary. Because of this, it can most definitely be stated that the exhibit is affected by how it presents itself.
Other than looks-wise, the information provided on the bighorn sheep displayed is very readable, a good size font, and contains interesting information (such as the types, where they are found, etc.). they do not go into too much detail, which the younger audience is sure to appreciate, and yet they include more information than just a name and brief description, which the older audience would appreciate.
The materials found in this exhibit include the specimens themselves (the five bighorn sheep listed previously), a painted background, various shrub, rock structures for the sheep to stand upon, and, of course, the signs containing the information on the exhibit. There is also a rope keeping people from going up to the sheep and touching them, an act that would surely be destructive as the years wear on.
The objective of the exhibit, or what I would say the objective is after viewing it, would be to teach people about the bighorn sheep while also showing them they way that they could have lived. Unlike the other specimens, many of which are simply placed in cabinets around the room, the “Grand Slam Collection” offers a story to go along with the information. One can easily imagine these magnificent beasts climbing the mountains much like they stand on the rock structure provided in the museum. If this is the true objective of this exhibit, then I daresay that it was achieved. Through the arrangement of the display I see them as powerful animals, capable of great force behind the horns they have upon their heads, and I am thankful for this opportunity to view them in a controlled environment. Where else could I look so closely at their coat and examine their faces?
And thus, all in all, the “Grand Slam Collection” in the Connor Museum at WSU Pullman gets two thumbs up, for its presentation of materials, its general appeal to the eye, the information displayed, and of course the experience it creates with the visitor.

Review of "Time-Traveling With the Muses in Boston", the New York Times, January 15, 2010

The magical museum experience begins, for many, at a young age. Walking into a hushed room, surrounded by artifacts told to be “old” and “important” creates a sense of awe for a small child, or for anyone for that matter. As retold by the author of this article, Holland Cotter, his love for museums, all started on midwinter Saturday mornings in his childhood, when he and his family would visit the museums in Boston. And, as he describes it, he “got hooked on museums the way many kids do, through the thrills and chills of Egyptian art.” It is here that I can say I, from personal experience, agree. The life of the ancient Egyptians continues to fascinate me, and is a major selling point for a museum if there are some Egyptian artifacts present.
Cotter continues to describe what pieces of art at the two museums on which the article is centered upon, the Museum of Fine Art and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, both located in Boston, Massachusetts. He was especially interested in Asian art, and has a personal love for the more hidden pieces, such as Fra Angelico’s “Death and Assumption of the Virgin”. Cotter disproves of the more famous pieces in a way that seems to be a dislike for following the norm. Considering how he later describes the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s creater, Isabella Gardner herself, this description would fit.
Isabella Gardner is described as having “a decent fortune, shrewd advisers, eclectic tastes, personal chutzpah, and a belief in more is more”. When reading this portrayal of the legendary Isabella Gardner, along with the fact that in her will she mandates that should anything in her prized exhibit change the whole exhibit must be auctioned off, I picture a woman with such a passion for her work, and who wouldn’t let anything hold her back from doing as she pleased. This mental image is of a woman who wouldn’t want her visitors to love only the well-known pieces, but instead would want them to glory in the discovery of new art placed in the museum. The museum experience should be more than just walking in a line, shuffling along with others from one piece of artwork to the next; it should be a joy and an adventure to stroll the halls, look at the unique artifacts displayed, and learn more about the different cultures of the world.
After discussing all of this, Cotter starts his conclusion by discussing the largely unchanging nature of the museum. What he remembers seeing at a young age is still there, waiting for a new youngster to discover them and fall in love as he did all those years ago. And so the cycle continues, as it should; people coming and people going through the doors of a museum, falling in love and finding a passion for the simple wonders of the world.

architecture vs experience

When I have been to museums in the past, the architecture of the museum has kind of influenced my overall experience. For example, the way that the objects in that museum are displayed on the wall or in cases has either emphasized that object, or deemphasized it (in relation to others). Featuring one object along a wall rather than several next to one another, would draw my attention to the solitary artifact rather than the row. Moving on to the overall structure of the building, if the museum has an older feel, or older architectural design, I would expect to find exhibits from that time period or genre. Walking into the Experience Music Project (EMP) in Seattle, WA, I would personally be thrown off if instead of housing important and memorable artifacts to the music world, the EMP was displaying objects of natural history (not only because of the name, but the modern design of the museum itself does not broadcast a "natural feel"). The contrast of the EMP's bright colors and abstract shape against the cityscape of Seattle reflects what I believe to be a modern take on music, hoping to draw in those who (while may also enjoy classics) has a soft spot in their heart for the pop and rock side of the young culture of today's society. Similarly, if the EMP had the same exhibits but they were surrounded by columns and old-world architecture, it would all seem out of place and more confusing than educating and enjoyable as a visitor.

effectiveness of museums

The article written by S.E. Weil on the factors that affect the quality of museums, he outlines four basic criteria. These criteria are: purposiveness, capability, effectiveness, and efficiency. Based on personal experience, I would say that the quality of my museum visits can be traced back to whether or not the museum has a good mission statement, and/or if the mission statement is made, and the quality of the resources the museum has. Whenever I go to a museum, I look forward to learning something new, and so if the mission statement includes the goal of providing knowledge to visitors, then I will most likely have a better experience at that museum. Also, the quality of resources of the museum has available affects the organization and presentation of the exhibits. With this point I am not necessarily talking about the content of the exhibits, but rather the way that the artifacts are being presented to me. Looking at a display that is constructed haphazardly and disorganized restricts my ability to understand the point of the exhibit and my learning of the new information. Thus, if the resources (including the people constructing the exhibits - more professional means clearer designs) the museum has available are of high-quality, then I am more likely to have a good experience at that museum.

contextual approach

A contextual approach is taken when the visitors are allowed to be personal with the items, possibly feeling them and such. This differs from another approach where, say, the object is locked in a glass cabinet, only allowed to be seen and observed rather than felt and experienced. Having the objects available for personal connections made strengthens the overall reaction of the visitors to the museum in general. For example, at the Conner Museum's "Big Cats" exhibit it was made possible to feel the different coats of the different big cats. Thus, little children were getting excited and could tell their parents about how they felt the fur of a cougar today. In doing this, they were allowed to actually experience the object (in this case the fur) and form concrete sensual experiences, and this in turn made the object more memorable and life-like than one placed behind glass. Therefore, the contextual approach is very likely to be found and successful in museums today (as shown in the example of the conner museum).

the way of seeing

I don't know about the rest of you out there, but when I walk into a museum, I am in awe of the collections. Everything in the building I just entered has some significance to someone, whether it's to a culture or individual, it doesn't matter; the point is that for some reason, someone has selected it to be put on display. I then examine each object with an educational view, trying to imagine how it was used, or possibly how it lived it's life (depending on the object itself). However, in the "real world", I would say that I don't look at everything in such a critical view. Sure, when walking in nature I might think about the animals' lives, or if I stumble upon something from the recent past I might wonder how it was used, and try to compare it to what I use in my daily life. But I wouldn't say I do this hypothesizing in such a detailed, in-depth way as I do in a museum. This could partly be because I'm going to a museum with the intent of learning something, or it could be partly because of the way the museum sets up its displays, highlighting objects (as Svetlana Alpers in her article The museum as a way of seeing) and eliminating their natural surroundings. So call it the museum effect opposed to a personal view, but the way I see objects in museums is both similar and different to how I view the world around me every day.