Introduce Yourselves!

[Amelia]

Now that you have joined up, why not introduce yourself!

Tell us a little bit about yourself: what and where you are studying, what are your interests, and where you hope to end up.

About me:

I am a Masters Student in the postgraduate Museum Studies program at the University of Sydney, Australia. I have a Bachelor of Arts majoring in History, Ancient History, and Classical Civilisation. I really enjoy social history and many of my undergraduate courses took a thematic approach which I found very rewarding.

I am interested in the history of medicine and histories of unsavoury topics like crime, deviance, scandal, and vice. I am interested in the history of the early Australian colonies and their relationship with England. I am interested in other cultures both contemporary and historically. I am also interested in health, science, and technology.

I am currently looking at how museums are using social media and thinking of ways to make it successful for both the institution and the public. I also want to explore the public and educational programs side of things to connect museums to schools and communities.

[Alli Feigen]

I have a B.S. in Elementary Education Studies and while in college I ran a weekly family program at my on-campus museum. I loved the informal, object based approach to education at the museum, and I'm currently a teacher at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center. SEEC is a unique museum-based school for young children ages 3 months -6 years. I love bringing the masterpieces of the Smithsonian's collection alive and making them relevant for my toddlers.

I'm thinking about applying for a graduate degree in Museum Education, but I'm hoping to find a job/working experience for next year that will help me make that decision. Meanwhile, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about museum careers on the web and through local networking.

I'm interested in museum teaching theory, child development, object-based learning, media education, social media, parent education, and exhibit design.15 minutes left to edit your comment.

[Amelia]

Hi Alli,

Thanks for joining! The SEEC sounds amazing, I would have been thrilled to have had something like that available to me as a kid. One of my favourite books when I was learning to read was a 1950's Golden Book of the Odyssey so being able to connect my love of Greek myth and legend to actual objects would have just been so exciting!

I have just finished a subject that was on museum communication and education and I really enjoyed it. I think trying to find some relevant employment/work experience is a great way to work out if you want to commit to a degree and a career in that field.

Best of luck and hope to keep hearing from you!

[Alison H.Y. Liu]

Thanks for creating this group Amelia. I am a Masters student in Museum Studies program which is an online program at Johns Hopkins univ. I am also currently doing my PhD dissertation at the National Taiwan Normal Univ. My dissertation focuses on exploring the strategies of using online communities to engage potential museum visitors. I use case studies as ways of collecting research data. The criteria that I employed to select my cases is based on one of the theories I adopt in my dissertation, which is Etienne Wenger's "Community of Practice". Therefore some CoP principles will be the theoretical framework that I will be using to exam and analyse my five cases along the year. This also means the case selection needs to fit in with the CoP’s logic. Not sure whether my understanding is correct or not but I thought Blog and Wiki are the online community types that can better fit in with the CoP logic. I have tried to select museum Blog & Wiki to go for my one year case studies. My cases ended up being in the London area since I also plan to do an onsite study with some interviews with the web masters and it would be easier to have all my cases in a same geographic area. From this April I have started the “participant observation” in my five cases in their Blog/Wiki, which I will continue for at least half a year (till October) before I travel to the physical field (London) for a bit and then come back to the virtual field to finish my study. If any of you have any suggestion, I would very much appreciate.

[Amelia]

Hi Alison,

Thank you for joining. Your dissertation sounds fascinating, and a little similar to an essay I just wrote on museum blogs. As a result of my research I am looking into the same thing you are in the form of creating online public programs with an educational aspect to engage both the general public and especially school students. Do you have any links or online resources that explain the CoP theory, it sounds very interesting.

Some of the blogs I used in my essay that I loved were:

The Medieval Garden Enclosed
Powerhouse Museum Object of the Week
All About Evil
Australia in the 1980s

The last two are interesting as they have a link to their respective Facebook pages which have a much richer discussion than the actual blogs.

[Gillian Savage]

Hi, I am teaching the Museum Research Methods course in the Museum Studies program at University of Sydney. I have started a Ning site for the course. There are resources and discussions as well as other peripheral things of interest.

The course is run as a five- week intensive, so the site will have its own flavour.

[Amelia]

Hi Gillian,

Some of my friends are doing that course. Thanks for the link to the ning site you have created for them, it looks fantastic! I wish my other lecturers had done something similar!

[Ana Maria Martins]

I am from the other side of the world..from Portugal. I'm an art teacher.
I think that is very important to connect the school and the museum. This year I started a project with my students and the Museu Nacional da Arte Antiga in Lisbon (is like the National Gallery in London, the Prado in Madrid...but much smaller). We recreated the picture "temptations of Saint Anthony" by Hieronymous Bosch. We have created objects (in ceramic, wood and textile), pieces of jewellery, photos, videos, posters. I think it was very interesting.

[Amelia]

Hi Ana,

Thanks for joining! Your project sounds so fun! Are you a high school art teacher? Do you have any images of what your students have created? I would love to see them!

[Katherine Petrole]

Hi all!
I will be a first year grad student working on my Master's at IUPUI in Indianapolis, Indiana (USA). I haven't decided yet what my focus will be as a grad student; but I am leaning towards education, collections management, or exhibition design. I am really excited to see that people worldwide love museums as much as I do!

I was a Classical Humanities undergrad at Miami University (Ohio) '09, and plan on trying to incorporate my LOVE for classics into my future in museum work. Hopefully that means bringing more Classics-related exhibits to the States! (Sidenote if anyone saw the Roman Sculpture from the Louvre that came to the IMA a couple years ago- how cool was that?!?)

A little fun fact about me: I love to travel and visit international museums, from archaeological site museums to art museums to okay basically any museum! Some of my faves include: National Museum in Athens, Greece; National Museum in Naples, Italy; Delphi Archaeological Museum in Delphi, Greece; and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Egypt. Don't get me started on my favorite works in those museums...

Lastly, I would love some suggestions- Next week I will be in Dublin and London for a couple days this summer (fun pit-stops on my way to excavate in the Athenian Agora!) and would love suggestions for museums to visit! (Obviously, I promise I will go to the British Museum- I've been dying to get there!!)

Thanks!
Katie

[Amelia]

Hi Katie,

Welcome! Gosh, excavation in the Athenian Agora sounds amazing! Off the top of my head I would highly recommend the Science Museum in London. Check out this brilliant little gem they made for an idea of what they do http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/diseases/black... and if you get a chance to pop over to the West Midlands I highly recommend the Black Country Living Museum http://www.bclm.co.uk/index.htm

Keep in touch and tell us about your Athenian adventure and your thoughts on the British museums you visit.

[Huw Edwards]

Hello Everyone,

I completed a Public History Diploma at the University of Monash last year and before that a Bachelor of Arts (History Major). I am currently working as an administration officer for a professional engineering association ( I don't know how I got there!), and generally considered at work walking Encyclopedia on anything Historical or Geograhic.

My real fascination with history is people movement escpecially the nature of how culture and language spread. During my public history diploma I studied the ancestral connection between Britain and Australia, particulalry the migration of lowland Scots to Australia in the 19th century.

A part from public history I also studied Renaissance History and the Classics (naturally). In fact, one of my favourite areas of research involves the Italian Renaissance fascination with with Latin and Greekand the emergence of Byzantine Emigres during the fifteenth century.

Amelia, I have to say I really did enjoy the Science Museum in London. Especially the exhibition with the largest collection of model ships I have ever seen!

Cheers,

Huey

[Amelia]

Hi Huw,

Glad you have joined us! How funny, my ancestors were lowland Scots who migrated to Australia in either the late 18th or early 19th century!.

I can imagine working in an engineering firm you would be well placed to be an authority on history and culture hehe. Hopefully Museum 3.0 might inspire you to work in a field you are passionate about!