Museum Studies Commons^™

Exploring Drone Technology For The Survey And Documentation Of Aerospace Archaeology Sites, David G. Morgan, Thomas R. Allen

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

This research examines the implementation of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) during a pilot mission in Nike Park to support its aerospace preservation. Located in Carrollton, Virginia, it was a Cold War missile installation that formed part of the area’s air-defense network. This project aims to use a drone to capture high-resolution video and imagery of Nike Park’s Administrative Office Supply and PX building and the Nike Ajax missile to create virtual 3D models for the Isle of Wight County Museum’s exhibit. For this mission, the DJI Mini 4 Pro drone manually flew a circular flight pattern around the missile and …

This Needs More Time!: Considerations For Improving Partnerships Between Communities And Institutions In Folklore, Sarah M. Gordon, Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth, Junious Lee Brickhouse, Ashley Minner Jones, Naomi Sturm-Wijesinghe

Art Faculty Publications

From 2021 to 2023, the authors convened a series of discussion forums at the annual meetings of the American Folklore Society to discuss the challenges of community-institutional partnerships in the field of folklore. This perspectives piece presents the outcomes of that series of panels with the goal of advancing adaptability in institutional practices to better support community-engaged work. We seek to promote practices that better respond to community needs in collaborative partnerships through disciplinary norms and institutional bureaucratic mechanisms.

Learning And Belonging In A Museum-School Environmental Stewardship Partnership, Joanna K. Garner, Mel Kuhn, Andrea M. Rocchio, Grace Friedenreich

Center for Educational Partnerships Publications

Students in urban, low-income communities can lack access to environmental science outreach in natural settings. As a result, they may face barriers to applying course content to real-world contexts and developing an agentic, hopeful stance towards environmental stewardship. In this paper, we describe a partnership between a maritime museum and park, an urban school district, and ecology experts. The project aimed to increase students’ knowledge of aquatic ecosystems, develop awareness of stewardship-related actions and career pathways, and support a sense of belonging to the museum. Activities included classroom visits by experts, field trips to plant classroom-grown grasses in the museum’s …

Past Precedent Reconciling Established Multimedia Principles In 3d Virtual Learning Environments, Kristin Herman, Jim S. Shifflett, Courtney W. Schoolmaster, Charles Thull, Noah Glaser

STEMPS Faculty Publications

This design case documents the inception, development, and installation of a virtual exhibit on ethical use of learning analytics (LA) for the Museum of Instructional Design (MID), hosted in Mozilla Hubs. Tension emerged as the design team attempted to negotiate established principles of multimedia design theory (see Mayer, 2014; Mayer & Fiorella, 2021; Richardson, 2014) within an emerging learning environment. A rapid prototyping model, combined with elements of critical museology and dialectics, allowed for ongoing formative evaluation of design fidelity. Exhibit artifacts consisted of scenarios illustrating the ethical ambiguities of LA; a data justice timeline pairing recent peer-reviewed articles on …

Harbored: Like Museums, Videogames Aren't Neutral, Stephanie Hawthorne

Institute for the Humanities Theses

The following is comprised of: (1) an analysis of scholarship and contemporary works regarding videogames and museums that demonstrate the theory and method behind this project, (2) research regarding an historic maritime event that will serve as the subject matter for the proposed videogame, and (3) a conclusion that summarizes the game design. The historical research at the heart of this project surrounds the SS Quanza, a steamship that in September of 1940 carried Jewish refugees from Portugal to the US and Mexico only to be faced with the possibility of a return trip to Nazi Europe. Elevating the voices …

Auschwitz As A Site Of Memory, Emma Needham

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Auschwitz is known as the most substantial site of the Holocaust namely because Auschwitz-Birkenau was the largest concentration camp in Europe, and it is estimated that about 960,000 Jews and 125,000 others were murdered there.¹ Not only was the process of creating the memorial at Auschwitz filled with controversies, but the site also remains questionable today with regards to dark tourism, or thanatourism, “the tourism of death.”² For some, the thought of traveling to a place subsumed in death and despair sounds troubling as the consumption of dark tourism involves a process of “confronting, understanding and accepting death.” …

Sites Of Memory, Tonya Schmehl, Sherry Dixon

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Photo Essay.

Auschwitz-Birkenau: A Memorial, Nichole Delasalas

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

In the 1940s, Nazi Germany was an unstoppable force spreading throughout Europe. Hitler’s agenda was to take control of Europe and make it part of his pure Aryan race. As a result of his actions and his “final solution”, many people suffered. The concentration camp of Auschwitz I was created out of an old Polish military compound for three main reasons. The first was to incarcerate real and perceived enemies of the Nazi regime and the German occupation authorities in Poland for an indefinite amount of time.¹ The second was to have available a supply of forced labor for …

A Little Bit About Sensory Science And Museums, Leo S. Lo

Libraries Faculty & Staff Publications

Article discusses how sensory analysis and sensor technology can be used in libraries and museums to enhance user experience.

Flinging The Museum Guide Far Outside The Doctrinal Window, Larry M. Taylor

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

It may very well be easier to learn rather than to unlearn. Modes of learning quickly become habit forming; habits tend to become deeply ingrained and die hard. In the visual art world the roles that curator and viewer play can become routine and effectively cloud one's aesthetic vision like so much residue on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Reorienting the viewer's visual experience and taming the curator's heavy hand are among the aims of Barbara Kendrick and Timothy van Laar in Losing the Instructions, a two person installation at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska. …

Defining And Customizing Tagmemic Interaction For Historic House Museum Websites: A Study Of Effective Learning Design For Museum Educators, Julie Jenkins Strohkorb

English Theses & Dissertations

Educational multimedia tools that are marketed most successfully usually are described as "interactive" learning resources. The word interactive broadly suggests a host of positive learning experiences - student-driven inquiry, audio-visual support of ideas, and critical thinking or decision-making opportunities. However, the term interactive often is used loosely, and begs for a more concrete definition. This study defines multimedia interactivity as a give-and-take relationship between a technology tool and its human user. Technology itself is not interactive, but technology can be designed and developed to enhance an interactive experience. This study looks at the problem of defining such a nebulous term, …

The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame And Museum: The Construction Of Memories And The Sanitation Of Threats, Stewart Varner

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

[First paragraph]

After numerous visits to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, I have found that the best place to start a tour is with the two films on the ground floor. Both films serve to set up narratives that run throughout the rest of the exhibits. The first film, Mystery Train, tells a traditional history of rock music's development beginning with the merging of blues, gospel and country music in large, urban centers like Chicago and encourages visitors to think of rock in terms of its continuing development through self-referencing. Kick Out the …

Strategy Implementation Effectiveness In A Nonprofit Environment: The Case Of Museum Stores, Sandra A. Mottner

Theses and Dissertations in Business Administration

The character of museums in America has changed significantly in this century as museums change how they market themselves to their constituents. One of these changes has been the growth and development of museum stores. First designed to supplement museum income museum stores are now a major source of museum funding (American Association of Museums 1999) and a source of educational enhancement of the museum's educational mission (Theobald 2000). However, despite the growth of the museum store, virtually no academic research has been undertaken.

This research seeks to help fill this void in the literature of not only museum store …

A Responsive Evaluation In Two Hampton Roads Museums: The Development Of A Performance Assessment System For Museum Volunteers, Joan Fishman Hecht

Theses and Dissertations in Urban Services - Urban Education

The purpose of this study is to evaluate volunteer performance in two Hampton Roads museums. The research question was: How can managers of museum volunteer services evaluate volunteer performance? The research design was a naturalistic, responsive, utilization-focused evaluation in response to the research question. The data was collected with a systematic examination of volunteer performance activities using techniques of in-depth interviews, participant observations, a questionnaire, documents and records. The data was analyzed by categorizing, sorting and characterizing the categories, conducting member checks, and prioritizing the data. Triangulation was used to verify the collected information. This study determined important traits, performance …