topic presentation: podcasts & webcasts

following the trend of previous presenters, i’ll try this out via my blog…

history of the podcast

podcasting came into play in the early 2000s. it found its origins in the world of web radio. there were three original pioneers of podcasting: Adam Curry (MTV VJ), Tristan Louis, and Dave Winer (software developer)

• these three created the first podcast prototype in 2001 by combining RSS technology and media content
• curry wrote a program called “iPodder” which allowed the download of internet radio broadcasts to his iPod
• from there, multiple people involved with weblogging and the creation of audio files began to use the combination technology to improve the field – these individuals would link MP3 files with blogs, articles, and websites
• late 2004 – podcasting explodes – people are searching Google for podcasts on a wide variety of topics, and the ease of downloading audio files becomes mainstream
• 2005 – Apple integrates downloading podcasts into its iTunes software
• once this technology became more mainstream, the number of amateur podcasters becomes rampant

what was the original use of podcasting?

podcasts disseminate information to internet browsers to listen to while not on the internet

podcasters typically cater to a niche group of listeners – i.e. by podcasting consistently on one subject, podcasters not only assert their expertise on the subject matter but also draw a loyal and devoted group of listener

considering everything we’ve talked about when discussing copyright, I thought it was important to point out:

• podcasting is free from government regulation
• podcasters don’t need to buy a license to broadcast their programming, as radio stations do, and they don’t need to conform to the Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) broadcast decency regulations
• copyright law does apply to podcasting, though – podcasters can copyright or license their work – Creative Commons is just one online resource for copyrights and licenses

podcasts are also used for informational and educational purposes — self-guided walking tours, talk shows and training are all available through podcasting

today, a podcast has become more like a radio or TV show that you can download over the internet – people who want to listen to (or watch) a podcast can download an individual podcast episode or subscribe to a podcast series

creating podcasts for education

there are lots of different software programs used to create podcasts — here is a list of widely used creation software

you can also create podcast episodes in GarageBand, and then upload them to the Internet using iWeb or another application — i played a bit with Garageband since this is a software i already had on my computer

apple has a helpful listing of steps (screenshot above) which details the process on how to create a podcast. you can find the steps here. also, here is a site from apple that details how to use podcasts in conjunction with iTunes.

ok – now, just to differentiate, webcasting is:

• a type of media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. a webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, webcasting is “broadcasting” over the interwebs
• the largest “webcasters” include existing radio and TV stations, who “simulcast” their output through online TV or online radio streaming, as well as a multitude of Internet only “stations”
• the term webcasting usually refers to non-interactive linear streams or events

podcasts & webcasts in art & museum education

educators can easily create their own podcasts to explore or explain a specific topic. in the realm of museum education, educators are using podcasts & streaming webcasts to send visitors on tours, expound on ideas presented in exhibitions, and more.

here are some examples:

Friday, March 2, 2012: Gallery Talk at the Hirshhorn: Suprasensorial: Experiments in Light, Color and Space

Music at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: The Concert

The Philadelphia Museum of Art: Exhibition Minutes, Lectures, and Tours, here

Smithsonian’s Web 2.0 page, featuring multiple types of podcasts, here

ideas and discussion

i am totally interested in this idea of creating tours and talks and allowing people to digitally interact with a museum space. i think it is creative and follows trends in the field. so, some further ideas i would have for teaching with podcasts are:

• holding a live tour that becomes taped and displayed online (the Hirshhorn does this)
• leading an inquiry-based tour via podcast, to give visitors and participants time to digest information and interact with their fellow museum-goers — for instance, some of these digital tours could be tailored to families or school groups; the dialogue could leave time for questioning and discussion between members of the groups
• podcasts with visuals: allowing participants to see the works of art if they are listening out of the museum (i guess some form of higher tech webcast?)

questions to discuss —

what worries/interests (it’s twofold) me about the realm of podcasting is something i’ve seen come up recently, again, on a few listservs that i am involved with: museum educators are considering this idea of a digital tour, by allowing the entire tour take place in the form of the podcast

• my question is: what happens to the objects? how much do we really want to encourage or discourage participants to interact in the museum?
• can you truly enjoy a work of art while listening to a podcast via headphones?
• thinking about technological advances…what comes after an audio tour? if people won’t want to attend a regular tour, and can’t be bothered to listen to an audio tour, what happens to the museum?

food for thought. enjoy one last museum podcast, on one of my favorite works of art:

Piet Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie Woogie, Museum of Modern Art

hypothetical ethics

it has been extraordinarily interesting to begin researching web tools and aspects of digital media for use in the museum setting. beyond what we’ve discussed in the classroom (all very interesting discussions!) i haven’t come up with quite as many ethical issues that would occur in a museum.

for me, i am not going to be teaching art. what i am interested in creating in the museum is deeply contemplative experiences with works of art themselves, allowing for participants to explore their past, present, and future. i think there are a lot of ways that digital media can be included in this process. what’s so interesting is that recently, i have been seeing a lot of posts on a few listservs i am on surrounding digital media. here are some snippets on what museum educators are discussing:

“The Polk Home staff would like to explore offering web conferencing sessions to schools that are outside of our area. We are looking for recommendations for equipment that we would need in order to do this most effectively.”

“How can digital technology help students in the 21^st century better engage in and be a part of active museums learning across the United States?

“We have some teens putting together an exhibit in our museum about the neighborhood of Anacostia in Washington, DC. A big part of that community is go-go music. Our students would like to put a few tracks on the iPod in the gallery so that visitors can listen to a sampling. What is the protocol or potential infringements for using music in an exhibit space for educational purposes? I will have purchased the songs.”

“It seems many of us are moving into the new world of interactive technology in our museums. Does anyone have any experience using iPads on school tours? Do they replace docent-led tours? How many students can effectively share an iPad? Is it necessary  to provide cases to protect the iPads? With what grade levels are iPads most successful? Do you provide the iPads or do they bring their own? Do students use them to access museum information or in other ways: note-taking, accessing classroom materials, outside apps or sites, etc.?”

“This weekend I saw an exhibition at the Clark Art Institute designed for iPad/tablets – http://www.clarkart.edu/exhibitions/remix/content/exhibition.cfm – The exhibition consists 400 numbered objects in a single (small) room.  You can load two apps from a QR – uExplore, which has detailed information on each objects, and uCurate which allows you to select objects, design an exhibition of your own and share it online.  (The Clark says it will pick the ones it likes best and actually install them.)  For people without their own devices, the Clark supplies a bunch of tablets with the apps already loaded. Along with everything else, it’s an entertaining way for people who haven’t used tablets before to get their feet wet.”

Some ideas to consider when creating, designing, and implementing museum programs combined with digital media.

the napster debacle

i’ve chosen the napster case to look at for my copyright controversy. this case happened in 2001, between napster (a peer-to-peer platform for users to download digital music files for free) and A&M records (a subsidiary of universal music group and a member of the RIAA – recording industry association of america).

A&M records (and multiple other plaintiffs, although A&M is the only publicly listed plaintiff — all plaintiffs are members of the RIAA) asserted that napster was infringing on the intellectual property and copyrights of musicians. the case began in late 2000 and was decided in early 2001. the northern district of CA ruled that indeed, napster could and would be held liable for “contributory and vicarious infringement” of the plaintiffs’ copyrights. this ruling went to the northern district’s appeal court — the court of appeals held the ruling that peer-to-peer file sharing was an infringement on copyright.

most of the plaintiffs in the case were a part of the “big four” in the music industry: universal music group, sony music entertainment, EMI, and warner music group. the original injunction (pre-appeal) stated that napster would no longer be allowed to “engaging in, or facilitating others in copying, downloading, uploading, transmitting, or distributing plaintiffs’ copyrighted musical compositions and sound recordings, protected by either federal or state law, without express permission of the rights owner.” (from the CA court records, accessed here)

so, upon appeal, things get a little too law-ish for me. i am not as clear on what happens next, because it is not as black and white. basically, the appeals court held part of the original ruling and turned over other parts. for one thing, the appeals judge affirmed that yes — napster was probably engaging in direct infringement of plaintiffs’ copyrights. there’s also a lot about whether or not napster actually KNEW that the clients were infringing. again, this is all very lawyer-ish and i’m not interested (truthfully) in figuring out the details. what interests me is the fact that this was the first major case where copyright was brought into the courts and into the public eye. napster cited the clauses in the fair use acts in order to defend themselves, but there was no use. the sites promoting peer-to-peer sharing went down the tubes.

the result: the boom of itunes!

links to explore copyright laws

here are some helpful links i used to explore the realm of copyright issues pertaining to digital media:

• the fair use law, which i had no idea about when it was introduced in class
• a great site by PBS explaining more in depth about fair use and how this translates to teachers
• an article on digital media in a “post-napster world,” also used in the forthcoming post on the napster controversy
• an interesting doc from congress (i don’t know, i am strange and like gov’t docs) addressing “rapid technological progress” and “new issues in copyright law”
• a succinct site on the current trends in digital media & copyright law by upenn

i know mostly of copyright as it pertains to scholarly written information. as an art historian and writer, i am quite clear on the way i can use copyrighted information. for instance, if i am copying a chapter of a book for myself, there is a certain number of pages that i can actually copy within the realm of copyright. one cannot also distribute copies of scholarly works over a certain number of pages. as an educator, i stand quite firmly within these boundaries and am never interested in professors or educators who break away from this.

for digital media and information, there is the DMCA: the digital millennium copyright act (1998). this law moved to criminalize the production and dissemination of improperly collected/produced technology, devices, or services; it creates several protection and enforcement mechanisms for copyrighted works in digital form — i.e., the law is meant to curb internet piracy of different types of digital media. following this law came TEACH: the technology, education, and copyright harmonization act (2002). this act is geared more towards educators, as it provides an exemption from infringement for some uses of digital copyrighted materials used in learning scenarios. many of these sites feel as though law has not gone far enough — especially for educators, this copyright is not clearly defined and needs to be more explicit in the realm of producing results.

discovery education & web 2.0 tools

after considering everything we discussed in class regarding web 2.0 — including blogs, videos, online literature — i started really considering the audiences that best would understand and appreciate how to use social media and web 2.0 tools. even though we’ve discussed how young learners are so adept at using these tools, mostly because they are growing up with them, i am more interested in encouraging adult audiences to use social media as a means to interact and participate with a museum’s collection and staff.

for my tool, i chose wordle— where you can create word clouds to use interactively — because i think this is one of the only tools on the website that could be used outside of the classroom setting. many of these tools (wikis, mobile calling, etc.) seem more suited to a classroom which has the same students and participation constantly. i am interested in having one interactive tool that museum visitors can use to add their views about a specific exhibition or participate with their impressions of the museum: i have seen museums use this before and wordle seems to be exciting and thought-provoking.

here’s my word cloud created off the phillips collection’s blog:

you’ll notice that “WAX” is huge! i thought that was hilarious. this is because of TPC’s newest announcement regarding a permanent installation of wolfgang laib’s beeswax work.

it took me approximately 10 minutes to create the wordle. there was about 20 minutes spent trying to figure out why java wasn’t working on my computer…but that has nothing to do with this web 2.0 tool. wordle is, as described on the website, “a toy” for generating word clouds … “the images you create with wordle are yours to use in any way you choose. you may print t-shirts, business cards, brochures, what have you. on the other hand, when you place an image in the gallery, anyone else can use it too! so if you want to keep it to yourself, print it out without saving it.” ~ the wordle website.

considering ideas for the museum, i love the possibility of combining a few web 2.0 tools to use in the museum setting with adult learners.

my first idea: it would be neat to create a type of wiki or editable website (i think wiki would be the best tool used, perhaps PBworks or Edmodo). this site would be available on a couple of ipads or laptops…something…at the end of an exhibition or throughout a permanent collection. visitors to the collection would be able to comment on the exhibition and add in their feelings or reactions. these could be extended into a word cloud.

a second idea would be to expand on my personal mission, which is encouraging personal response to museum exhibitions. so, for a second world cloud, i entered in the responses to two group poems that participants on one of my museum tours came up with. here is their word cloud:

when prompted, two groups picked out two paintings in TPC’s permanent collection — vincent van gogh’s entrance to the public gardens in arles and marc chagall’s the dream — and created spontaneous poems in response to deep looking. these are words from their group poems. inspiring!

participants embarking on future personal response tours or programs could see their responses tracked with word clouds in order to see what comes up over and over again. again, this could be something entered into a wiki or blog, although it could be more private.

any thoughts?

my take on social media

over the years i have become more accustomed to using methods of social media. like i said in class last thursday, i was a part of that “first class” to join facebook after it joined the non-harvard world. i remember a friend of mine explaining it to me — he was headed to MIT — and i had no idea what he was talking about. the internet was that weird place where you met pedophiles, not used to talk to people and socially connect. so, i’ve always been hesitant, private, and a little wary of what’s happening online. i only recently joined twitter (this past fall) and find most of the other social media sites to be strange. my facebook privacy is at the highest degree possible — no one can find me!

i am newly intrigued by the idea of teaching and using social media in the museum. i love the thought of interacting with a museum’s audience through social media tools. for instance, most museums have facebook, twitter, and blogs at this point. i think these are ingenious ways to encourage interaction and participation with the museum’s collection, staff, and exhibitions. i am REALLY interested in this idea of “crowdsourcing” — have i brought this up yet? i heard about crowdsourcing back in may at a curator’s conference in boston. a curator was speaking about this idea: how can curators encourage the conversation with the collection without relying totally on the education staff? this is such an important question in the museum setting. curators and educators have LONG been divided over this problem — i.e. who is more important. they’ll never get over it, and never will find a solution. both educators and curators have pretty big heads 🙂

for more on crowdsourcing in the art museum, i love this post on the blog Art Museum Teaching.

final project proposal

apologies for the delay.

project idea: for this final project, i would like to create a website to be used in a museum education department. this website would be a teaching tool for docents, used  as an intermediary between the museum’s education staff and the docents themselves.

details: the website would contain information for docents and to be used in docent training. i am imagining that this information would be comprised of teaching tools, research and readings pertaining to whatever exhibition the docents will be preparing, and examples of successful tours (in audio and video format, although i do not know if this will be possible for this project — this is more of an ideal).

note: a lot of these next details are in my head – i have no idea if they are possible or not, because although i have done html coding before, i have never created a full website. 

the website would serve, ultimately, as a resource. docents, interns, and volunteers that interact with the public in the galleries would be able to log-in to the website and access the documents and resources developed by the education staff. this website would be updated frequently, as it would need to change with every traveling exhibition and also have multiple resources for the museum’s permanent collection. this website would alleviate the need for a docent coordinator or education staff member to try to bring together ALL the docents, interns, and volunteers together to have an in-person meeting for training. by having this website, docents, interns, and volunteers would have one place to access to find all pertinent and valuable information for working in the galleries.

i would like this website to have multiple sections: it would be divided up so that each group of individuals can find their essential information quickly and easily. for instance: docents will access The Docent Handbook (not available publicly), interns will find assignments and appropriate readings, and volunteers will find information on when they might be needed in the museum. this site will be designed to be as digitally simple as possible, allowing those who are not “as comfortable” with the internet to easily maneuver around their given section.

again — beyond html coding, i’m not sure what goes into creating a website. i will need to research and look at what components need to happen. i am more interested in some type of “plug and drop” scenario, since this website would need a LOT of research done on the materials actually compiled to be included in the documents section.

feedback welcome!

~m.

photoshop reflections, pt. 2

my second round of reflections for photoshop —

after playing with photoshop again after the weekend, i realized i learned much more than i thought i did. after staring at a blank canvas for a couple of minutes, i remembered what to do. it was weird; at first it was like i had never seen the program before. however, once i opened up some old images, i was able to pull out every technique we learned during the demo. i was pleased with what i retained.

like i thought, i enjoy editing photos and working with collage much more than painting in photoshop. since i am a collage and assemblage artist, the drawing and painting aspect is hard for me to grasp. i have no drawing or painting training and do not feel competent just winging it with creating my own images. this is something i struggle with generally — the ability to create anything on a blank canvas. it is much easier for me to take created images and mess around with them. in that sense, i’ve retained what i learned and really enjoy playing with the different techniques that photoshop offers.

yeah, i was that girl

the girl who made the bitchy comment about photoshop. i alluded to this comment in my last post: again, i really didn’t mean for the comment to be rude. what i meant to ask, in all sincerity, was to wonder how artists made full and finished works of art on photoshop. it just seriously confuses me. i guess i don’t automatically see the artistic quality of moving a mouse around on a computer screen and calling it a finished work of art. like i said, it reminds me of when i was little — when we got our first computer, i was overjoyed with the prospect of playing for hours with microsoft paint. did i ever create anything of worth? no. but it looked nice.

after playing with photoshop for however long we did, i can surely see the allure of becoming a digital artist. all the tools are right there! you can erase a mistake with the click of a button! you can change your paintbrush without washing it! look, your colors change without any turpentine! isn’t this a huge copout?

sorry for the cynicism. in all seriousness, i just want to know about this process. how long does it take for a digital artist to create a full image on photoshop? does it take as long as an artist who struggles with an oil painting for months or years? just questions that have been popping into my head. it’s important to know that i am JUST RECENTLY interested in swapping my 35mm film camera for a 35mm digital camera. resistant to change? me? no.

i think its fun to play around with digital photos and re-create what was there. i am loving the process of having all these tools at my fingertips. now that is fun. i think photoshop and i might always have a complex relationship. i am interested in learning more and continuing to explore new techniques and ideas that are presented in class. i do not want to give up on such a cool technology. as an educator, i think it’s extraordinarily important to know what is new and used on a regular basis with art students.

i would like to continue with editing my own photographs, since i have only recently delved into the world of digital photography. i know for a fact that photographs are not perfect without some editing. i think that photoshop is a great tool to use and i can’t wait to continue to play around with all these fun tricks.

first week reflections

i’ve been thinking a lot over the weekend since last thursday’s class. it might not come as a surprise that i walked into this class not knowing or seeing how this curriculum would have much to do with my path as a museum educator. hence my comment regarding artists working with photoshop as their medium of choice (apologies to anyone who took offense to the comment. i meant no harm).

although i intend to do much of my work as a hands-on, gallery teacher, i am beginning to see how aspects of digital media can be used as resources in the museum setting. for instance, the idea of a museum blogging to increase interest and participation in programs and exhibitions has grown exponentially. a good example of a museum blog is The Phillips Collection, where different members of the staff weigh in on issues at the museum and in the art community. TPC’s blog is managed by both the marketing department and the library, as well as with input from the education department — this shows how interdisciplinary this type of endeavor needs to be, unless there is a staff member who can devote his or her time specifically to blogging during the day.

i’ve also thought quite a bit about other tools that can be used in the museum setting. two recent conferences that i attended, the national art education association’s annual conference and the association of art museum curator’s annual meeting both had sessions relating to digital media and the museum. the session relating to education at AAMC asked specifically: how can a museum educator introduce and create a well-planned interactive gallery space using new technological tools? i was excited to see museums moving away from typical audio or cell phone tours to new ideas, like iPad apps (The Birmingham Museum of Art, information here, and here’s a great blog post on teaching with an iPad) and completely interactive gallery spaces (The Peabody Essex Museum, check it out here). i’m mostly interested in what museums will continue to do with newly created apps … many are currently dysfunctional and don’t update properly (i have quite a few installed on my phone, desperate to explore museum collections without actually visiting).

which, finally, brings me to my last point. the use of technology and digital media in the museum scares me as an educator — NOT because it is unfamiliar. frankly, it is exciting to learn something new. the scary part is losing interest in the objects themselves. educators already debate the use of wall text (is there too much? too little? how much is too much? what do we want to feed our viewers? what should they learn on their own?); what will happen when a museum-goer enters into an institution, and upon discovering he has to pay $15 and can get a $5 app instead, he purchased the app and leaves? where does that leave the educator? solely creating digital tools that mimic the work of art, without encouraging direct connection with the artwork itself? i have big issues with this. i think as educators, we walk a fine technological line. there needs to be a balance between direct teaching with objects and encouraging participants to use digital media tools.

on a final note, throughout these five weeks, i’d like to consider the topic of crowdsourcing, first brought to my attention with this blog post and reiterated at the AAMC annual meeting. i think this will be something to research and dive into: how can one use crowdsourcing as a museum teaching technique, and more specifically, what digital media tools can be used to support the process?