For the next couple of months I will be playing the role of undergraduate student at Brown University. This gig will end in June when I "graduate" with a degree in Archaeology in the Ancient World. I will then be released as a free agent, i.e. I have no idea what I will be doing next year. I will audition for more challenging roles, such as "graduate student," for the following year. My interests, as far as archaeology is concerned, lie in zooarchaeology and Anatolian archaeology. I am a bit obsessed with museums. i heart art.
Final Project
For the Final Project of this class I would like to create an online exhibition of artifacts. I am interested in exploring (and expanding) different modes of relating to objects. Coins, for example, are one type of object with which the audience usually has little interaction. Photo galleries with features, such as zoom, will be utilized. I would also like to use the resources available to provide more innovative explanations of materials, rather than merely text. I will be working with objects from the Institute's vault.
what I have been looking at:
COMPASS- The British Museum's online collection: [link]
New Bedford Whaling Museum online exhibition: [link]
Ideas and Images by Kenneth Ames, Barbara Franco, and Thomas Frye
"Media Technology and Museum Display" by Alison griffiths in MIT Communications
The Virtual and the Real: Media in the Museum ed. Selma Thomas
The Wired Museum: Emerging Technology and changing Paradigms by Katherine Jones-Garmil
- this is a partial list
- There exists (or used to exist, but I'm hoping this isn't the case) an online exhibition of the Royal Graves of Ur- involving an interactive plan, which I am trying to find again. If anyone knows the site, please let me know...
Links for Reading 16.03.2007:
- Center for the Study of Architecture
- Remote Sensing and Photogrammetry Society | Archaeology Special Interest Group
- FSU underwater archaeology
- Ancient Corinth Project
- Pylos regional Archaeological Project
- GIS website
- CAD software for archaeology
- Maps of UK
Posted at Mar 28/2007 09:39AM:
chris witmore: Hi Jules. Where is the short description of your first micro project?
Otherwise, how is the video work for your second micro project progressing?
Microprojects:
1: For my first project I made a GIS map out of an aerial photograph from the Vorotan Project archive. I used the program ArcMap to locate and map features, such as relic field systems, streams, roads, buildings, pipelines, and terracing. This was my first experience highlighting information in an aerial photograph. It took some time to get accostumed to recognizing features seen in a way I never see them (birds eye view). I had to be careful that I wasn't naming things that weren't actually there- which was a challenge. I spent quite a bit of time on this, but I really enjoyed the work, so the time went fast. I had to ultimately cut myself off, as one could go on for a very long time.
2. The second microproject I worked on was a collaboration with Aaron Rosenthal. Aaron and I made a video documentary about archaeology at Brown. The finished project is about 17 minutes or so. We interviewed professors, students, and other members of the community in order to see how archaeology (both in general and at Brown) affects the lives of others. With the rapid changes occuring within Brown, especially within the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology, this video provides a window into the present mindset. Although there is discussion about the past and future, this documentary is insight into the present- of what people think at that particular moment. Nothing was scripted- we just asked some questions and let people talk. I had never worked with video before, so it was very exciting, if at first seemingly daunting. We used Final Cut Pro for editing, which is a very user-friendly program. It was not as difficult as I had anticipated. Aaron and I had a good idea about what we wanted the piece to be about, but let the clips guide us through the editing process. Editing was time consuming, yet incredibly fun. I had never laughed out loud so many times while doing school work. Working with this unfamiliar medium required a new way of approaching a project. Two factors had to be considered: audio and video- as opposed to my first project, in which I was only dealing with an image. This was a challenge, but it was beneficial in that it got me to expand my way of thinking and approaching a project. What I appreciated most about this project was the opportunity for creativity. In my opinion there is nothing more satisfying than creating something unique, and I am rather proud of our finished product.
Final Project
For my final project I made a wiki for a fake house museum. I chose to do this because it deals with many of the themes discussed in our class. Museums are closely related to archaeology, since it is through this medium that most people learn about artifacts and other information gained from archaeological excavations. I created a simulated excavation of an imaginary house museum (my past apartment) in order to experience the challenges and thought process of setting up such an exhibit. I wanted to expand upon the way people relate to objects in museums. People typically are only able to look at an object from a safe distance, and are not allowed to touch the objects. I used flash galleries and zoomify in order to give a person different perspectives, that they would only be able to get from picking up and rotating an object. There is also an audio file, ehich extends the sensory experience beyond that of sight. The nature of the wiki also allows for discourse about the objects, and the house, which breaks down the problematic and rigid curator/visitor relationship. The wiki allows for different organization of materials of the house museum. Objects don’t have to be organized by room, but can be filed on the wiki under different categories, for example ‘wooden tools,’ ‘textiles’ etc. On that note, house museums also relate to the early methods of displaying objects- the wunderkamera, collections of curiosities. The wiki allows for different organization and anaylsis, while keeping the physical objects in their desired locations within the house. So it respects this organization, while providing more analytical alternatives.
Posted at Apr 25/2007 02:19PM:
chris witmore: http://brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/resources/housemuseum
Posted at May 01/2007 05:38PM:
jules: to do: change color of wiki perhaps to black or grey, put up movie, zoomify and simpleviewer. add photos and text, with proper formatting. that would be a good start...
Posted at May 09/2007 03:18PM:
jules: to do part II: zoomify rooms and album. try to patch photos of room together for zoomify. write explanations, etc. on wiki. play with organization of 'artifacts'. bring drive to 70 tomorrow.
Posted at May 10/2007 01:16AM:
Michelle: Hey Jules, if you are trying to patch together photos (like a panorama sort of thing), Adobe Photoshop (CS3) has a really cool Photomerge feature which has just made my life so much easier (you may already know about it) - it really effectively automates the photo combination process. So if you still need to take care of this, check it out (its available via Brown CIS download, etc).
Posted at May 16/2007 05:19PM:
chris witmore: Hi Jules. Great work here.
You have done a great job with the first two projects and summaries.
With the house museum, as we discussed, it would be great to have a bit of reflection on why you chose the artifacts that you did. Why did you divide up the museum by room, rather than focal points? What other examples of web-based museums influenced your work?
