Allons à Montréal! An #ASTC2015 Preview

Soon all roads in the International Science Center Community will be leading to the beautiful city of Montreal for the 2015 Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) Annual Conference. (Attendees from Science Centers in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, The Middle East, and Africa will all be in Montreal!)

I'm very excited to be presenting at the ASTC Conference in four different sessions --- each with a different session format.  So if you'll be in Montreal, please join me at any (or all!) of the sessions below:

Starting off on Saturday, October 17th from 10:45 AM - 12:00 PM in the Palais des Congrès de Montréal - 210/220A/230, I'll be part of a poster session entitled:

"How the American Phenomenon of Children’s Museums Led to the Creation of STEAM-based MUZEIKO in Bulgaria"  With colleagues from Lee H.Skolnick Architecture + Design Partnership, we will explore the impact of the American phenomenon of children’s museums in the creation of MUZEIKO, a new science-focused museum for children that just opened on September 30th, 2015 in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.  Come see lots of cool images and discuss the STEAM-based ideas that drove the development of this truly wonderful museum.  (Plus we'll be giving away one-of-a-kind Bulgarian collectible swag to anyone who stops by!)

Interior view of MUZEIKO

Later, on Saturday, October 17th from 4:30 - 6:30 PM in the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Room 512D/H, I'll be part of a rollicking participatory session called:

"Mirror: Mirror—Community-Reflected Exhibition Development" along with Dr. Jorge Perez-Gallego and Alexandra Kuechenberg from the Patricia and Phillip Frost Museum of Science in Miami, we'll dig into the notion that the success of a Science Center is partially rooted in how well it reflects the community that hosts it.  Exhibitions, at their heart, have the potential to be a great example of community-reflected development, and we'll work with the audience to explore this topic through a number of participatory experiences.

One of the tools we've produced in advance of this session is "A Science Atlas of Montreal" (which you can download here.) You can use the Science Atlas in and around Montreal whether you attend our Mirror:Mirror session or not.  (Although did I mention that my fellow presenters will be dressed up as Snow White and The Evil Queen, with me presenting as the Magic Mirror?)

A Science Atlas of Montreal

Shifting over to Sunday, October 18th from 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM in the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Room 512 D/H, I'll be moderating the Exhibits & Education "Flash Sessions" which are quick 10 minute bursts of information on topics ranging from learning about science through toys in Thailand to how the communication of sexual health has evolved over more than 20 years at Universum in Mexico.  You won't want to miss this fast-paced and diverse session!

A selection of Toys that teach Science from Thailand

Last, but not least, one of the most important topics for the current Science Center field will be discussed on Sunday, October 18th from 4:30 PM - 6:30 PM in the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Room 510B/D in a session called,  "Are Maker Spaces Killing the Traditional Science Center? Is That a Bad Thing?"    

I'll be joined by Hooley McLaughlin from the Ontario Science Centre;  Lisa Brahms from the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh; and Karen Wilkinson, from the Exploratorium to debate amongst ourselves and the audience meaty topics including whether process-oriented Maker Spaces do a better job of stimulating interest and curiosity than other Science Center offerings.  I am especially excited to be sharing the dais in this session with such deep-thinking and distinguished colleagues.

In the New York Hall of Science's Maker Space

If you can't experience the ASTC Conference in person,  I'll be using Social Media to transmit live updates and images from Montreal, so you can also follow my posts on Twitter (@museum_exhibits) and Facebook.  


But if you are in Montreal for the ASTC Conference, and you'd like to catch up for a drink or to chat about working together with POW! on future projects, please email me so we can coordinate calendars!

Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

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making/history

 

A little more than a week from now, I'll be doing something I've never done before in my museum career.

I'll be attending an American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) Conference.  (In Louisville, Kentucky.)

It's not that I don't like History Museums, or admire the people who work in them, but my museum "tribes" tend more toward Science Center and Children's Museum folks (and their respective conferences.)

So what prompts me to make this trip to Louisville?  Well, Maker Stuff.  And by "Maker Stuff" I mean the vast worldwide network of MAKE Magazine, and Maker Faires, and the eclectic group of artists, craftspeople, tinkerers, and engineers (amongst others) who get herded under the big umbrella term "Makers."

A few months ago,  I was invited to a meeting of museum folks in Atlanta, and it turns out that many of the other folks in the room were History Museum people. And (me being me) at a certain point I started to berate those nice fellow museum professionals for "completely missing the boat" on the Maker Movement.  It also immediately became clear that many of the people at that meeting had absolutely no idea of what a Maker Faire or MAKE Magazine even were! YIKES!

I mean, what genre of museums is better placed than History Museums to engage people with the stories and stuff behind inventing, designing, building, and manufacturing things?  It's in their institutional DNA!  Not to mention the enormous opportunities for History Museums to tap into new sets of audiences and communities that are deeply engaged in Maker activities that would love to connect with such awesome repositories of the stories and stuff associated with Making.

(Of course this is not to say that there aren't any History Museums plugged into the Maker Movement. The Henry Ford has hosted several Detroit Maker Faires, and The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) is hosting a workshop later this month called  "What is a Maker Space (and why would I want one in my museum)?")

Shortly after that fateful meeting in Atlanta, Bob Beatty, the COO of AASLH, basically said "OK wise guy, I agree that History Museum folks should know more about the Maker Universe, what can we do about it?"

So I'm off to Louisville to launch something called making/history.  What can making/history be? I'm not really sure yet, but that's part of why I'm going to Louisville --- to meet and talk with a bunch of cool and smart History Museum people to find out.


If you're reading this post, and it resonates at all with you, please help in making/history in any (or all) of the three ways below:

1) Spread the word! (Tweet, Facebook, Email, Phone folks in your networks who can help with this.) I want to help brainstorm and instigate with folks who are interested in connecting more Makers with more History Museums.

2) Meet me in Louisville!  The plan is to let me set up shop in the AASLH Exhibit Hall on Thursday, September 17th.  I'll be doing Maker show-and-tell and giving away free swag, but most of all chatting with more folks to help making/history happen!

3) Add your two cents! Are you already plugged into the Maker Universe, or History Museums, or both?  Share your ideas for ways to increase the connections between Makers and Historians in the "Comments" Section below, or by emailing me directly.


See you in Louisville!


P.S. By an amazingly happy coincidence, Louisville will be hosting a Mini Maker Faire on Saturday, September 19th (the last day of the AASLH Conference --- good timing, or what?) that is FREE and open to the public (including AASLH Conference Attendees --- hint, hint!)




Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

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ASTC 2013 Takeaways. Making Good (not "Breaking Bad") in Albuquerque.

The annual gathering of the international clan of Science Center professionals descended on the beautiful desert locale of Albuquerque, New Mexico last week.

While the sessions and presentations during the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) conference (and in the hallways, bars, and exhibition hall!) were eclectic and varied, there did seem to be clusters of topics that kept popping up.

And chief among those topic clusters was the whole Make/Maker Making/Tinkering "movement."  There were several sessions that dove into both celebrations and concerns about how, or whether, to bring a Maker Space to your museum. 

One session that I was part of entitled "Is There Science in a Maker Event?" chaired by perennial gadfly Hooley McLaughlin of the Ontario Science Center raised issues of content over process that were ably countered by two thoughtful Making/Tinkering advocates in Karen Wilkenson from the Exploratorium and Lisa Brahms from the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh.  There was lively interaction with the audience, but ultimately no firm resolutions (other than suggesting that Hooley needs to visit some more Maker Spaces!)  Other Make-minded sessions explored whether the Maker "buzz" was just a fad, as well as the best ways to work with local communities to create Make spaces and events.

Personally, I find the whole Maker movement an exciting opportunity for museums if pursued with strong community input and realistic expectations about internal logistics (As two simple examples: YES, Maker Spaces should be staffed!  NO, Maker Spaces aren't just a place for a bunch of 3D printers!)

Speaking of 3D printers, there were several vendors in the Exhibit Hall, and several museum colleagues as well who were talking about ways to use 3D printed versions of natural history objects (including scaled-up models of microorganisms!) in really interesting ways.  I'm working on a Discovery Room project that could really benefit from that.

Lastly, another place where I think the Maker/Museum intersection is really going to explode (aside from the current Children's Museum and Science Center booms) is inside History Museums.  If there was ever a place to tie together the making process with actual "made" products, in context, History Museums are it!




Another big thread throughout ASTC 2013 was thinking more carefully and critically about engaging various communities, from the early stages of the process, in our museum work.

Rather than replay all the sessions regarding community engagement, I'll share three links to resources worth checking out in this regard:

Sparticl is an online resource building a community to share the best science resources.  Sparticl has been designed primarily for teens, but it's really a great resource for everyone --- providing access to the best science on the web, curated by experts.

An excellent session about European collaborations between museums and community groups and governmental organizations introduced me to the PLACES project.  Check out their website to see the wide-range of ways that museums are finding to create cities of scientific culture.

Another great online community (which I'll be writing a more-detailed post about soon) comes from CAISE (Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education) in the form of the Web portal called informalscience.org, which is sort of the "one stop shop" for STEM information, evaluation reports, and resources.


In a way, I'm still digesting all the thoughts and conversations from Albuquerque, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that ASTC 2014 will be in Raleigh, North Carolina from October 18 through 21, 2014, and that session proposals for the Raleigh conference are due this November 15th, 2013.

You can check out the ASTC website for more info, and I hope to see you there!


Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

P.S. If you receive ExhibiTricks via email (or Facebook or LinkedIn) you will need to click HERE to go to the main ExhibiTricks page to make comments or view multimedia features (like videos!)