Exploring ideas and engaging in conversation

Month: May 2011 (Page 4 of 4)

The Newest in Remote Participation: MyFarm

Wimpole Farm, a working farm run by the UK’s National Trust in Cambridgeshire, England, is hoping to capitalize on the internet obsession with FarmVille by opening up its operations to 10,000 internet fans. They’re calling the project MyFarm.

By paying 30 pounds a year, internet users the world over can have access the world over to a wealth of information about the farm, and then, once a month, vote on a crucial decision for the farm. The website hosts discussion boards to help educate its virtual farmers about the issues the farm faces, and encourage active participation among its constituents.

It seems to me to be a very interesting experiment. Some possible concerns have been headed off at the path – on-site expert managers will of course make day to day decisions, and will not let inexperienced virtual users make any decisions that would adversely affect the health of the animals.

Will it work? Virtual farmers, obsessed with FarmVille, may be interested in their pixellated crops for different reasons than have to do with traditional farming. FarmVille offers more-or-less instantaneous gratification, few consequences, and easy growth. Real farms offer pretty much the opposite of that. So this could be a great way to teach people about the actual decisions involved in farming – or it could be a lot of dissatisfaction. As with most things, success may hinge on communication and management of expectations by the Wimpole Farm.

It will be fascinating to watch, either way! If anyone out there decides to sign up as a farmer, let us know so we can talk about it.

Capturing Community Opens Today!

Please think fondly today of your fellow students in the exhibitions class as they iron out last-minute details for their exhibition opening tonight. They’ve put in a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to bring this wonderful collection of photographs to the Tufts Art Gallery. (Well, we hope not too much blood. Or any, really.)

If you have any time at all free tonight, please swing by the exhibit opening – 5:30 to 8:30 tonight, with a gallery talk by artist Markham Starr at 6:00.

We’ve blogged about all of this before, so go and read up in our previous posts if you’d like.

Museums in the News: The Slightly Late Roundup

A day late, but hopefully not a dollar short. Enjoy!

Want to go to the museum? You’ll need at least $10 (various museums, California)

Johnstown Flood Museum expands, honors David McCullough (Johnstown Flood Museum, Johnstown, Pennsylvania)

Former employees accuse Ebenal of charging personal costs to city museum job (Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, Washington)

There’s no need for a museum… (proposed museum, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)

Alexander McQueen in All His Dark Glory (Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York)

Florida museum leads project to develop apps for Jacksonville Zoo (Florida Museum of Natural History, Gainesville, Florida)

Holocaust Museum and Ancestry join records… (US Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.)

Navy SEAL Museum seeks items from Osama raid (National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, Fort Pierce, Florida)

Latino Museum Commission makes its case (proposed museum, Washington, D.C.)

Electric organ on Bozo’s Circus headed for museum (Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago, IL)

Wal-Mart family’s $800 million art museum gift is stupendous – but not a record (Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas)

Museums in the News: The Roundup is baaaaaaack!

As I’ve said, sorry for the radio silence! I won’t attempt to cover several weeks’ worth of museum news, but here are a selection of articles.

Tea party project has steep price (new Boston Tea Party Museum, Boston, Massachusetts)

Attackers in French museum damage controversial ‘Piss Christ’ (Collection Lambert, Avignon, France)

King Tut’s chair in a fashion line ad triggers uproar (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York)

Johnny Cash’s childhood home to be turned into a museum (proposed museum, Dyess, Arkansas)

Big exhibit of Grandma Moses in Bennington, Vermont (Bennington Museum, Bennington, Vermont)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art hits the market (LACMA, Los Angeles, California)

Florida museums expect big hit in upcoming budget (various museums, Florida)

Icelandic Penis Museum acquires human penis (Phallological Museum, Husavik, Iceland)

Great Barrington home to Civil Rights museum (Museum of Civil Rights Pioneers, Great Barrington, Massachusetts)

The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis bids goodbye to Mookie (Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana)

National Latino Museum plan faces fight (proposed museum, Washington, D.C.)

New director named at Victoria and Albert Museum (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England)

Austrian museum to return Nazi-stolen Klimt (Museum of Modern Art, Salzburg, Austria)

Scrimshaw stolen from Cape Cod museum (Cape Cod National Seashore Museum, Eastham, Massachusetts)

Most Smithsonian funding intact under budget deal (Smithsonian Museums, Washington, D.C.)

NY MoMath museum aims to add to mathematics appreciation (proposed museum, New York City, New York)

Exhibit highlights Civil War nurses (National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C.)

Grammy Museum planned for the Mississippi Delta (proposed museum, Mississippi)

Catalina exhibit focuses on Norma Jean’s island time (Catalina Island Museum, Avalon, California)

Derby Museum showcases jockey great Bill Shoemaker (Kentucky Derby Museum, Louisville, Kentucky)

NY’s Irish-American museum leaving longtime home (Irish American Heritage Museum, Albany, New York)

New international UFO museum is on hold (proposed museum, Roswell, New Mexico)

Carlisle area military museum remains in Army’s cost-cutting crosshairs (Army Heritage and Information Center, Carlisle, Pennsylvania)

Glitzy LA auto museum receives $100 million gift (Petersen Automotive Museum, Los Angeles, California)

CT scans of Egyptian mummy help Vermont solve crimes (Robert Hull Fleming Museum, Burlington, Vermont)

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