Test site

MetalOriginally uploaded by man_is_cargo.

Oh how I wish I could slide down Carsten Holler’s Test Site at the Tate Modern in London. Some things you just can’t do online. Also I love how easy it is to connect my Flickr network to my WordPress blog. The pic above was taken by a member of my Tate online Level 2 group – an extention of an online course we did on Tate online.

Powerhouse folksonomy

What does folksonomy mean? Wikipedia (Revision as of 14:20, 20 October 2006) defines it as follows: 

The term folksonomy is a portmanteau that specifically refers to the tagging systems created within Internet communities. A combination of the words folk (or folks) and taxonomy, the term folksonomy literally means “people’s classification management”: “Taxonomy” is from the Greek taxis and nomos. Taxis means “classification” and nomos (or nomia) means “management,” while “Folk” is from the Old English folc, meaning people.

If we contribute meaning to objects by naming them in a personally meaningful way then surely the curatorial gap between ‘us’ the visitor and ‘them’ the museum begins to close. The Powerhouse Museum has recently launched a collection database which allows users to just that, create personally meaningful descriptions of any of the objects within it.

The Fresh+New post Taxonomies of Tagging directed me to the paper ‘HT06, Tagging Paper, Taxonomy, Flickr, Academic Article,ToRead’ which lists possible incentives for users to contribute tags:

• Future retrieval
• Contribution and sharing
• Attract attention
• Play and competition
• Self Presentation
• Opinion expression

From Tate online to Flickr

I have just finished an online course ‘Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Art’ Level 2, a closed course through Tate online . To keep the conversation going Tate online Level 2 has been set up as a public Flickr group. This is a good example of how we don’t really want to stop learning just because the course has ended. Sociable technologies make it a realistic option for learners to continue discussing their interests beyond the formal learning opportunities offered by museums.

Walking the Wall Blog

This is one way to use a blog to compliment a major exhibition. From what I can see the conversation is between the walkers and their immediate circle of friends so far. It will be interesting to see if any of the visitors to the exhibition start to contribute. There is a  card handed out at the exhibition to promote the blog and of course there is a link entitled ‘travel blog’ on the Phm’s dedicated The Great Wall of China exhibition site at http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/walkingthewall/

 Walking the Wall follows the 3000 kilometre journey of Brendan Fletcher and Emma Nicholas along the Great Wall of China.Walking The Wall is associated with the Great Wall Of China exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney.

Casting in Art (now e-artcasting)

12.10.06 – Casting in Art has evolved into e-artcasting, for further details see comments. 

Another vlc found on Flickr, Casting in Art 

 CASTING IN ART MUSEUMS PHOTOCASTING PROJECT is a work in progress site to gather visitors’ experiences in Art Museums from all over the world. We try to collect your particular vision of them in addition to your visual anecdotes and curiosities. So it is a shared album that automatically updates when new photos are added, and also a place to disscuss photography in, about, from Art Museums.This general project is an information source and a professional network to share experiences, exchange information and develop resources about Photocasting, Podcasting and Vodcasting in Art Museums.From that point of view, the main objective of this Photocasting Project at Flickr is to document and enrich the resources of Casting in Art Museum. Thanks to your photographs and to your participation all will be able to share, talk about and spread a personal vision about Art Museums as well as to generate a debate about the use of digital casting technologies as a tool to interact with them.

We encourage you to join our community, use our sources and enrich this site with your participation.

theMoMAproject [NYC]

I like this, a really interesting example of a visitor led conversation, definately one to follow.

theMoMAproject [NYC]

For each item in MoMA’s collection, iMoMA will have a website displaying photographs visitors to MoMA have taken of that item, capturing their own unique impression of the art MoMA has on display.

The result will be a pastiche of images that will force the viewer to critique their own relationship to the artwork in the photographs. Furthermore, the viewer will have to question whether or not the photographs themselves are works of art. In this way, iMoMA is designed to educate viewers not only about the artwork in the photographs, but about art in general.

http://www.iaxb.com/themomaproject.html