Museum Studies

Citizen journalism is a set of practices that brings a more democratic, public voice into news and information reporting. Goals of this growing movement are to create an alternative to mass media "corporatorized" news reporting and strengthen civic society through public discourse about issues that matter to people. Within the context of citizen journalism, this article reports on two public radio broadcast initiatives: (1) Citizen forums, practiced by a number of National Public Radio (NPR) affiliates and (2) the Public Insight Journalism Network, conceived and piloted by Minnesota Public Radio. It focuses on how these two initiatives encourage dialogue between experts and the public in order to build understanding about current events as well as to inform future programming. It concludes with potential applications to museums. 221 222 m a r j o r i e s c h wa r z e r

This landmark report commissioned by the American Alliance of Museums and written by Marjorie Schwarzer is a call to action for museums to change the narrative about what it means to grow old in America. Opening with an overview of aging and ageism in our country, the report documents actions being taken to foster positive aging, profiles the work of museums providing creative aging programming, and shares lessons learned from the Seeding Vitality Arts in Museums initiative of Aroha Philanthropies

As technology evolves, the concept of the virtual museum continues to come into focus. Google Arts and Culture (formerly the Google Art Project) has been a leading platform in virtual exhibitions and digital collections since 2011. Arts and Culture presents itself as a democratic platform that allows any museum, regardless of size or resources, access to the same new digital technologies. However, its model tends to favor institutions with more staff time to spend on their virtual presence. By analyzing Google Arts and Culture within the context of larger museum trends in virtuality and interviewing museum professionals responsible for their institutions’ virtual presence, this capstone describes the current state of the platform from a museological standpoint, how it fits into the history of museum virtuality, and how museums are using the platform. This project proposes several ways Google Arts and Culture can change their collaboration protocol better serve museums and go beyond merely providing access to their technologies.

As the function of the museum changes from that of elite, intellectual haven to public, educational environment, so too must the field adapt the ways in which institutions share information with their visitors. How have institutions approached these changes in the past, and how does the structure of an informal learning environment affect the ways in which visitors create meaning in a museum setting? Through an analysis of research in the fields of museology and education, this paper explores the ways in which a visitor’s goals and learning strategies affect how individuals construct meaning in museums. The author reviews the emergence of museums as learning environments and the theory of instruction common at the beginning of the twentieth century, followed by the development of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, the Exploratorium, and the shift from traditional pedagogies to constructivist ideas. The evolution of museum pedagogy is investigated and the paper explores John Dewey’s and George Hein’s contributions to constructivist thought and instruction. Next, the goals and motivations for visitor learning are examined along with the learning strategies which aid visitors in constructing meaning. Finally, case studies from the Exploratorium, the Swedish Research Council, the Portland Museum of Art, and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum are analyzed in relation to the interaction of constructivist exhibit design and visitor learning outcomes.


As technology evolves, the concept of the virtual museum continues to come into focus. Google Arts and Culture (formerly the Google Art Project) has been a leading platform in virtual exhibitions and digital collections since 2011. Arts and Culture presents itself as a democratic platform that allows any museum, regardless of size or resources, access to the same new digital technologies. However, its model tends to favor institutions with more staff time to spend on their virtual presence. By analyzing Google Arts and Culture within the context of larger museum trends in virtuality and interviewing museum professionals responsible for their institutions' virtual presence, this capstone describes the current state of the platform from a museological standpoint, how it fits into the history of museum virtuality, and how museums are using the platform. This project proposes several ways Google Arts and Culture can change their collaboration protocol better serve museums and go beyond merely providing access to their technologies. To those who allowed me to interview them, thank you for your insights, honesty, and all the work you do in the museum field: Layna White Special thanks to Katie O'Hara and Blaire Moskowitz for providing resources when I lost the trail during my research. Thanks to Robyn Lipsky, my internship supervisor at the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, for inspiring the idea for this project. Thank you to Libby Tyson and Ginger Daley for your companionship this last year. Your hard work, good humor, and perseverance is refreshing and admirable, and I have so enjoyed going through this process with you both. To my mum, Shannon Marckx, you have been so encouraging and have put up with so much from me these past sixteen months, all while completing your own degree. Your tenacity, work ethic, and compassion have been an inspiration to me always, but especially in these past months. And finally, to Julien, you have been with me every step of the way. I could not have completed this project or this degree without your loving patience, your support, and your constant reminders that I really should be writing.