Some of this is repeated stuff from past discussions, but just some thoughts on how to display or organize the exhibit, maybe in the form that Mark mentioned.

Ways of displaying bugs

- Walls

- Tables

- Cases } mounted or suspended within

- Terrariums

- Lights

- Maps

- Floor

Appearance

- Patterns } location

- Luminescence

- Camouflage } finding bugs in an environment where they blend in or placing an image of different environments behind a large collection to see which ones stand out where

- Colors

- Wings

- Exoskeleton } evolution } scale

Variety

- Size

- Shape

- Location } invasive species

Mechanisms

- Leg movement } different #s of legs move differently?

- Wing movement

- Vision?

- Feel/touch?

- Comparison to human structure

- how bark boring beetles chew through bark

Image/video

- Pollination

- Dung beetle rolling dung

- Stages of decomposition

- bug bites/stings } disease

- What it would've felt like to witness the largest swarm in history

- Metamorphosis

- bark boring beetles in a tree

Overarching theme = scale

General organization

- time

- place

- type/identification/dichotomy tree

- appearance

- good vs. bad

Resting Space

- seating

- observation

- books from collection at museum

- room for conversation and commentary } what's your favorite bug, etc.

- tangibles to toy with

- video

Pointer to:

- tours - sign up to see a live demo with a bug scientist or go on the going buggy tour

- digital - see our bug collection online, check out a close-up of the bug zoo upstairs in the main lobby or wherever there might be a large installation/projection

- holland room - going buggy tour

- hub - want to learn more? There are scientists upstairs in the hub that would love to answer your questions

Design Project: Road Map for Eating insects by 2020

http://cargocollective.com/ento

Pinterest

here's the link to my pinterest board for cmnh inspiration:

http://pinterest.com/lcicozi/museum-project/

i don't think you need to be a member to be able to look at it, and i'll try to keep it updated with images i find that are interesting/inspiring for what we're doing.

here is luci's:

http://pinterest.com/lucilaffitte/museum-inspiration/

Topics

How Bugs & People Relate (why insects matter to us)

- Scale (amount)


Pollination:
- what foods depend on insetc pollination
- what insects pollinate
- what is the process
- why important
- how does this help the atmosphere


Decomposition:
- what they decompose
- which bugs decompose
- process
- why important
- how we can use this in medical/forensics


Aerating Soil:
- what bugs aerate soil
- why is this important
- how do they do it


Bugs as food: (bugs in culture)
- what eats bugs
- what bugs can we eat


Invasive Species:
- how do they get here
- why are they bad or "pests"
- how do you take care of it
- how do we find out about them?


Diseases/Poisonous Bugs
- what bugs can harm us
- how do we prevent or treat this?


Bioindicator:
- how the bugs present in a area speak to changes in the environment and the health of an ecosystem
- monitor the amount and type of species in an area

Pretty Bug Pics

http://www.marcofolio.net/inspiration/50_pictures_of_amazingly_colourful_insects.html

Miami Museum Science

Cool crime scene bugs exhibit

Paper on "value" of insect pollination

http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003128

Silly Pollination Activity

http://littlekinderwarriors.blogspot.com/2011/04/pollination-science-lesson.html

Visualized how pollintation works by using cheeto dust

Inspiration images

Shoes over and escalator
... hanging insects?!

Boxes in a net in a ceiling

... reminds me of all the little white specimen boxes 

White wall of things with light wood

Protected pastries in cool glass things....

could the glass magnify specimens? easier to look at than in a case... can go around it!

Woven wall with tags


... add you own tag?
... mini bottles with specimens

Innovative Exhibits: Links

http://www.ny1.com/content/ny1_living/technology/151326/innovative-exhibit-puts-3d-images-in-perspective

http://www-museum.unl.edu/exhibits/design.html

http://chandra.harvard.edu/blog/node/199

http://www.mcwane.org/exhibits/shadow_garden

http://www.montgomerynews.com/articles/2011/10/18/entertainment/doc4e949e572d8fc616660990.txt?viewmode=default

http://www.ripleyaquariums.com/gatlinburg/explore-the-aquarium/perfect-predators-sharks/

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/the-hidden-life-of-ants/

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/science-storms/

Starfiedl

https://vimeo.com/36892768

http://indianajen.com/2011/05/29/the-best-online-interactive-museum-exhibits/

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2008/07/not-ready-inter/

Chemical Reaction TIme

10 Tips for Museum Exhibits!

WHAT MUSEUMS MUST DO

The following are 10 ingredients for successful museum exhibit design:

1. Motivate Visitors:
   Target an audience — the general public and/or specific communities (1)
2. Focus Content:
   Filter content so visitors are not bombarded with information overload (1)
3. Immersion:
   Engage visitors within a “story” (1)
4. Modularity:
   Present smaller themes instead of one larger complex topic (1)
5. Skimmability:
   Information should be easy to take in because visitors are often standing and/or have different levels of education (1)
6. Patterns:
   Incorporate traffic/circulation patterns, exhibit sequence patterns and pre-existing framework patterns (architectural elements) (1)
7. Capture Curiosity:
   Use storytelling techniques to engage visitors (1)
8. Interaction:
   Give visitors a “fun” experience by tapping into their emotion (1)
9. Integrate Technology:
   Technology should enhance visitor’s experience, not detract from it (1)
10. Layer Content:
    Present information in a hierarchical manner (1)

Use of Technology in Museums

LEAF SNAP


"The Smithsonian released a crowdsourcing app called LeafSnap that encourages users on the Eastern Seaboard to take photographs of leaves with their smartphones, identify trees from a vast database and then upload these to a central location, automatically tagged with GPS coordinates. The data helps give researchers a better picture of the distribution of species across the region while also honing people’s skills and knowledge in identifying trees in a fun way."

http://mashable.com/2011/09/14/high-tech-museums/

COOL INTERACTION WITH STRINGS

EMMA LAZARUS; POET OF EXILES
"The tour was produced using Tristan Interactive’s platform, Autour, and includes GPS recognition and a map. Each stop will consist of annotated historic tour sites, a slideshow, and audio commentary. Actress Julianna Margulies narrates the tour, and the app also includes a reading by Meryl Streep of Emma’s most famous poem, “The New Colossus,” which appears on the bronze base of the Statue of Liberty (which is pictured below, as shown in the app)."   

Here's your top ten deadliest bugs so watch out!

http://listverse.com/2007/11/15/top-10-deadliest-insects/

How can we compare our size & skills to their size & skills?!

How old are bugs?
How far can they jump?

University of Floridas: Book of Insect World Records

http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/index_order.shtml

Biggest, Fastest, Bloodiest: Earth’s Most Extreme Insects

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/insect-awards/

The 16 Largest Insects in the World

The 16 Largest Insects in the World

Thoughts & Potential Exhibit Topics

I started by looking to the museum's website for thoughts on what they already know about weird bug stuff, and what they've done behind the scenes that they don't really talk about. I'm in the process at looking at each of the insect scientists to see what they chose to focus on in their studies, but these are some general things that I picked up on.

These ideas came from the links below, and also seem to be some of the things that John Rawlins brought up when we were talking to him on Wednesday:

http://www.carnegiemnh.org/iz/info.html

http://www.carnegiemnh.org/assets/science/iz/books-to-bugs.doc

http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/index_order.shtml



- "good bugs" vs. "bad bugs," but still promoting a positive image of bugs (bad bugs only do bad things to survive)

- bugs as pest control

- bugs as a major link in the food chain and as pollinators (without them, all other life would cease to exist)

- don't fear bugs, but respect them

- urban myths about bugs (swallowing spiders in your sleep, etc.)

- being able to identify the major arthropod groups (this could be where we make visitors feel like bug scientists or use gigapans)

- which insects live in which regions in PA or the U.S. or around the world (ex: these insects live near you, bring home this PA identification book and see which bugs you can spot in your own backyard)

- insect world records (we could see if the museum has any of the insects that make the world record list, and hopefully find some weird things to talk about)

- cockroaches are the oldest insects on Earth, dating back 300 million years (evolution of bugs, what lived 300 million years ago, why insects can survive extinctions, etc.)

- bugs as decomposers (without them, we would be buried in dead animals, plants, waste, etc.)

- the lives of bugs

- the "yuck factor" (accentuating the positive side of yucky habits, ex: dung beetles eating dung)

- why bugs do what they do

- transformation from larva to adult

- how many bugs exist in one place at one time