Sunday, April 8, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
driving a digital car around a physical space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=L9yccRm3Zu8
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L9yccRm3Zu8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L9yccRm3Zu8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Monday, March 19, 2012
Ant Photography
http://www.geekologie.com/2012/03/what-in-the-insane-posed-ant-photography.php Isn't this cooooolllll?
climate change map
maybe we could consider showing different levels of information within a map to show where specific bugs are located (in each time zone/hemisphere/continent/region/etc.), what kind of climate they live in (tundra, desert, etc.), and how many of each bug there are in each location, and then reference invasive species, bioindicators, and climate change?
and why aren't insects/bugs listed in maps like these that discuss changes in our environment and availability of resources/organisms we need? FOOD FOR THOUGHT.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Trade Show Displays
http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/SIA_Snow_Show_Best_Booths_020312.html
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
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
Sunday, February 26, 2012
here's the link to my pinterest board for cmnh inspiration:
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:
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
- 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
Silly Pollination Activity
http://littlekinderwarriors.blogspot.com/2011/04/pollination-science-lesson.html
Visualized how pollintation works by using cheeto dust
Visualized how pollintation works by using cheeto dust
Monday, February 20, 2012
Inspiration images
... hanging insects?!
... reminds me of all the little white specimen boxes
could the glass magnify specimens? easier to look at than in a case... can go around it!
... add you own tag?
... mini bottles with specimens
Sunday, February 19, 2012
10 Tips for Museum Exhibits!
WHAT MUSEUMS MUST DO
The following are 10 ingredients for successful museum exhibit design:
- Motivate Visitors:
Target an audience — the general public and/or specific communities (1)- Focus Content:
Filter content so visitors are not bombarded with information overload (1)- Immersion:
Engage visitors within a “story” (1)- Modularity:
Present smaller themes instead of one larger complex topic (1)- Skimmability:
Information should be easy to take in because visitors are often standing and/or have different levels of education (1)- Patterns:
Incorporate traffic/circulation patterns, exhibit sequence patterns and pre-existing framework patterns (architectural elements) (1)- Capture Curiosity:
Use storytelling techniques to engage visitors (1)- Interaction:
Give visitors a “fun” experience by tapping into their emotion (1)- Integrate Technology:
Technology should enhance visitor’s experience, not detract from it (1)- 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)."
Sunday, February 5, 2012
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?
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
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Friday, February 3, 2012
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.
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
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)