MAKING A MUSEUM: Materializing Regimes of Value with the NYC Department of Sanitation

This may be helpful for the trash transformation topic. Sorry if it goes to the wrong page, I dont know how to use this.

http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0221,carr,34956,1.html

I was reading Baseball Prospectus this afternoon, when I came across this:

The Class War Will Be Televised

Realizing that all of the ads in this series have a bit of cruelty in them and that I should probably lighten up about it, there is something particularly disturbing about a rich man abusing someone in one of the least-respected lines of work there is. Being a garbage man is honest work, but let's face it, there isn't much social cachet derived from being in that profession. The fact that the ad takes place in front of a very nice house (not a mansion, really, but a McMansion to be sure), clearly delineating the class lines of the two parties involved. The poorer man's small victory over the rich man is quickly quashed (never mind that if the rich man hadn't been born with the right arm of a god, he'd probably be on the back of that garbage truck himself), clearly sending the message that it's pointless to even try fighting the power. The rich man will always hit you in the head with his garbage in the end.

It was a segment from Jim Baker's September 14th article "Prospectus Matchups: Blowing Hot and Cold," for Baseball Prospectus. I would provide a link to the article but 1. It's a subscription site, so no one else could read it and 2. All the rest of the article is completely about baseball.

Anyway, here's the link to the youtube clip of the commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTHksQR1uwk

Any thoughts??

Continuing our discussion of marked and unmarked, I wanted to draw the classes attention to the work of Mass Observation, a British archive, founded by a group of anthropologists, poets and documentary film-makers in the 1930s to create an archive of every day life in the United Kingdom. Exploiting anthropological methodologies of hanging out and being there, as well as their own skills with photography and film-making, the members of Mass Observation created an invaluable documentary record about the life of the non-studied, and non-reported. As well as conducting surveys and studies of their own, they co-opted hundreds of everyday Britons to keep diaries and submit commentaries, compiling valuable archives about the everyday experiences of World War II, the crisis around the abdication of Edward VIII, British humour, thoughts on the royal family and so on. Their work continues into the present day and they continue to maintain a network of mass observors who respond to regular directives on topical themes such as responses to Princess Diana's death, thoughts about climate change and so on.

A comprehensive history and digital archive can be accessed through the website:

http://www.massobs.org.uk/index.htm

Can anyone else think of other archives that specifically focus on the everyday, and often overlooked?

For those of you who are interested in pulling images and other kinds of document off the web for use either on this blog or in our assignments, it might be worth just familiarising yourselves with the idea of fair use.

From the wikipedia entry:

Fair use is a doctrine in United States copyright law that allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders, such as use for scholarship or review. It provides for the legal, non-licensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test. It is based on free speech rights provided by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The term "fair use" is unique to the United States; a similar principle, fair dealing, exists in some other common law jurisdictions. Civil law jurisdictions have other limitations and exceptions to copyright.

For some more detailed discussion:

http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/

For an interesting argument (both in the courts and in the press) between an artist and a documentary photographer around the use of the latter's image in the work of the former see:

http://www.firstpulseprojects.com/joywar.html

Check out http://www.publicradio.org/columns/marketplace/trash/

Any of you feel like taking the "trash challenge" to reduce your waste production?

So sometimes I like to go on the website of my alma mater (The University of Texas at Austin) and check out what's happening with the school and the community. Well, I just looked at it now and they have a really interesting story on the front page regarding an oral history project students at the university have recently conducted. It focuses on African-American experiences with segregation in Austin back in the day, so I know it's not trash related, but I thought it was a good example for us to look at and to see what other students are doing with oral histories. There are also some cool audio clips accompanied with the article that I thought would give us a sense of how to conduct an interview, so check it out!

-Kelly

http://www.utexas.edu/features/2007/listen/

Here are some web resources which you might want to look at if you are thinking of taking photographs for your upcoming assignment, which might hopefully become part of the archive:

A guide to making the most of your digital camera from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/apictureofbritain/how_to/

A blog link with links to other sites with good tips:
http://www2.wabash.edu/blog/technotes/2007/03/tips_for_taking_great_pictures.html

Note: if you take photos and you want to upload them to the blog, firstly make sure you take them at one of the highest possible file sizes your camera will allow. To make them smaller for uploading to the blog go to photoshop and from the menu you can either go to image size and resize down to 72 dpi and smaller dimensions (ideal for the blog are 400 width and 600 height) or go to optimize for web when you save in the file menu, again on photoshop.

If you are really into interviewing you might want to participate with a friend or a relative in storycorps:

http://www.storycorps.net/

On the website you can listen to "extraordinary stories from everyday people" and find out about how to participate. They have a booth at Grand Central station for example where you can go and record your conversation or interview as well as tips on how to record your own interviews...the interview checklist is quite useful (even though they recommend different equipment to us): http://www.storycorps.net/participate/do-it-yourself_guide/interview_checklist/

I was listening to Marketplace Money, the weekend show about finance, on NPR and it turns out that the host Tess Vigleand took on the challenge of carrying her trash around for two
weeks. She made it as far as 10-days. No mention was made of that blog I posted before. I think they're calling it "The Trash Challenge" on Marketplace. It's bizarre that carrying around your own garbage for two weeks has become a trend. However, it seems to reflect a greater trend towards awareness of one's personal responsibility in terms of waste generation, which I think is great. Check out the link below to listen to the story and for more information.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/09/28/lessons_learned_from_the_trash_challenge/

Go to this website to read about the experiences of private trash haulers. Their stories aren't so different from what you'll hear from DSNY folks.

I just spoke with Samantha MacBride, a policy analyst with the DSNY's recycling bureau and one of our guest speakers on October 10. She suggested that we consult this for any questions we have about household recycling in New York City. It's a bit of a slog, but is detailed and thorough.

ICHIM07 - International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting digital culture and heritage
Toronto, October 24-26, 2007
http://www.archimuse.com/ichim07/

ICHIM07 Papers are now on-line
http://www.archimuse.com/ichim07/speakers/index.html

The first group of papers to be presented at the International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting are now on-line.

I recently analyzed Harvard Library's online collections for another class, but it's a pretty amazing tool, and is worth checking out to see how they use keywords (or subjects I believe they call them) and what information is put into what field in the record details. Here's the link:

http://digitalcollections.harvard.edu/

Enjoy it!

Talking about garbage reduction, this is an alternative for all those plastic bags you may have crumpled in the cabinet under the sink. I am not sure it works, but I may try it if any of you has a sewing machine we can use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB1mE8e35UY

Hi Everyone -

I thought it might be helpful to see a blog used in a museum setting. My museum is hosting a blog in conjunction with one of our current exhibitions, and the text from the blog will actually be used as the basis for a print catalog for the exhibition. So I think it's somewhat comparable to our project in that you can see the style of writing that's used here, and how that reflects the mindset of this being a future, scholarly publication. It is somewhat more formal than our blog, and I think the public is interacting with it less than we had expected so perhaps the "voice" here is a little less organic. But interesting to look at within the context of what we are doing nonetheless.

http://queensmuseum.blogspot.com/

I probably shouldn't still be posting here now our class is over but"
http://everydaytrash.com/

Idaho is opening a museum dedicated to cleanliness. Thought it was interesting and semi-related to our museum.

http://www.usatoday.com:80/travel/news/2007-12-17-new-cleaning-museum_N.htm