Museums have, in recent years, experienced an increasing amount of pressure to fulfill their role as public institutions for both education and entertainment. For museums to ensure their success in this role, they must constantly investigate their operations in order to maximize their effectiveness. Common museological theories and literature are shared by museum professionals across the globe, roughly forming an ideal standard for museums. This study argues, however, against an ideal standard in favor of museums being evaluated in their own right. Elements of Stephen E. Weil's system of evaluation described in Making Museums Matter (2002) — and specifically his four evaluative criteria of purposiveness, capability, effectiveness, and efficiency — are employed in this study in order to evaluate four history museums — the building for the protection of the royal tombs of Vergina, Greece, the Museum of Byzantine Culture in Thessaloniki, Greece, the Archaearium at Historic Jamestown, Virginia, and the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Virginia. The use of these four criteria allows for a basic understanding of the ways in which the museums in this study have become successful despite their variance from an ideal standard. / Master of Arts

As museum exhibition design becomes technically complex and design teams more specialised and fragmented, the need to plan, co-ordinate and increase the quality of the design process is becoming more important. According to a preliminary analysis of science museums, multi-disciplinary, targeted, technology-based exhibits are replacing traditional object based displays; therefore, a specifically multi-disciplinary model is necessary to develop a workable museum exhibitiond design process (MEDP) model. This research explores the theoryo of design processes and museum exhibitions as a means of developing an MEDP model and takes a comprehensive look at how design process models are currently used in developing museum exhibitions. It aims at establishin ga process model specifically for inter-disciplinary exhibition design work in science museums, which is theory-base and can be used as a prescriptive design aid to enhance the effective use of design information. Research methods comprise an exploratory study of literature and collected data, the development of surveys and case studies and their analysis in terms of MEDP methodology. The research examines theoretical (architectural, product and exhibition) models and develops a small number of case studies showing how design concepts are managed in real-world practice. A live case 'The Discovery Centre at Millennium Point' was used to observe two exhibition design projects in progress and to provide an overview of practical processs in design development. In addition, other case studies of `completed' museum exhibition design projects were developed by physical site surveys, questionnaires and interviews. The MEDP model is constructed from data flow diagrams generically representing the tasks involved and the associated information flows in a consistent manner and was evaluated for its concept development capability by designers and curators. Future development is also considered in relation to museology, design management and project management.

What role does a museum play in small towns in the United States? This thesis uses as a case study the town of Florence, South Carolina (population 30.248 in 2000) and proposes a design for a museum in the former commercial district of the town. By assessing the developmental trends of the town and its infrastructure, a site was chosen that reflected the desire of the town to retain and/or establish an identity through its built environment. Though suburban trends have moved the commercial activity and residential centers of the town away from the historic commercial district, interest in revitalizing the old downtown has led to the construction of several cultural facilities in that area, including a new public librany, a new playhouse for the local acting troupe, and a new performing arts center for the local university. This thesis acts upon this trend by choosing a site in the old commercial district, and further integrates an existing building, the abandoned public library, into the design. The problem of dense parking requirements in the former pedestrian infrastructure is considered.

<p> In 2008, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's collection of pre-Columbian artifacts was re-installed in a gallery designed by contemporary artist, Jorge Pardo. The history of these ancient objects dates back over three thousand years, but new meanings emerged and critical issues unfolded when these culturally displaced objects were staged within Pardo's flamboyant design. This collision of indigenous and contemporary cultural narratives is examined on three levels: the problems inherent in the constructed knowledge of ancient objects; the changes that have taken place in systems of ethnographic display; and the critical reception of Pardo's design and its implications in terms of a politics of display. This thesis argues for the need to respect cultural patrimony, but the value of critical awareness raised by Pardo's design intervention is also acknowledged.</p>

<p> Culturally contextualized, technology-based informal learning in settings such as museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums is a sustainable method that facilitates a community's learning needs. However, the lack of research about where technology-based informal education and culture intersect presents an issue in having sound, evidence based information to use in further developing such opportunities. The purpose of this ethnographic study is to investigate processes in technology-based informal education and explore the cultural dimensions in which it takes place. This ethnographic research can provide better understanding into how and why to create technology-based informal learning opportunities. The cultural contexts that enable those processes are primarily social and relationship-based dimensions that allow for as many participants as possible contribute and be involved in creating unique learning opportunities. In regards to a technological platform, it is shown that social media is the most conducive technology in the informal learning process.</p>

<p> South Barre was a model mill village designed by Francis C. Willey, a multinational entrepreneur from "Worstedopolis," the woolen capital of the world in Bradford, England. The site for South Barre had the resources of clear water for scouring wool fleece, and railroad connections to Boston for raw materials and the product, worsted tops, to customers in nearby Lawrence, Massachusetts and Woonsocket, Rhode Island. Willey recruited skilled workers from Bradford, and unskilled laborers came from southern and eastern Europe. The company-controlled housing in the village was divided into sections by language groups: English, Italian, Lithuanian, and Polish. Living under segregated housing and labor market segmentation, workers responded to the company's paternalism collectively by union activity and individually by home and business ownership and by advancing the education of their children. Using a variety of sources &ndash; public documents, biographies, interviews and World War II letters &ndash; this research covers the first half of the twentieth century through the upheavals of two world wars, the depths of the Great Depression and the rise of union influence in the New Deal, and culminates in the infectious patriotism of World War II and the post-war prosperity. This investigation follows immigrant families front their initial entry into the Barre Wool through to the third generation. The term Americanization is employed in both senses: in fact, by birth or naturalization, and by desire, as the immigrants perceived what it meant to be "American." This study moves beyond the reductive dichotomies of assimilation and cultural pluralism, and found that individual immigrants, their children and their grandchildren, demonstrated multiple identities, expressed within the context of the prevailing times.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2767. Adviser: Enid Zimmerman. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 9, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction in the School of Education, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 2767. Adviser: Enid Zimmermen. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 10, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-07, Section: A, page: 3143. Adviser: Doug Knapp. Title from dissertation home page (viewed Apr. 14, 2008).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-05, Section: A, page: 1586. Adviser: John C. Nerone. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 373-393) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.