Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes special study report entitled : Exhibiting gambling. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 2007.

Thesis (M.Arch.(Prof))-University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes summary. Includes bibliography. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

The present thesis investigates educational aspects of material culture, examining the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection as a case study for the teaching of ‘good design’ in post-war Britain from 1951 to 1977. The methodological approaches used are drawn from the disciplines of design history, material culture studies, educational theory,museology and sociology. The main objectives of the thesis aim to examine ‘good design’ as an educational project, to establish the socio-cultural contexts that produced the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection, to relate these contexts to the premise of ‘good design’, and to assess the Collection’s educational affordances, both historical and contemporary. In order to illuminate how the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection represented the didacticism of ‘good design’, the investigation locates the historical and educational roots of ‘good design’ in relation to specific time-frames and practices, especially with regards to initiatives driven by government. The thesis examines good design’s alignment to the terms ‘modern’/‘modernism’/ ‘modernity’ as these have been used within design history, and it demonstrates how signifieds pertaining to ‘good design’ change over time. I have used Bourdieu’s theory of taste-formation to investigate the extent to which the formation of taste, as identified in the project of ‘good design’, had been implemented with regards to the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection in order to influence social positioning and consumer choices. However, the thesis argues that the modalities of language and vision,which Bourdieusian analysis relies on, need to be extended. I have therefore considered the contribution of ‘handling’ and I have argued its importance as an educational method. The thesis shows that as education in Britain evolved from didactic models to learner-centred, coconstructiveones, the Collection’s educational pertinence shifted from the aesthetic exemplar to the handling resource. The investigation demonstrates the significance of the I.L.E.A./Camberwell Collection as a resource in itself and as paradigmatic of object-based-learning. In addition, the thesis presents a methodological example of how a poorly-documented collection may be examined, thus adding new approaches to the repository of design historical research.

abstract: Since the initial impetus to collect, preserve, and interpret history with the intent of safeguarding American heritage for posterity, historical societies have made substantial contributions to the preservation of historical records. Historical societies have tended to originate in socially exclusive groups and found history museums, celebratory in nature. In contemporary society, this exclusivity raises issues and concerns for contemporary institutions seeking to "serve the public." Tempe History Museum, Chandler Museum, and Scottsdale Historical Museum are examples of local history museums, initially formed by historical societies, which are currently at different stages of developing exhibits and collections more representative of their diverse communities. The three museums have different approaches to not only defining their local community but also to what it means to serve and represent their city by being the local history museum. In recent years, the Tempe History Museum has undergone a renovation of its facility and exhibits, the Chandler Museum is in the midst of transferring its collection to the City of Chandler and planning for a new facility, and the Scottsdale Historical Museum has remained largely the same since the early 1990s. The decisions made by the historical societies that found these museums have shaped and directed the museums' paths to becoming, or failing to become, relevant to their local communities. The Tempe, Chandler, and Scottsdale historical societies came from the Anglo-community within each city, so did the collections they acquired and the objects they displayed. At a time of rising social history, the historical societies presented socially exclusive museums. Becoming incorporated within the city government, would prove to be the point of change, the tipping point when the history museums moved from particularism to pluralism. The change, however, did not come overnight. It was change over time. The city governments had an obligation to equally represent its taxpayers and constituency, meaning that the newly incorporated museums had to eventually follow the same mission. In the case of Tempe, Chandler, and Scottsdale museums, incorporation within city governments has led to a stable funding source, professional staff, and a move towards representation of diverse communities within museum exhibits and programming. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. History 2012

<p> This is a study about the effectiveness of natural and cultural resource-based communication or &ldquo;interpretation&rdquo; as practiced in national parks of the United States. Specifically, it focuses on informal interpretation, extemporaneous or unplanned encounters between park officials and visitors, in five units of the National Park System. The stated aim of interpretation is to build connections between visitors and park resources. This study asked questions about the effectiveness of informal efforts enhance the experience of park natural and cultural resources for visitors, from their perspective as opposed to that of the park officials. </p><p> This study, based in dialogue theory, tested an approach to park communication referred to here as two-way, dialogic interpretation. Qualities of two-way, dialogic communication were identified and then observed in informal encounters between park officials and visitors. Visitors were interviewed between three and thirty-six months after their visit. An assessment of interview data, specifically visitor recall of the experience, compared against ethnographic records of the encounters were used as a measure of the power or effectiveness of the qualities of two-way, dialogic interpretation in enhancing recall. In addition, an assessment of the priority given to informal interpretation was performed through content analysis of various planning and management documents from the parks studied. </p><p> Results indicated that employment of the identified qualities of two-way, dialogic interpretation had little effect on visitor recall of their park experience. It appears, according to this study, that the place itself and the natural and cultural resources protected in the parks are at the very center of the visitors&rsquo; recall. In essence, the study&rsquo;s results indicate that what an interpreter says or how they say it is far less important than the actual resource-based experience that the visitor has. This phenomenon is discussed and recommendations for further study are made.</p><p>

<p> The creation of national identity through the printed publication was historically important in developing French economic and cultural dominance. Luxury periodical publications such as <i>Gazette du Bon Ton</i> followed in the footsteps of historic predecessors in promoting French fashion and standards of taste to elite audiences at home and abroad, and editors such as Lucien Vogel, who positioned <i>Gazette du Bon Ton</i> alongside the exquisitely produced, influential fine art, decorative art, and design guides of the time, became powerful voices reporting on fashion and appropriate social etiquette during a time of profound social change. </p><p> The separation and cataloguing of individual pochoir from <i>Gazette du Bon Ton</i> has, over time, shifted the publication from rare book libraries to print, photography, and drawing collections and the classification of <i>Gazette du Bon Ton</i> pochoir as ephemera. This shift has limited our understanding of the complete publication. Prior research of <i> Gazette du Bon Ton</i> has focused primarily on the visual merits of fashion pochoir. This thesis attempts to redress that imbalance by analyzing the material components of <i>Gazette du Bon Ton</i> and reconsidering the vision of powerful editors such as Lucien Vogel in directing social narratives reflective of their time.</p><p>

This work seeks to show that the experience gained through music in its practical and aural sense is not represented adequately in music museums because of the necessarily object-based nature of most museum displays. Restricting the analysis to museums - or their equivalent - in the United Kingdom, a representative cross-section of different museums containing music collections is studied. This material is discussed in terms of type, display, interpretation and visitors. Music's problematic standing in museums is subsequently ascribed to its essentially non-visual and transitory nature. A further series of case study museums is then examined - dealing with Film, Theatre, Sport and 'Conceptual Experiences' as subjects - each of which share elements of music's difficulty in presentation. From this, it is shown that many of these difficulties may be overcome; and some of the solutions may be adapted for musical material in both a practical and ideological sense.

<p> Informal education environments like museums have become some of the most important educational resources. Although much attention has been paid to museum settings and programs, little is known about how museum educators support visitors&rsquo; learning and intrinsic motivation. In particular, there is a need to investigate museum educators&rsquo; enthusiasm, considering that enthusiasm is a powerful way of creating an engaging learning experience across various subjects and environments. In this study, I investigate museum educators&rsquo; enthusiasm as perceived by adult visitors through the lens of interest development. The results I found (<i>N</i> = 209) indicate a strong positive relationship between museum educators&rsquo; enthusiasm and visitors&rsquo; situational interest. Visitors&rsquo; reports of educators&rsquo; enthusiasm were directly related to catch interest (&beta; = .74) and indirectly to hold interest (&beta; = .46). In addition, educators&rsquo; enthusiasm mediated the connection between prior individual interest and catch interest. Visitors&rsquo; prior individual interest was also moderately related to both their catch (&beta; = .28) and hold interest (&beta; = .37). Limitations and directions for future studies are discussed. </p><p>

abstract: In the 1960s, Minimal Art introduced a radical insistence on the bodily immediacy of the experience. Since then, artists have increasingly focused on the creation of immersive experiences, resulting in spectacular installations that fill museums, galleries, and public spaces. In this thesis, I argue that the artistic shift toward experience-based work stems from an overall revaluation of the experience as a central component of contemporary life in Western societies. Referencing sociological and economic theories, I investigate the evolving role of the art museum in the twenty-first century, as well as the introduction of new technologies that allow for unique sensorial encounters. Finally, I situate this development in both art historical and theoretical context, examining the relationship between critical distance and immersion and challenging the notion that art must become spectacle to compete with the demands of a capitalist culture. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Art History 2015