Reducing the time spent by experts on the process of cuneiform fragment reconstruction means that more time can be spent on the translation and interpretation of the information that the cuneiform fragments contain. Modern computers and ancillary technologies such as 3D printing have the power to simplify the process of cuneiform reconstruction, and open up the field of reconstruction to non-experts through the use of virtual fragments and new reconstruction methods. In order for computers to be effective in this context, it is important to understand the current state of available technology, and to understand the behaviours and strategies of individuals attempting to reconstruct cuneiform fragments. This thesis presents the results of experiments to determine the behaviours and actions of participants reconstructing cuneiform tablets in the real and virtual world, and then assesses tools developed specifically to facilitate the virtual reconstruction process. The thesis also explores the contemporary and historical state of relevant technologies. The results of experiments show several interesting behaviours and strategies that participants use when reconstructing cuneiform fragments. The experiments include an analysis of the ratio between rotation and movement that show a significant difference between the actions of successful and unsuccessful participants, and an unexpected behaviour that the majority of participants adopted to work with the largest fragments first. It was also observed that the areas of the virtual workspace used by successful participants was different from the areas used by unsuccessful participants. The work further contributes to the field of reconstruction through the development of appropriate tools that have been experimentally proved to dramatically increase the number of potential joins that an individual is able to make over period of time.

A presente investigação examina a atuação de duas instituições museológicas paulistas o MASP e o MAC USP enfocando os pensamentos e práticas de seus dirigentes Pietro Maria e Lina Bo Bardi e Walter Zanini especialmente entre fins da década de 1960 e início da década de 1970. Através do estudo de textos desses diretores e de exposições por eles concebidas junto a essas instituições busca-se entender como suas concepções de arte e museu foram colocadas em prática. O frutífero histórico de ações e reflexões que envolveram as atuações do casal Bardi no MASP e de Zanini no MAC USP compuseram nessas instituições ambientes condizentes com a ideia de museu entendido como espaço vivo e atento à manutenção do diálogo com as suas funções sociais e com a dinâmica do meio no qual está inserido. / This research examines the performance of two museological institutions in São Paulo MASP and MAC USP focusing on the thoughts and practices of their directors Pietro Maria and Lina Bo Bardi and Walter Zanini especially between the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Through the study of these directors texts and exhibitions designed by them in these institutions we seek to understand how their conceptions of art and museum were put into practice. The fruitful historic of actions and reflections involving the actings of the couple Bardi in MASP and Zanini in MAC USP composed in these institutions environments harmonized with the idea of the museum understood as living space and attentive to the maintenance of the dialogue with its social functions and with the dynamics of the environment in which it is inserted.

This thesis is a research design that will serve as a baseline for further research and as a more inclusive interpretation at the Judah P. Benjamin Memorial at the Gamble Plantation Historic State Park in Ellenton, Florida. It reviews the history and archaeology of Robert Gamble's nineteenth-century enslaved labor-worked sugar plantation, focusing on how the demands of this capitalistic enterprise were expressed in the plantation's culture and on the landscape. This thesis reviews the literature on the archaeology of slavery in the United States and the Caribbean to provide a critical lens through which new directions in research might be seen and conceived. At the same time, it reviews the archaeological and historical resources associated with the plantation. The thesis is motivated by the following main research question: What was the nature of slavery on the Gamble Plantation? Subsidiary questions include the following: How was slavery evident in the plantation landscape? What were the day-to-day lifeways and activities of the enslaved labor force on the Gamble Plantation? While direct evidence of slave life at the Gamble Plantation might be scant, through a consideration of the literature we can infer how slave activity might be reflected in the archaeological record. It offers research methods to assist in obtaining answers to how is this plantation's landscape built which might illustrate slavery activity. The thesis also proceeds from the assumption that Gamble Plantation's history can be made more complete and relevant to park visitors. Public presentation is critically examined and stakeholders are identified. It concludes with suggestions on how can a more comprehensive and inclusive history can be told.

Ce travail repose sur l’étude d’une compilation d’objets médiévaux (Ve-XVe siècles) portant tout type d’inscriptions, exposés dans les musées de la ville de Gérone aujourd’hui : au musée du Trésor de la Cathédrale, au musée d’Art diocésain, au musée d’Histoire des Juifs, au musée d’Histoire de la Ville et au musée archéologique.La proposition méthodologique part d’une perspective littéraire appliquée au contexte muséal, avec l’objet inscrit comme « texte matériel » et le lecteur traditionnel se muant en visiteur-lecteur. De même, on transposera le concept de paratexte de Gérard Genette dans le cadre des objets, avec un « péritexte muséal » et un « épitexte bibliographique ». Chaque inscription est donc étudiée dans son rapport aux autres éléments ou au contexte temporel de l’objet.Le corps de thèse est divisé en trois parties : en premier lieu, des rappels historiques préliminaires sur l’écrit au Moyen-âge et l’exposé des objectifs et méthodes de l’étude ; puis, l’analyse de chaque pièce inscrite avec des inscriptions inédites ou encore mystérieuses ; troisièmement, une analyse transversale mêlant divers courants (Communication, Muséologie, Analyse littéraire…) qui montre la multiplicité des formes de réception des objets inscrits, et l’importance de l’écrit autour de l’objet. Elle se termine par la transposition de notions du domaine de la publicité : les mêmes processus cognitifs identifiés dans les théories actuelles de marketing étant déjà à l’oeuvre dans notre contexte médiéval, non dans une optique commerciale ici, mais d’adhésion à certaines valeurs. / The work is based on the study of medieval objects with inscriptions (Vth-XVth centuries), recollected from Girona city museums where they are exhibited today: Treasure Museum of the Cathedral, Diocesan Art Museum, Jews History Museum, City History Museum, and Archeological Museum.The methodological purpose comes from a literary viewpoint applied to the museal framework, with epigraphic items viewed as “material text” converting the traditional figure of text reader into a visitor-reader. We also propose transposing the Gérard Genette’s paratext concept onto objects, with emergence of notions of “museal peritext” and “bibliographic epitext”. Each inscription is examined through connections with the other elements or with the temporal context of the object.The research was lead with museums archives files and bibliography from different frameworks as History and Philosophy of writing, Semiology, Semiotics, History and Catalan Art History.The thesis is divided into three parts: preliminary summary statement about writing in Middle Ages and the explanation of aims and methods of the study; then, the analysis of each piece with its inscription(s), some of which were unpublished or remain mysterious ; and at last a cross-sectional analysis, mixing various disciplinary areas (Communication studies, Museology, Literary analysis…), which shows multiplicity of receptions of epigraphic objects, and the importance of writing around them. It ends with transposing notions of advertising: the same cognitive processes identified in the current marketing theories were already at work in our medieval context, not with a commercial purpose here but in order to get adherence to values. / El treball en si es fonamenta en l'estudi d'una recopilació d'objectes de l’edat mitjana (segles V-XV) per tant tot tipus d’inscripcions que estan exposades, avui en dia, en els diversos museus de la ciutat de Girona : al Museu del Tresor de la Catedral, al Museu d’Art Diocesà, al Museu d'Història dels Jueus, al Museu d'Història de la Ciutat i al Museu Arqueològic.La proposta metodológica arrenca d'una perspectiva literària aplicada al context museal, amb l’objecte inscrit com a «text material» i el lector tradicional convertit en visitant-lector. També es proposa aplicar el concepte de paratext de Gérard Genette a l'àmbit dels objectes, amb «peritext museal» i «epitext bibliogràfic». Cada inscripció s’estudia en les seves relacions amb els altres elements o amb el context temporal de l’objecte.La tesi està dividida en tres parts: la primera, on es recullen les recapitulacions preliminars sobre l'escriptura a l’Edat Mitjana i l'exposició dels objectius i mètodes de l'estudi; en la segona, es fa l'anàlisi de cada peça inscrita amb inscripcions inèdites o encara misterioses ; i la tercera, recull l'anàlisi transversal tenint en compte elements de diversos àmbits del coneixement (Comunicació, Museologia, Anàlisi literària...) i aquesta perspectiva permet mostrar la multiplicitat de formes de recepció dels objectes inscrits, i la importància de l'escriptura (o de l'escrit) al voltant de l'objecte.La tesi es tanca amb l'aplicació de nocions del camp de la publicitat: els mateixos processos cognitius identificats en les actuals teories del marketing ja eren vàlids pel nostre context medieval, no pas amb una base comercial, sinó per l'adhesió a determinats valors.

As mobile devices are increasingly merging into our daily lives, exhibition ser- vices are also facing innovation based on the newly available technologies. Our project addresses these new circumstances. We developed a mobile exhibition guide for the exhibition called quot;Mrs Brown's Big Day Out: Hamilton Women in the 1950squot;. That is organized by the Waikato Museum. The proposed sys- tem re-uses the TIP(Tourist Information Provider) system's framework and provides information via mobile devices to visitors on Victoria Street, which is an outdoor part of the exhibition. The information about a sight will be delivered according to visitors' current locations and their interests. We would also like to examine the possibility of re-using our TIP system within the application area of exhibition guide. Therefore, we built the mobile exhibition guide system under the TIP system's framework and developed corresponding services that tailored the system to the requirements of visitors and the exhibition organizer. During the development, we faced a number of challenges, especially, modeling the unknown and unstructured exhibition data into the TIP database. The development process as well as the implementation and evaluation are detailed in this report.

This study examines the art practices and management of the National Art Galleries of Australia and New Zealand in the period between the wars, 1918-1939.It does so in part to account for the pervading conservatism and narrow corridors of aesthetic acceptability evident in their acquisitions and in many of their dealings. It aims to explore the role of Britishness, through an examination of the influence of the London Royal Academy of Art, within theses emerging official art institutions. This study argues that the dominant artistic ideology illustrated in these National Gallery collections was determined by a social elite, which was, at its heart, British. Its collective taste was predicated on models established in Great Britain and on traditions and on connoisseurship. This visual instruction in the British ideal of culture, as seen through the Academy, was regarded as a worthy aspiration, one that was at once both highly nationalistic and also a tool of Empire unity. This ideal was nationalistic in the sense that it marked the desire of these Boards to claim for the nation membership of the world's civil society, whilst also acknowleging that the vehicle to do so was through an enhanced alliance with British art and culture. The ramifications of an Empire-first aesthetic model were tremendous. The model severely constrained taste in domestic art, limited the participation of indigenous peoples and shaped the reception of modernism. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

<p>Shaping visual stories - content in exhibitions is an essay on how content has been shaped in the two exhibitions "Memento mori" and "Hästen - tyglad, piskad, älskad". The study focuses on how exhibitions can be defined through their content as well as how the exhibitors'different intentions towards the exhibition affect the working process as well as the result. This is put in relation to theoretical models and discussions on ideals in the field of exhibition and what impels these to find an answer to the question: What makes an exhibition?</p> / <p>Berätta med form - om innehåll i utställningar är en undersökning av hur innehåll förhandlas fram i de två utställningarna "Memento mori" och "Hästen - tyglad, piskad, älskad". I uppsatsen tas fasta på hur utställningen kan definieras genom sitt innehåll samt hur utställarnas olika intentioner styr utställningsarbetet och den slutliga gestaltningen. Detta sätts även i relation till olika teoretiska modeller och resonemang kring utställningsideal och vad som påverkar dessa för att utröna: Vad gör en utställning idag? </p>

<p>The purpose with this thesis is to study how the arranging of archaeological objects in permanent exhibitions has changed over time. To find out about this I have been analysing three museums with prehistorical permanent exhibitions. The exhibition at Statens Historiska museum was produced in 2005, Nationalmuseum in Köpenhamn was produced in 1972 with additions from 1988 and 1995 and, finally, Malmö Museer exhibition which was produced in 1977. These exhibitions have been compared to analyse developments during the last 30 years. The result shows that there are different ideals within the exhibitions. Over time, these ideals have been focused more on the visitors and they have tried to appeal to the visitors through themes where the objects have been placed into a narrative. However there are many styles of exhibiting prevalent today that go back all the way to the beginning of the 20th century.</p> / <p>Uppsatsens syfte är att ta reda på hur sättet att ställa ut arkeologiska föremål i basutställningar har förändrats över tid. Detta har jag undersökt genom tre utställningsbesök på Statens Historisk museum som hade en forntidsutställning som var producerad 2005, Nationalmuseum i Köpenhamn vars utställning var från 1972 med tillägg 1988 och 1995 samt Malmö Museer utställning från 1977. Dessa utställningar har sedan jämförts för att se vad som har hänt under de senaste 30 åren. Resultatet blev att det finns olika ideal inom utställningarna. Över tid har idealen blivet mer publikvänliga och har försökt tilltala publiken i större utsträckning genom teman där föremålen sätts in i en berättelse. Dock finns det mycket gestaltningsmässiga grepp som lever kvar sedan början av 1900-talet.</p>

<p>The overall purpose of the thesis is to examine the shaping of the identity of the municipality. One empirical question raised in the dissertation is how the municipal museum has been established as a part of the municipal administration. This is done through an empirical study of the municipality of Eskilstuna in the period 1959-2000 and its official historical narration. I have analyzed four cases where historical narration was produced, mainly by the city museum. These cases are: a city Jubilee in 1959, the building of a city museum in 1979, a city exhibition in 2000 and the documentary work of the museums in relation to contemporary society (Samdok). The historical narration of the municipality over time has some perspectives in common; it is mainly a genetical narration where the municipality’s character is transformation and development. Even if some themes change over time, this has been one basic element. The place that is in focus is also constant, the industrial sections of Eskilstuna. This means that a rather large area is excluded in the narrative. However it is important to emphasize one thing here, that the rural areas are mainly represented by prehistoric times up to the Middle Ages. The manifestation of identity is therefore problematic. The city, however, is associated with symbols of transformation, modernity and development. But even if the main perspective in the narrative is that of transformation, there is a more antiquarian or traditional part as well. Here the museum building plays an important part; the museum has been built up in what can be called the historical industrial milieu. There is one more aspect of the identity of the municipality that must be emphasized here. In many ways, the municipality has used symbols and epochs from national history, for example the Middle Ages, national saints, industrialization etc. In this way the municipality is constructed as a part of something typically Swedish. Even if there were permanent features in the narration, change and new perspectives were also included, such as immigrants, women and pop culture.</p>

Cette recherche sintéresse aux principes et aux pratiques de mise en exposition dans les musées dethnographie régionale et de société. Quest-ce quun musée dethnographie, quest-ce quun musée de société ? Quelles sont leurs spécificités par rapport aux autres types dinstitutions muséales ? Comment ont-ils évolué depuis leur invention ? Multiformes et nombreuses, ces institutions sont les héritières de lengouement identitaire de la fin du XIXe siècle, du réveil du régionalisme et de lesprit communautaire des années 1960-70 et de lobsession patrimoniale de la fin du XXe siècle et du « tout muséalisable ». Aujourdhui, dépositaires de collections parfois hétéroclites, ces institutions restent fortement imprégnées de découpages disciplinaires et de cloisonnements typologiques. Partant de ce constat, le questionnement porte tout dabord sur le processus de conception et de réalisation de ces expositions, permanentes ou temporaires. Quest ce qui préside à la structuration thématique, particulièrement cloisonnée, de ces présentions ? Le parcours proposé au visiteur reflète-t-il cette structuration ? Le visiteur est-il invité à prendre des libertés par rapport au « sens de la visite » ? Cette première partie sappuie sur la bibliographie mais également sur des études de cas et des entretiens avec des concepteurs dexpositions ou des conservateurs de musées effectués à loccasion de plusieurs voyages détude. Lexpérience apportée par les différents projets sur lesquels jai travaillé, en particulier celui du Musée de Wanne, vient également enrichir cette réflexion. La deuxième partie de cette recherche offre un caractère expérimental. Comment adapter la conception et le parcours de tels musées ou expositions pour donner une interprétation intégrée des différentes facettes de la vie sociale, hier et aujourdhui, afin de dépasser le cloisonnement et la juxtaposition dentités thématiques, pourtant très liées entre elles ? Comment éviter un parcours linéaire, qui prend lallure dun récit, dun discours ou dune énumération ? La tentative que je propose pour renouveler le langage de lexposition et le parcours du visiteur sinspire de la logique et la structuration de lhypertexte. Pour expérimenter cette nouvelle approche, deux expositions «laboratoires » ont été montées au Musée de la Vie rurale en Wallonie au Fourneau Saint-Michel et au Musée dHistoire de la Ville de Luxembourg. Tout le processus de mise en exposition a été analysé et les expositions finalisées ont donné lieu à des évaluations auprès des visiteurs. Ce travail désire réunir les deux approches, théorique et pratique, de la muséologie de lhomme, des arts et traditions populaires et de société afin de dresser un état de la question et de lui insuffler un renouvellement.