The first in-house video I worked on at the IMA was re-editing an African Pottery Techniques documentary shot in Burkina Faso.  At the time, it was a pretty big step for the museum – to actually do this in-house, quickly, easily and for free.  When I compare that to our latest  video release on Orly Genger’s installation “Whole”, I kind of laugh.  We shot this video in HD, incorporated Time Lapse, used a lift for certain shots and then published to YouTube.  Check it out below.

My colleague Dan Dark recently recorded the Christmas at Lilly House tour with the LH Director, Bradley Brooks in an afternoon.  Dan then finalized and edited in the space of a few hours, then uploaded it to our Guide by Cell account.  Visitors to Lilly House can access this content by using their cell phone. Our first Christmas at Lilly House involved a lot more time editing and recording, and incorporated the Dell DJ Ditty mp3 players.  I am actually laughing….but it worked at the time.  We plan on increasing our audio content across all of IMA’s collections in 2009, and I am incredibly excited about some of the concepts we are planning.  But I can’t discuss those yet…

imamuseum.org/blog is almost a year old.  It’s been a really exciting year for the blog with some superb posts from all over the museum.  I’m proud when I think that internally, the IMA supports a variety of areas blogging.  Where else can you go and hear directly from conservation, security, horticulture or an artist duo?  We’ve come a long way from the Felix Gonzalez-Torres blog (did anyone ever see that?) we setup a few years ago, and our imamuseum.org drupal based blog just a year ago.  Sometime we get it wrong.  Sometimes we get it right.

I’m also reflecting on past projects because I can’t quite share some of the upcoming projects in 2009, yet.  I’m dying to, and the second I can I will post.  The main change in the digital content we produce is an increased focus on the contemporary world.  The Toby, Contemporary department as well as the opening of 100 Acres in 2009, presents access to cutting edge artists, performers and academics.  That means content opportunities that will become audio guides, videos, and web projects.  It’s gonna be a big year, and we plan on making ‘09 the best for the museum visitor and technology-focused experiences.  It’s all about keeping the momentum.

And in closing, this is Despi’s last day at the museum.  She’s been an integral part of the IMA and New Media, a dedicated professional, supportive colleague, and more importantly, a friend.  Best of luck Darnell!

Gary Hutchinson in his IMA Blog T-Shirt

Danny Beyer in his IMA Blog T-Shirt

Need to get a blog t-shirt?  You can buy one in the IMA store or you can buy online here.  Supplies are limited don’t miss out!

And as I mentioned at the beginning, this is my last post, and tomorrow is my last day at IMA.  I have loved getting to know our online communities and will miss this work!  Please keep on contributing and help IMA create the best online art experience out there!

IMA Blog Categories

So, instead of making an elaborate design-based effort that would no doubt involve too many hours of Matt Gipson’s time, we thought it might be useful to show you how you can already customize your blog reading experience and see how that goes.

I am going to cover a couple of basic things here…RSS feeds and news readers or aggregators.  For some of you this may be old hat.  My feelings on the subject are best captured by a well-traveled flight attendant beginning a safety lecture to a plane full of impatient flyers…”Listen carefully, or at least be quiet.  It is always the first time for somebody.”  And so it is…so, if you’re a blog readin’ aficionado, then you might as well go back to your reader…that is if you ever clicked through…

For those of you who are now on the edge of your seat, let’ press on.

First thing to know about is the IMA Blog’s categories.  Each post we write has at least one category attached.  Most have several.

This is a feature that easily allows you to focus on what you want to read.  When you land on the IMA Blog page…notice that there is a list of categories to the right. (You see them pictured above.)  You can click in to that category page and bookmark it.  Voila! You have just created your own horticulture-only blog, or whatever category you selected.

My Blogs on Bloglines

Another option is to click that inviting orange RSS icon.  It beckons to you from the far right.  Click on it to be directed to a new page that allows you to sign up for a feed.  You can choose from a plethora of news-readers.  My personal fav is Bloglines.

I find it easy to use and has no weirdness when you move between Mac and PC worlds as I do.  News readers allow you to sign up for a nearly endless stream of content.  You can go out onto the internet and start clicking your little heart out wherever you see that orange icon and amass quite a list of things you just can’t live without reading.  Then your news reader sorts it into a list, shows you what has been recently updated and allows you to preview bits from any feed.

When I discovered the ease and joy of the news reader it was my new BFF for at least a week (which is at least a month in “online time,” it works like dog years), so I hope that you will feel the same way.

And of course, you can just visit the IMA Blog the “old-fashioned way.”  Don’t you think it is funny that there is already an old-fashioned way to read a blog?  Pretty cool in my opinion.

• “Blog your art out” by Eric
• “Future IMA Guest Blogger” by Despi (that’s me)
• “Like you have something better to do” by Henry
• Front “Ping” Back “www.imamuseum.org/blog” by Lindsey
• “When you need a good poll” by Despi (yep, two from me)

The poll winner was Eric, by a landslide.  So it is his slogan that made its way onto the t shirt.

Slogan conceived by Eric, design perfected by IMA

Designed by IMA Apps Team member and Web Designer, Matt Gipson, these tees are available for sale in the IMA gift shop ($20).  For those of you who submitted suggestions for the poll, you should have received an e-mail from the awesome Emily (also known as Demily) asking for your address.  If you responded a t-shirt is on its way to you right now!

So what should the next poll be?

The site will feature some cool new media stuff.  Dan Dark, Senior New Media Producer, is currently working on a series of videos that will give you the inside scoop about some featured objects from the show presented by the curators from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.  (They organized the show.)

In addition to the video, we have pulled together a selection of IMA objects that you can find in our permanent collection. Along these same lines, the Nugget Factory is working with IMA curator, Jim Robinson to record an audio tour of our Asian Art galleries.

You will also be able to download free wallpapers (ala To Live Forever) and of course, get the skinny on programs and events.

We will give you a heads up when the site officially launches…we are shooting for Monday.  Hold your breath and cross your fingers

The time we spent was filled with sessions, preparing for our own presentation, keeping up with IMA work and seeing what the city had to offer.  We did a lot of everything despite the inevitable jetlag.  A 12 hour time difference is a doozie.

Nonetheless, we made the most of it.  Of all the sessions we attended I found the last one to be the most compelling.  It was a lecture by Khairul Azril Ismail called Pudu Jail’s Graffiti: Aesthetics Beyond the Walls of the Prison Cells.

The presentation had two main ideas: documenting the graffiti of the Pudu Jail in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and studying it to determine its cultural and historical meaning.  Built in 1895, the institution had a reputation for cruelty and is an example of architecture that is vanishing from the Malaysian town.  The site is currently slated for destruction.

K. Azril Ismail presented a brief overview of the jail’s history and then presented some of his haunting photographs.  The black and white photos (give this link some time to load) document graffiti, architecture, vacant spaces and the memory of the people that passed through them.

His photos have captured a wide variety of graffiti, (the literal sense, not in the urban, underground style you might think of) and the second half of his talk was devoted to analyzing, sorting and categorizing the text and images left behind on the walls.  Their work struggles to make sense of images created by motivations that all human beings share as well as others that few experience.  And K. Azril Ismail continues this project despite considerable personal risk, a fact that he has seemingly suppressed with his dedication to the project.

Immediately following this presentation was the session Daniel and I led, Cramming Aesthetics, Art Appreciation & Education into a Fun Museum Experience.  Our talk focused on the exhibition, Nature Holds My Camera: The Video Art of Sam Easterson.

We shared the ways in which we worked with educators, exhibition and graphic designers, the artist and others to juggle a variety of goals.  Primarily we wanted to offer visitors a unique, fun and memorable trip to the museum that would also teach us something about how visitors participate in their own art viewing experience.  Those in attendance at ISEA seemed interested in the project and some even stayed after to ask Daniel and I more questions and get more info about IMA.  Of course we also took this public opportunity to run through IMA stuff on Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes U and the IMA Blog.  How could we resist?!?

And of course, we saw Singapore: ate a bunch of food, met with staff at the National Museum of Singapore, checked out Chinatown and Little India…discovered a new point of view.  As much as we gained from attending sessions, it felt equally invigorating as a person and as a professional to be exposed to the unfamiliar and allow the experience to overwhelm our senses.  Both creatively and academically this trip was a great success.

That’s right. There are Nuggets in Singapore. Daniel and I arrived on Saturday, July 26th as you may have learned from his post yesterday. We are attending the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA 2008). It is a gathering of artists, museum professionals, university faculty and others who use technology to inform, educate and interact with audiences.

The sessions include a variety of perspectives that range from topics like how gaming relates to learning and actual behaviors of people to how technology affects viewer’s understanding and appreciation of art. Daniel and I are closer to the latter, presenting on Wednesday, July 31st about the integration of technology in the exhibition, Nature Holds My Camera: The Video Art of Sam Easterson. We will share how we organized the exhibition to maximize the use of technology and make visitors to the gallery feel more comfortable in the role of an art viewer.

Thus far we have attended some sessions, including a keynote Lecture by Larry Lessig. He talked about the Creative Commons project and how US copyright laws affect the creative process. The discussion is a complex one that has many opposing viewpoints. If you are interested, you should check out an engaging lecture that Lessig presented at last year’s TED conference.

And what about Singapore? Well here are a few nuggets for you about the Garden City:

• Singapore was settled by the British in 1826. You can still see this influence today in things like street names, high tea service at restaurants, and architecture.
• In 1965, Singapore became an independent nation.
• The time difference between Indianapolis and Singapore is 12 hours!
• The infamous Singapore Sling was said to have been invented at the Raffles Hotel in Singapore. If you want a recipe, you can find one from the National Library Singapore.
• Don’t miss our Flickr set with images from Singapore!

Have a burning question about Singapore or the ISEA conference? I’ll do my best to answer it…

Instead of continuing with our speculation, I thought it might be cool to ask you, our readers, what you think. So tell us, what is most compelling about our blog, and what is lacking?

We began with a few writers and over time have added more in an effort to up the quality of the content, diversify the topics we cover and well represent many areas of work at IMA.

Over time we have noticed our Google analytics numbers going steadily up. This makes people happy, in the simple “more is better” way. But we know that this is not always true…sometimes less is more. Right?

So, lately we have started getting feedback that the voice of the blog has become too fractured by the large number of regular contributors. This feedback was unexpected at first, and seemingly in opposition to our growing readership, but as we grapple with it, the juxtaposition makes more sense now…

So before we go and change things again, we thought we would ask you to weigh in and let us know if you are dying to read more from a particular author, want to see more in-depth category pages, or if you just want us to shut up about it already and write something good. So let us have it!

What I did on my Summer Vacation

or, How I learned to Stop Worrying and be a Good Intern

No kidding, internships have the potential to be awful. You could be stuck on coffee and filing duty. If you’re in that situation, you kind of have to put your ego to the side and be willing to do the grunt work. You can think about it as the chance to earn the respect of the people you are interning for, thus leading to your acquiring more thought provoking projects. A truly lucky intern will have both a boss that lets them manage some projects throughout their time at the institution, and the foresight to take advantage of this opportunity.

Even if you have a great situation with your boss, it can be difficult to get comfortable in your duties. In the beginning, one of the hardest parts for me was feeling confident in taking initiative. Not because I am not capable of it, but because I really wanted to make sure I was doing everything right.

As I was vacillating about the details of my summer project, one of the most helpful things Despi said was, “I can write this for you, but I think it will be more valuable to have you try it yourself.” She gave me the permission I needed to take control of the project, but also to potentially fail. Project management is one of the most difficult types of experience to gain, because it can only be learned through hard work, trial and error. It’s those ‘real life’ experiences of deadlines and organization that make internships a vital part of the learning experience.

So, I’ve learned a lot this summer. I’ve learned to write down everything. Simple but effective; this also really helps fight ‘the yawns’ in a boring meeting. I’ve also learned not to be afraid to ask all the clarifying questions you need. Your manager will not be annoyed, but instead will be thankful that they have someone who pays attention to details. Try to make yourself indispensable! Another major goal of interning is to meet the people in your future field. When a position opens up at the museum, you want every person you worked for to think of your name.

• Always say yes when another opportunity to help arises. Be flexible and available. (this one’s from me!)
• “Be open minded and willing to try new things. Look for opportunities to grow. Don’t be too hard on yourself if it doesn’t pan out. “- Emily Blyze, Development Researcher
• “Don’t be afraid to ask for the job you want. If there’s an opening, go for it! Internships are an opportunity to get your foot in the door.” – Amber Laibe, Manager of Affiliate and Volunteer Services
• “Get involved in as many things at the organization as possible. Put yourself out there!” -Meg Liffick, Communications Manager
• “Other than hygiene? Make the most of it.”- Daniel Incandela, Director of New Media

If you have advice about internships in general, or to someone thinking about interning at the IMA, leave a comment!

In closing,

To the staff in MIS, Education, Marketing, and Development, thank you for a wonderful Summer. I was very lucky to get to interact with so many departments. To New Media, I hope I haven’t scarred you too much. I had a great time!