From Conference to Conference... to Conferencia! - Part 3 (Final)

Back to "Garnet and Gold" territory, I got involved in the virtual component of the 2nd International Conference "Museums in Education: From Action to Reflection" organized by the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, Spain. I've been participating at this conference with a video presentation called "Mixing It Up: Building an Educational Identity for an Art Exhibition" which you can watch above. I intended for this presentation to be an introduction to my dissertation research work and it is basically a summary of the introductory part of my dissertation in which I aim to get to a better understanding of the supported interpretation model (formerly called guided interaction - see this article for more information!), and the way it was implemented at the Mixing It Up art exhibition. As part of the virtual component to this conference, I intended to stimulate discussion about supported interpretation, and I have been really pleased with the interesting conversations and reflections that the video has sparked. Even though all presentations were oriented to an audience of museum professionals and educators, the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum has made them all available online through YouTube, which makes them accessible to a broader range of audiences, even after the conference is finished. So far, it has been fantastic. I've been able to watch a variety of presentations online and interact with the authors as well as in the four conference forums under the themes of Formats, Research, Inside/Outside, and Connections. I'm looking forward to meeting more museum professionals and learning more about what they are doing at their institutions. Thanks, Thyssen-Bornemisza!

From Conference to Conference... to Conferencia! - Part 2

Love Purple, Live Gold? Just temporarily!... I replaced "garnet" with "purple" for a couple of days about two weeks ago, when I went to Baton Rouge, LA to present at the 40th Conference on Social Theory, Politics & the Arts. This was my first Arts Administration conference, so it was a totally new experience for me. It was also my first time visiting Louisiana, which also made it all more exciting. 

With the theme "Our Countries, Our Cultures: Policies, Practices, Perspectives," the 2012 STP&A conference was held at the Louisiana State University's Cook Hotel and Conference Center from October 18-20. My presentation was entitled "Embracing Diversity from Within: Hispanic/Latinos and their Roles in Florida Art Museums" and it was meant to stimulate reflection on the need of promoting diversity in the workplace. During this presentation, I shared the results of a survey of Florida art museums addressing the involvement of Hispanic/Latinos as paid and unpaid staff members. My study uses this specific ethnic group, which is very predominant and rapidly growing in the state of Florida, but I actually intended it as an invitation for museum professionals to consider the importance of having a diverse staff that actually reflects the audience their institutions serve, in order to be able to better satisfy the needs of their local communities and stay relevant as organizations. My survey was inspired by a similar, but more comprehensive study conducted in the 90's, mentioned by Martha Gutiérrez-Steinkamp in her chapter from the book "Latinos in Museums: A Heritage Reclaimed."

I presented on Friday 19th, as part of a session called "Cultural Diversity and the Value of 'Otherness'" with a diverse group of presenters attending from Canada, Australia and South Africa. It was a great experience. The entire conference was, since I was able to attend very interesting sessions and meet a variety of professionals coming from all kinds of places in the U.S. and abroad.

As a bonus, I got to visit New Orleans! See above a picture of Bourbon Street in the historic French Quarter (courtesy of Mairelys - Thanks!), and a Japan Fest 2012 celebration outside the New Orleans Museum of Art below!

What next? See Part 3 coming soon...

From Conference to Conference... to Conferencia! - Part 1

A lot going on recently! Where have I been? Well, from conference to conference... to conferencia! This seems to be the year of conferences for me, and it has been exciting and exhausting at the same time. This second half of the year started for me with the annual Florida Association of Museums conference, which happened to be in town this time. It was great to have been able to participate and present again this year. Even though I wasn't able to attend the conference everyday, I participated in some very interesting and informative sessions, meetings and social gathering activities. It was great to connect again with people I hadn't seen in a while, and also meet many new colleagues who I am now looking forward to seeing again next year. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, the theme of the conference this year was "Changing Perceptions." The panel session I pulled together, which I talked about also in my previous post, got very positive responses from attendees who seemed to have appreciated the information that we shared with them, coming up with some interesting questions for the presenters. Our session was held at the beautiful ALoft Tallahassee Downtown hotel (see picture above) in a conference room similar to the one in the picture below. However, and more importantly, the session panelists were just wonderful! They are just a pleasure to work with so I truly consider myself very fortunate to have been able to get them all on board! 

Since the session was about Hispanic audiences, I wanted to make sure that we had a diverse group of presenters and I was happy to be able to accomplish that task. FSU professor Pat Villeneuve (my major professor and advisor) opened the session sharing insights about the Mixing It Up: Building an Identity art exhibition, which she recently curated together with ASU professor Mary Erickson and a diverse curatorial team at the Tempe Center for the Arts, near the city of Phoenix, AZ. Pat shared details about the curatorial model behind the exhibition, and I then introduced attendees to the evaluation and research of it that I'm currently conducting for my doctoral dissertation. Next, bilingual interpretation specialist, Carlos Plaza, provided all participants with information regarding The Bilingual Exhibits Research Initiative (BERI) that he has been part of recently, and shared valuable guidelines for museum professionals interested in developing bilingual exhibitions (see one of Carlos' recent articles on the topic here). The next presenter was Jorge Zamanillo, Vice President for Expansion Projects at HistoryMiami. Jorge shared insights about some of the most recent exhibitions and programs at HistoryMiami, including the exhibition entitled The Guayabera: A Shirt's Story (see the online version of it here) and stressed their current initiatives to reach Hispanic populations in South Florida. FSU professor Felipe Korzenny presented last, sharing his experiences in the field of Hispanic Marketing Communication, and offering examples on how to connect with Hispanic consumers.

After what I've shared above, I think there is no need for me to say again how pleased I am with the way our session turned out. It's really not much of a surprise since such a wonderful combination of people in one panel couldn't deliver anything less than great! I'd like to thank them all again for participating and I truly look forward to finding ways to collaborate again in the future!

So, what came after this? Stay tuned for Part 2!

The Florida Association of Museums Annual Conference is just around the corner!

Last year, I was invited to participate in a panel session on academic audiences at the 2011 Florida Association of Museums conference in Tampa, FL. Back then, I presented the results of a survey I had conducted to identify the current state of awareness of the existence of an art museum on campus among the student population at Florida State University. The educational session was titled: "Engaging Academic Audiences across the Disciplines" and the session included art museum educators from academic museums at Florida State University, Florida International University and University of Miami (see more details in the conference program here). 

This year, the theme of the conference is "Changing Perceptions" and I thought this was really a perfect opportunity for me to submit a proposal so that I could lead a session this time related to Hispanic audiences, inspired by my recent visit to Arizona. I am very pleased that my proposal was accepted and I am now in the process of inviting and confirming panel participants! Exciting! More to come soon about that, but for now, here is some information about the panel session I am leading:

Title: Demographic Awareness, Inclusiveness and Sustainability: Integrating Hispanic Audiences through Relevant Museum Practices.

Overview: Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States and they represent 22.5% of the total population of Florida. This session intends to explore and discuss how museums can integrate Hispanic audiences through relevant museum practices that emphasize inclusiveness and advance sustainability. It will be of the interest of a variety of museum professionals from different types of museums.

The tentative schedule has already been posted and I see many interesting presentations listed. Therefore, I am excited, not only about presenting, but also about attending the conference again this year! You can take a look at the preliminary program here and perhaps you'll also decide to attend :)

The Process of Research (aka The Importance of the “HOW”)

How many of us graduate students have felt like the PhD comic above at more than one point of our careers? Graduate school is certainly not easy. There are a lot of things students have to deal with for the first time when they come to graduate school. Research, for example, could be something intimidating for many graduate students. I remember when I took my very first research class at the beginning of the master's program in Arts Administration at FSU. There were a lot of unfamiliar terms to learn. I remember thinking that it was all kind of overwhelming, especially when trying to get an idea of how I would apply all of it to my own research projects.

I was recently invited to present at a research survey class that included masters and doctoral students from my department. The FSU Department of Art Education offers concentrations in Art Education, Arts Administration and Art Therapy, so I knew I would be speaking in front of a very diverse group of graduate students. My presentation was going to be about my dissertation study, for which I recently collected data. There was no doubt about what the content of my presentation was going to be, but when I started to brainstorm on how I was going to approach it, I thought I had to take myself back to when I was a student taking that very first research class. What was it that I would have liked to hear from a guest research presenter back then? What did I want to know more about when I was actually trying to learn for the very first time all of those different research methodologies and approaches, having the pressure of knowing that I had to put together my very first attempt to a research proposal?

I realized that there was actually nothing that I’d have wanted more than knowing what happens “backstage” and what a researcher actually goes through from the beginning to the end of a research project such as a dissertation. I feel that graduate students, especially at the Ph.D. level, get to read a lot of research studies in the form of book chapters, journal articles and even dissertations. However, too many times they lack the “knowing HOW” those researchers and scholars actually came all the way to the end of the process: the “nuts and bolts” of a research study. In my opinion, we are so used to focusing on outcomes that we have made it more difficult and stressful to figure out the process we have to go through to get to them. This is how I came to realize that my presentation had to focus on process. I wanted to help students understand my own experience so that it could help them with theirs, but how did I do that?

First of all, I felt that I had to start my presentation by clarifying the most important aspects that made my study different from other types of research studies that they would be learning about as part of their class and also from other guest presenters. These are some of the aspects that I thought were important to discuss up front, before I got into details about my research process and here they are:

• My research study has been conducted in an informal learning setting: an art gallery - I felt it was important for students to learn the advantages and disadvantages this implies for a study such as the one I am conducting. I thought knowing some of the implications of conducting research in a free-choice environment such as a gallery or museum would help them better understand how I approached my research study, and could possibly help them make more informed decisions as well when the time comes for them to design their own study.

 

• My dissertation study aims to encompass an evaluation as part of it - Therefore, making sure that students were familiar with the similarities and differences between research and evaluation was key in order for them to be able to understand the process.

• A dissertation implies that there is only one researcher conducting the study - It’s very common that both research and evaluation studies are conducted by teams of people, often with diverse backgrounds and expertise so that they can complement each other and also divide the work to be done. However, when it comes to a dissertation study, the researcher is just one person: the student, who has the support of a dissertation committee, and the guidance and advice of his/her major professor. Therefore, in cases such as this one, you inevitably have to impose limitations to the scope of your research. In short: You have to realize that you can’t do it all! Making sure you will generate new knowledge and contribute to the literature that advances your field is extremely important but you also have to realize that this is probably not the last (and sometimes not even the first) research study you will conduct in your entire life. Knowing how far you can and should go is extremely important. In the case of a dissertation, it really helps to have an experienced committee chair who can help you realize what is actually doable and what is just “enough” (even when you might feel so enthusiastic about your topic that you might feel compelled to try to do it all).

After talking about these three aspects, I was ready to start articulating my research process from the beginning stages of conceptualization to the data collection stage that I am in at the moment. Some highlights of my presentation? Well, all I can say to summarize it is that I tried to take students through the development of my prospectus, which means I took them through the first three chapters of my dissertation and explained how I approached the process chronologically. This implied discussing a variety of things that included how I started with my dissertation topic, how I conducted and structured my literature review, how I came to develop my problem statement and research questions, and my rationale behind the theoretical foundation, methodology and paradigm of research that guides my dissertation study, among other things. 

As passionate as I am about research, I think (or hope) that I didn’t make the process look overwhelming. When you are in the middle of it, it can actually feel that way at times, but when you have a dissertation topic that you feel passionate about, you will also have the energy and the drive to go through the entire process in ways you actually get to enjoy the ride tremendously! This was the ultimate fact that I wanted to share with the students that attended my presentation, and I sure hope I accomplished my goal.

However, if you still feel overwhelmed about research or graduate school, check out Jorge Cham's PhD Comics anytime you need a break. You may even want to subscribe. I guarantee that they will make you laugh exactly when you need to!

Call for Proposals - The Museum Computer Network 2012 Annual Conference

The Museum Computer Network 2012 Conference will be in Seattle, WA from November 7-10. Online submission for proposals is open until April 27, 2012, in case you would like to present. The theme this year is The Museum Unbound: Shifting Perspectives, Evolving Spaces, Disruptive Technologies.

Sounds interesting, doesn't it?

Deadline to Apply to Attend TEDxFSU is Today!

Do you know what a TED talk is? Take a look at the short video below so you are more informed. TED conferences bring together Technology, Entertainment and Design and TEDxFSU is an independently organized TED Event that happens every year at FSU. This year, the event will take place on April 12, 2012 from 4:30pm - 7:30 pm at the FSU Turnbull Conference Center. The deadline to apply for attending this event is TODAY, so hurry up if you are planning on participating. Visit the TEDxFSU site to have more details and apply. You can also like TEDxFSU in Facebook and/or follow the event on Twitter @TEDxFSU.

See you at the 2012 TEDxFSU Conference! ... but no, wait! It's not so easy. Here is the message you receive after you apply:

"Thank you for your submission!
Unfortunately we cannot accept more than 100 TEDxFSU attendees. Therefore, everyone's applications are closely assessed, and those accepted will be notified after March 28th, via email, and will be invited to attend."

Why would they do that? I am not saying it is not worth a try, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed. Is there such a thing as "ideas worth spreading" with only some people?