Influence of Process Parameters on Chlorinated Biocide Decontamination by li-CO2 on Artificially Contaminated Model Materials

ABSTRACT

Previously, heavy use of biocides for the treatment of objects made of organic materials in museum collections (e.g. ethnographic, historical collections) was very common. Now suitable decontamination methods/technologies are being sought. A decontamination treatment by li-CO₂ was optimized that considered the specific requirements of museum objects. The treatment was tested on model materials artificially contaminated with biocide solutions containing dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), pentachlorophenol (PCP), lindane, and permethrin or cypermethrin. High decontamination was achieved for DDT, lindane, PCP, and permethrin on artificially biocide loaded wool and wood model materials. Optimal process parameter settings for li-CO₂ decontamination include a single 30?min cycle for woolen materials and three sequential 30?min cycles each for wood. These methods allow a reduction of at least 90% of all biocides for wool and between 70% and 85% for wood. Decontamination of the latter was more effective for less polar biocides as DDT and permethrin. Despite a significant improvement in decontamination for wood using co-solvents such as acetone, ethanol, and methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), their use is not recommended due to the increased risk of damage to the objects, in particular if a surface coating is present.     

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a Novel Display Case Design: Case Study of the Renovated Anne Frank House

ABSTRACT

Many museums are housed in historic buildings, sometimes the building itself is part of the museum collection. Creating a stable environment by providing a nearly constant temperature and relative humidity at correct levels decreases the risk of object degradation. Maintaining this steady indoor environment, however, increases energy consumption and risks to the historic building. Museum display cases offer a solution to the mitigation of risks to which valuable objects may be subjected by providing an extra layer of protection to indoor climate fluctuations. The Anne Frank House is a historic house museum located in Amsterdam. The museum has undergone several renovations in the last years to deal with an increase in the number of visitors to over 1.2 million a year. The original diaries and other documents of Anne Frank are permanently on display in the Anne Frank House. With the recent refurbishment the possibility arose to design a new state-of-the-art display case. This study presents the results of the experimental research related to the design, performed in-situ. The temperature and relative humidity in the new exhibition space and inside the new display cases were monitored to gain insight into the hygrothermal behavior of these controlled environments. A complementary numerical study was performed to investigate effects of dynamic climate control of the exhibition gallery and climate conditions in the display case under various circumstances. Four main conclusions are presented in this paper. The investigated display case design is able to provide a stable relative humidity environment by means of silica gel, while using an active box-in-box climate control system to create stable temperature conditions. The inner case temperature depends on the temperature supplied by the display case air handling unit. Protocols must be in place in case of malfunction or failure of the climate control system of the display case. The air handling unit of the case needs to be shut off to create a passive environment for the objects on display until necessary actions are taken. Exhibition gallery set points can be less stringent when susceptible museum objects are on display in the display case. The environments are separated and provide an opportunity for energy saving set point strategies. The last conclusion drawn is that the numerical study provides valuable insight into imposing dynamic control of set points for temperature and relative humidity in the exhibition gallery and the effect on the display case environment.     

The work of the audience: visual matrix methodology in museums

ABSTRACT

Visual matrix methodology has been designed for researching cultural imaginaries. It is an image-led, group-based method that creates a “third space” research setting to observe audience groups re-enacting lived experience of an event or process that takes place in the third space of a cultural setting. In this article, the method is described through its use in relation to an art-science exhibition, Human+ Future of the species, where three audience groups with investments in technology worked with exhibition material to achieve a complex ambivalent state of mind regarding technological futures. The visual matrix has been designed to capture the affective and aesthetic quality of audience engagement in third space by showing what audiences do with what is presented to them. We argue that such methodologies are useful for museums as they grapple with their role as sites where citizens not only engage in dialogue with one another but actively re-work their imaginaries of the future.     

Negotiating the cultural and economic outcomes of sport heritage attractions: the case of the National Baseball Hall of Fame

ABSTRACT

Contemporary museums must balance their roles as commercial entities and repositories of various, and often dissonant, heritages and histories. Sports museums in particular often have clear commercial and nostalgic aims, particularly through tourist visitation, though the extent to which they represent more challenging narratives remains unclear. This paper examines how one of the most famous sports museums in the world, the National Baseball Hall of Fame (NBHF) in Cooperstown, New York, balances its dual role as tourist attraction and repository of baseball's sometimes checkered past. It was found that different sections of the museum provide greater or lesser degrees of engagement with more controversial issues, although the commercial outputs and appeal of the museum remains clear throughout. Utlimately, the NBHF demonstrates that balancing veneration and critique in collections can be commercially prosperous, and can provide a template for other sport and popular culture museums who may be wary of incorporating more challenging narratives in their exhibits. Furthermore, the symbiotic relationship between the Hall of Fame and the village of Cooperstown, particularly in creating and maintaining cultural and economic outputs, requires further exploration.     

文化遗产旅游吸引物的意境空间研究——为文化遗产旅游者创造适宜的旅游环境

近来,各种公众媒体的版面充斥着对世界各地著名遗产旅游景点更新改造的报道。文化遗产旅游目的地管理者也承认良好的外部环境在提升旅游者总体满意程度方面发挥着重要作用。阐明了遗产吸引物的自然环境在决定旅游者对景点的态度和未来再次购买意向方面有重要作用．同时影响着他们对亲朋好友的传播意愿。研究表明环境因素在面对顾客塑造永久性的独特品牌形象时可被作为一种差异化工具,并以此创造一种竞争优势。     

博物馆国内游客特征探究——以武汉辛亥革命博物馆为例

文章以辛亥革命博物馆为例,通过对其游客行为的考察和分析,得出反映特定历史事件的专题性博物馆目前尚无法成为中部地区城市旅游资源开发利用的核心的结论,对以武汉市为代表的中部地区城市的专题性文化旅游产品开发经营以及其他历史文化型景点的运作具有一定的参考意义。     

Writing creatively in a museum: tracing lines through persons,art objects and texts

Creative writing is often thought of as an individual and solitary pursuit. This is partly owing to Romantic (and still popular) notions of creativity as residing in highly gifted individuals, but also to the widely held belief that writing is a lonely rather than a social activity. The research presented in this paper provides a unique insight into the creative process by tracing the way one poem is produced by a member of a creative writing class based on a major urban art gallery. Based on a 5‐year ethnographic study of this class, it employs interview material, field notes, photographs and creative writing as data. Using theories from both the “anthropology of writing” (Barton and Papen, 2010 ; Latour and Woolgar, 1986 ) and the “anthropology of creativity” (Ingold, 2007 ; Hallam and Ingold, 2007 ), I argue that creative writing is a relational and temporal process involving complex and multiple claims for agency. I also go on to show that when the text moves from a private to a public context, these multiple agencies are encompassed and erased under the umbrella of individual authorship.     

科学博物馆与科学中心——演化路径与当代趋势

将科学博物馆、科学中心、探索中心等互动型科学博物馆与中心统称为科学博物馆与科学中心(简称为SMC)。在澄清SMC内涵的基础上,按SMC的展示理念变迁将其发展的三个历史阶段划分为:技术史展示阶段,展示现代科学和增强科学知识阶段,促进科学大众化与知识扩散阶段。并在公众与科学技术新的互动社会与环境下,指出SMC面临的挑战,提出SMC向第四个阶段,即注重科学技术与社会的关系和尊重公众的主动地位阶段演进的趋势。在科学与社会互动的语境中全面思考科学博物馆与科学中心的定位与演进趋势。     

略论信息化与数字博物馆

近年来，互联网正以一种全球化的生存理念冲击着世界。伴随着信息化社会的到来，博物馆也开始利用互联网这种新的信息传播手段，实现了在信息交流和信息共享方面质的突破，称为数字博物馆。我国在数字博物馆方面的建设，目前还相对落后，因此应该积极迎接挑战，这对于在新形势下充分宣扬我国民族化具有重大意义。     

Untangling the Web: Comparing the Impact of the Internet onthe National Archives, the National Library and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

This research sought answers to twoimportant questions regarding the impact of theInternet on three New Zealand cultural institutions:the National Archives, the National Library and theMuseum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. First, whatimpact has the Internet had on policy development ineach institution? Second, what are the attitudes ofthe professional staff toward the integration of theInternet into the workplace? The findings are comparedto determine the extent to which the experiences ofintegrating the Internet into each institution's corebusiness are similar and different. The resultsrevealed several important findings: 1. policyregarding the Internet has been most extensivelydeveloped at the National Library; 2. the Internet isnot currently as central to the delivery of coreservices at the National Archives or the Museum of NewZealand Te Papa Tongarewa as it is at the NationalLibrary; 3. the majority of the professional staff atall three institutions responded that they were either`very positive' or `somewhat positive' about theintegration of the Internet into their environment,although most felt that their core professional dutieswere not being fundamentally altered. The conclusionsand some recommendations for each institution toconsider in addressing Internet technology developmentare provided.