Smithsonian
About Smithsonian  |  Websites A-Z
Home | Exhibitions | Events | Visitor Information | Museums | Research | Membership | Giving | Shop
Museum Studies Home
smithsonian.org Documentation
Information
Mission
130x50 Welcome - Museum studies, sometimes called museology, is the field that encompasses the ideas and issues involved in the museum profession—from the practical, day-to-day skills needed to operate a museum to theories on the societal role of museums.
The Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies (SCEMS) assists the museum community in acquiring and strengthening its understandings and practices of museology. This website is one of the Center's tools for serving the educational and informational needs of the field.
Smithsonian ALL ACCESS Digital Arts Program CAMP

Friend Making + Digital Tools + Smithsonian Resources = All Access Digital Arts Program. 

A two-week, multi-media summer camp for Washington, D.C.-area teens with cognitive disabilities, promoting interactive, project-based learning experiences at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn ArtLab+ in partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access and the Smithsonian Accessibility Program.

Session Dates: August 5-9 & 12-16, 2013    

Time: 10am-2pm    

Location: ArtLab+ at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (7th and Jefferson DR SW, in the Sculpture Garden)

ALL ACCESS Digital Arts Program Camp is an opportunity for high school students with cognitive disabilities in the Washington, D.C.-area to participate in a two-week multi-media camp at the Smithsonian Institution. Students participate in supported interactive learning experiences during the summer program comprised of up to 20 peers at the Hirshhorn Museum’s ArtLab+. Students explore areas of interest at different Smithsonian museums in a way that is tailored to meet their individual needs. After facilitated exploration and documenting their experiences using digital recording devices, students compile their digital media, create a digital movie, and share their digital work using social media with their camp peers and friends. The week culminates with a student movie premiere and reception for parents and friends.  The camp is FREE to students and made possible by the generosity of a Smithsonian Youth Access Grant.

Download the application: APPLICATION

For questions or additional information please contact tspinale@si.edu. See what we do at: www.facebook.com/AllAccessDigitalArtsProgram.

Rewarding Museum Participation and Learning:  New Approaches
130x50

“Rewarding Museum Participation and Learning: New Approaches,” a symposium on digital badging programs that reward achievement, featuring Maxwell L. Anderson, the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, on “Changing the Currency of Museum Membership: Participation v. Cash.”

Replay available here.

SUFIISM AT THE SMITHSONIAN

SUFIISM AT THE SMITHSONIAN
Searching for the Divine through the Arts

September 22–23, 2012 
12 Noon

National Museum of the American Indian
Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian is planning a two-day symposium as an attempt to reinterpret, redefine and broaden the concept of SUFIism through scholarly talks, dramatic renderings of mystical poetry, soul-searching music, creative expressions in dance, artist talks, and fascinating films.

Additional information available here.

Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits

The National Research Council’s new study:
Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits

The National Science Resources Center, in partnership with the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, hosts a Smithsonian Institution Research-Dissemination Forum to discuss the findings of this new report

Replay available here.

Explore Museum Studies
130x50 Museum Studies Training and Careers
Locate professional-development opportunities and information for making informed career decisions and finding a job.
130x50

Fellowships in Museum Practice
Look into opportunities to research museology issues at the Smithsonian.

130x50   Museology Resources
Find professional associations and special interest groups, on-line references, bibliographies, curriculum tools and materials, and much more.
130x50   Museum Studies Webcast Archives
Watch past presentations hosted by the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies on topics relating to museology.
2013 Fellows in Museum Practice

Phaedra Livingstone, Ph.D. 
Assistant Professor and Museum Studies Coordinator, Arts & Administration Program, University of Oregon
Study Title: Touchstones, Touchscreens and Tall Tales: Interpretive Perspectives and Representational Limitations Across the Process of Developing an Exhibition
In-residence at SCEMS: May 15—September 15, 2013
Dr. Livingstone will explore communication in exhibition development: Her research applies a gender lens to the articulation of knowledge production practices across phases of exhibition development, questioning what barriers remain to increasing the diversity of identities given voice in the interpretations produced.

Susan Chun—Fellow in Museum Practice
New Media Consortium (New York, NY)
Co-PI and Project Lead, Steve: The Museum Social Tagging Project
Study Title: Information Visualization for Museums: A Survey of Current Practice and Potential Applications
In-residence at the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies: May 2012 –July 2012 & Nov 2012–Jan 2013

 

Latest Research & Reports       

Dr. Helen Graham
University of Leeds and Smithsonian Fellowship in Museum Practice Fellow (2010-2011)
All Access Digital Arts Camp Report (.doc | .pdf
Related content:
All Access Digital Arts Camp              
Museums for Us  
Accessibility Resources
Smithsonian Accessibility Program

Dr. Hadwig Kraeutler
Belvedere Museum of Austrian Art, Vienna & SCEMS’ Merit Award Recipient 2011
The museologist, writer, educationalist Alma S. Wittlin (1899 - 1990) (.doc | .pdf
Related content:
Smithsonian History 
Museum Education Resources

Dr. Olaug Andreassen
Documentalist/Anthropologist, Oslo, Norway and Smithsonian Fellowship in Museum Practice Fellow (2010-2011)
Project Report: Making Digitized Collections Useful. What can we learn from current Smithsonian work with source communities?
( .pdf | link  
More Useful Collections Blog
Related content:
Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center    
Collections Resources

Ms. Tine Seligmann
Curator Learning Museum & SCEMS Professional Visit 2011
Museum of Contemporary Art, Roskilde, Denmark
May I share a story with you?—on different approaches to user involvement (.doc | .pdf   
Related Content:
Learning Museum
Evaluation and Visitor Studies

LOOKING for more reports? Go to: Alumni and Research Reports

     
 
Quick Links
arrow Museum Studies EMAIL SIGN UP
line
Museum Employment Opportunities
Museum Studies Training Directory
Museum-Related Organizations

Museum Studies Bibliographies (SIRIS)

  Upcoming Events
  Fellowships in Museum Practice Application Deadline: February 15
   
  Frequently Asked Questions
  What are resources that can help me start a new museum?
  Where can I find sources of traveling exhibitions?
  Where can I get information on museum federal funding sources?
  Where can I get information on planning a career in museums?
  What kinds of academic programs are available in museum studies and related fields?
  Where can I get information on developing museum studies curriculum?
  Where can I get information on museum accessibility policies and practices?
  Suggestion Box
  Please send us your suggestions about our website, information you are looking for but cannot find on the site.
   
Contacts | Help | Privacy | Copyright
Top  Top