Comments for Scott Billings, freelance journalist

Comment on Upwardly mobile by Julie Dean

Julie Dean — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:34:05 +0000

We have had good take up of our audio trails that we developed for Denbighshires heather and Hillforts project. Downloads are available via a website but visitors can also access by mobile on site (eg Moel famau or Caer Drewyn) them by ringing a local number.

These ae of minimual cost to the user and can also be covered by free bundled minutes in some packages.

Visitors seem to like a choice.
For trails that need to be downloaded in advance we have an easy portalwww.audioguide2go.com linking to existing tours and trails, which was listed by the Daily Telegraph as number 5 in their best travel websites 2009.

Comment on Upwardly mobile by Scott

Scott — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:30:34 +0000

Pleased to hear it!

Comment on Upwardly mobile by Ana

Ana — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:26:40 +0000

Thanks for this article. It’s really useful and inspiring for us creators of museum tours.

Comment on Are museums about stories or objects? by Scott

Scott — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:55:14 +0000

You’re right that enquiry and dialogue need to be part of an examination of any subject, in a museum or otherwise, and it’s great that the web in particular makes this so possible.

Having said that, I do wonder whether you can take this too far. Most people - certainly most museum visitors - are probably not experts in any given subject and to some degree do need ‘teaching’ (at least, I always want to be taught). I think it’s the very fact that museums have the knowledge and resources to be didactic which is one of their key strengths. I would worry that if everything’s a dialogue or response from the outset, then scholarly learning and study might not be effectively passed on, and everything falls to subjectivity.

So you need both of course: some one-way transfer of information, knowledge and even judgement and then, perhaps, towards the end of an exhibition (or at least once the story has been told), a mechanism for people to reflect, question and interpret in their own way.

Comment on Are museums about stories or objects? by Bridget McKenzie

Bridget McKenzie — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:28:52 +0000

I wonder if a more helpful question is: Are museums about objects or enquiries? A story is just one system for presenting knowledge or meaning, and it is fundamentally a one-way didactic system. We’re seeing a shift towards enquiry-based learning with cultural artefacts (of material and non-material kinds) acting as stimuli for dialogue, research, collaborative interpretation and creative response. The web amplifies the opportunities for that kind of learning. The assumption that ’story’ is the epitome of cultural content comes from a context dominated in the past by the broadcast media. I like the idea of a Museum of Grand Ideas but one that is designed to provoke enquiry leading to many more grand ideas.