Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Context
Pearls before Breakfast - Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10
A friend shared this article with me today and I found it all the more appropriate having just come from a VSA conference session where, among other things, the concept of "value" (as in how much people value their museum and musical performance experiences) was discussed. The notion of context did creep up, though in the form of motivation (i.e., voluntary or desired attendance/participation in programming vs. being made to participate for reasons other than intrinsic interest) more so than location/venue.
I didn't assume the outcome of the experiment in the Post article would be much different than it turned out to be, but appreciate the author's effort to keep us wondering as he weaves his way through a story that is as much about the musician and the lives and times of a random sampling of DC commuters and subway station employees as it is about the psychological underpinnings of the experiment .
I googled and found a few examples of some of the recordings of the songs that violin virtuoso, Bell, played and enjoyed familiarizing myself with them and sampling their beauty as I read through the article. I don't know a ton about music, I don't even know if I'd consider myself a fan of music (I haven't used my ipod in nearly 2 years!). I feel guilty when I think how much my parents invested in years of piano lessons that left me able to memorize pieces of varying length and complexity but never truly able to read or play music competently. I'd much rather imagine myself to be one of the few who recognized his genius or the mere beauty of the music he was creating but I suspect I would have been in the majority on that day in January two years ago - one of the thousand-plus who quickly passed by, avoiding eye contact with Bell, and feeling frustration over being made to feel guilty for not being willing to fish out my wallet. I don't think I know enough about music to have been truly able to appreciate the quality of the performance being given in that unlikely environment - and, given the inabilty to fully appreciate what I was hearing, I wouldn't even realize what I was tuning out.
In the session I just attended we pondered the notion that people value something more when it isn't free (e.g., examples of being able to get rid of more concert tickets when they are sold at $10 off face value than when they are given away totally free of charge). It didn't seem right to me, because I'm always looking for (and enjoying) free entertainment - but I understood it a little better after reading this article in the post. Accoustics aside, the music he was performing for sold out concert halls full of people paying upwards of $100 for a seat was no different than the music he was freely sharing with commuters at L'Enfant plaza on that particular morning - but the former example creates a more appropriate context for valuing the experience.
The story provides a vivid example of why context and motivation matter. It reminded me of the saying: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink." Certainly there must also be at least an ounce of truth to that statement when we think about "free choice learning." Often the choice to engage in informal learning experiences is not the choice of everyone in attendance (i.e., the children that get drug along by overzealous parents, the students that get loaded onto a bus and thrown into the experience with little more than a brief introduction to help provide context for their experience - if that). Even if faced with the most beautiful or wonderful works of art, music, or the most fabulous exhibits, do visitors actually manage to find meaning and value if they aren't in the right mindset, or don't have the right level of understanding, to look for it?
Sunday, April 8, 2007; Page W10
A friend shared this article with me today and I found it all the more appropriate having just come from a VSA conference session where, among other things, the concept of "value" (as in how much people value their museum and musical performance experiences) was discussed. The notion of context did creep up, though in the form of motivation (i.e., voluntary or desired attendance/participation in programming vs. being made to participate for reasons other than intrinsic interest) more so than location/venue.
I didn't assume the outcome of the experiment in the Post article would be much different than it turned out to be, but appreciate the author's effort to keep us wondering as he weaves his way through a story that is as much about the musician and the lives and times of a random sampling of DC commuters and subway station employees as it is about the psychological underpinnings of the experiment .
I googled and found a few examples of some of the recordings of the songs that violin virtuoso, Bell, played and enjoyed familiarizing myself with them and sampling their beauty as I read through the article. I don't know a ton about music, I don't even know if I'd consider myself a fan of music (I haven't used my ipod in nearly 2 years!). I feel guilty when I think how much my parents invested in years of piano lessons that left me able to memorize pieces of varying length and complexity but never truly able to read or play music competently. I'd much rather imagine myself to be one of the few who recognized his genius or the mere beauty of the music he was creating but I suspect I would have been in the majority on that day in January two years ago - one of the thousand-plus who quickly passed by, avoiding eye contact with Bell, and feeling frustration over being made to feel guilty for not being willing to fish out my wallet. I don't think I know enough about music to have been truly able to appreciate the quality of the performance being given in that unlikely environment - and, given the inabilty to fully appreciate what I was hearing, I wouldn't even realize what I was tuning out.
In the session I just attended we pondered the notion that people value something more when it isn't free (e.g., examples of being able to get rid of more concert tickets when they are sold at $10 off face value than when they are given away totally free of charge). It didn't seem right to me, because I'm always looking for (and enjoying) free entertainment - but I understood it a little better after reading this article in the post. Accoustics aside, the music he was performing for sold out concert halls full of people paying upwards of $100 for a seat was no different than the music he was freely sharing with commuters at L'Enfant plaza on that particular morning - but the former example creates a more appropriate context for valuing the experience.
The story provides a vivid example of why context and motivation matter. It reminded me of the saying: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink." Certainly there must also be at least an ounce of truth to that statement when we think about "free choice learning." Often the choice to engage in informal learning experiences is not the choice of everyone in attendance (i.e., the children that get drug along by overzealous parents, the students that get loaded onto a bus and thrown into the experience with little more than a brief introduction to help provide context for their experience - if that). Even if faced with the most beautiful or wonderful works of art, music, or the most fabulous exhibits, do visitors actually manage to find meaning and value if they aren't in the right mindset, or don't have the right level of understanding, to look for it?
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Photos from the walking tour at the Visitor Studies Association Conference
St. Louis Missouri - July 21-25th
Had a great time giving a workshop on museum website evaluation yesterday with Monnette. This morning I went on a walking tour around downtown St. Louis and snapped a few photos along the way with my phone (a G1 that has become my favorite research tool in recent weeks - after learning that I could also do pretty decent digital recordings as well).
Photo Highlights at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jennifer.borse/SaintLouis#
Had a great time giving a workshop on museum website evaluation yesterday with Monnette. This morning I went on a walking tour around downtown St. Louis and snapped a few photos along the way with my phone (a G1 that has become my favorite research tool in recent weeks - after learning that I could also do pretty decent digital recordings as well).
Photo Highlights at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jennifer.borse/SaintLouis#
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