Museum Evaluation Program
January included a lot of meetings and work on program revisions. The further we go down this road, the more we are convinced that we are on the right track. We are incredibly encouraged by our conversations with the ANSM board, MEP Working Group, and Culture & Heritage Division staff. We still have a couple more meetings to go but are looking forward to making an announcement in the near future.
The Accreditation Panel meetings tomorrow to review applications. It has been a real pleasure to read each application and learn more about how the museums of Nova Scotia are serving their communities, along with their future aspirations.
Collective Access Updates
Here we are in the midst of the cold winter season and yet with a great effort from our members during the off season months we still continue to see an increase in the number of records that are being added to the database. In total we now have 346,309 artifact records (an increase of 1162) and 312,240 images (an increase of 1801).
Let's break these numbers down into the four regions:
Northeast: 58,418 artifacts, 76,679 images
Southwest: 147,559 artifacts, 105,494 images
Cape Breton: 33,017 artifacts, 25,563 images
Central: 107,315 artifacts, 102,504 images
Keep up that great work everyone!
We wrapped up our 2021 MAP grant project this week, which means our CollectiveAccess users will notice a new Condition & Treatment Report feature in the database. The tutorial will walk you through how it works, but if there are any questions feel free to reach out. And speaking of tutorials, our users have been asking for more tools that they can use to train their new staff and volunteers, so here are two options. We developed two simple training modules that will help new users test their CollectiveAccess skills and knowledge. Here are the links to module 1 and module 2. As always, we want to thank the Department of Canadian Heritage for funding this work through the Museum Assistance Program.
We can see that the photographer tried to have a contrasting background but one of the main issues here is the presence of dark shadows along the bottom of the pillow. Did you know that indirect natural lighting is best for object photography? While that's not always possible for sites there are other lighting options that photographers can utilize. The basic lighting setup for most object photography will be a main light (known as a key light) and a secondary light (known as a fill light) that is used to reduce shadows. It will take some adjusting to get a properly lit object and one without shadows but as in last month's blog post we've discussed the benefits of taking the time to get the perfect photo.
Another one of the lessons that we can learn from this photograph is the angle that the photograph was taken. One of the many handy tips offered in ANSM's Artefact Photography Tips reminds us that artifacts should be primarily photographed in their natural position (i.e. how it was used). 3D objects should also be photographed not on a straight line but rather at a 45ยบ (camera slightly higher and looking down on the object).
The final thing that could have taken this from from blah to absolutely wow would be the cropping that was done in the post editing phase. The editing that happens after a photograph is taken can be just as important as the initial stages. Most operating systems have their own editing software that allows you to do basic editing such as cropping, brightening or straightening an image but there are other programs that offer much more advanced options like Photoshop (which does come with a price tag but a much reduced one through tech soup). There is also Photopea which is an online and free program that offers more advanced editing options similar to Photoshop. When you're cropping a photo you want to have equal spacing on all sides of the photograph. In this instance a bit more space could have been given around the object which would have allowed the scale to be fully in the photograph. It is also cropped dangerously close to cutting out a part of the artifact itself.
NovaMuseEd Updates
NovaMuseEd saw the publishing of three new coloring pages that were created by our summer intern Sarah Cavaliere. The three colouring pages (Flower Mat, Bluenose Schooner Hooked Rug, and House Hooked Mat) feature artifacts from the Cape Sable Historical Society and the Antigonish Heritage Museum. Over the course of the month NovaMuseEd saw 143 resource downloads. While there was a wide variety of resources downloaded over the course of the month the most popular was one of our newest publications Design a Cap Badge with 5 downloads, closely followed with four downloads each: Telegrams and Postcards and Oral History Project. Did you know that NovaMuseEd has 128 resources that can be used in the classroom?
Educational Partnerships
Our annual Fleming College assignment has launched and students are now merrily reviewing database records. Student biographies have been sent to each participating museum so everyone can 'meet' the students working in their database. Even though the project has just started, one student has already been able to correct a misidentified artifact. We look forward to hearing about other discoveries made during the research phase of the work.
Maggie and Karin also met with two professors from Saint Mary's University this month to discuss a new educational partnership. A draft MOU and course outline have been developed that would provide university students with a bit of museum education and practical experience. We will share more as we figure out all the details, but we're hoping to launch this in the Spring.
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