The Ball State Museum of Art has currently booked for the Fall '96 Semester a show which contains 70-odd small pieces representing the art of ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Rome, etc. Most of these are small bronzes (particularly of gods and goddesses) and ceramics. (The Royal Athena Gallery, which provided these, may be able to provide others upon request.) In addition, the Museum has quite a decent collection of ancient glass (Roman), several vases and "tchotchkes" (as we call them in Indiana), and the usual miscellaneous coins.
Last year, Nancy Huth, Assistant Director of the Museum of Art and Curator of Education, and Alain Joyaux, Director of the Museum, approached Paul Ranieri, Associate Professor of English, and me about setting up an interdisciplinary Honors Colloquium (see below) focusing on the exhibit and the worlds of these ancient works. We agreed that, whatever might happen with the Honors College, there were irreplaceable learning opportunities for the students before the exhibit opened. We decided that students in several Spring '96 classes might be invited into the process of curating an exhibit.
This invitation to our Spring students brought an unanticipated advantage: the very participation of the students made it possible to rethink the way our Museum (and other museums like it) mounted such shows. Since our students had specialized knowledge both about antiquity and about the museum-going habits of our undergraduates, Mr. Joyaux and Ms. Huth enthusiastically embraced a proposal to employ the students' studies in daily life in antiquity to compile a collection of user-friendly "labels", which would put the viewer directly into the cultural context of the objet d'art. This is in keeping with new trends in museum management, which are designed to jolt patrons out of their self-imposed hypnosis as they wander from room to room, case to case.
It was agreed that Dr. Ranieri and I would draft assignments for our Spring '96 classes which would serve as models for work to be done by Honors (and other) students in the Fall semester. My students, since they're in a class which particularly emphasizes the non-literary information systems of antiquity (i.e., art and architecture), will produce labels in the highest tech readily available, i.e., video- and Mac-based-"labels" using the Perseus hypermedia database, with its 25,000 photographs of Greek vases, sculpture, architecture, etc. By one technological means or another, these "labels" would be capable of being broadcast into 90% of the classrooms on campus or played on every VCR or accessed by every Mac. Dr. Ranieri's students would prepare museum talks and/or papers in more traditional style, relying particularly on the ancient literary sources for parallels. Their presentations might be videotaped and broadcast via our superb VIS system or played on any VCR.
304 The Ancient City. (3 credit hours) Life of the ancient city as mirrored in archaeological and literary sources. The concept of the city, its art and architecture, with special emphasis on Periclean Athens and Augustan Rome.
CC 304 currently has 17-18 enrolled (and perhaps a few more might still show up--enrollment limits are set at 25). On the first day of class I passed out a brief questionnaire asking such questions as: how many classical culture/ancient history/history of religions/art history/archaeology/ anthropology/architecture/city planning classes have you had? how many
300-/400-level courses have you had? Do you have some special knowledge of or enthusiasm for antiquity which doesn't show up on your course record (i.e., collect ancient coins, tape and watch all episodes of Ancient Mysteries, study mythology, etc.)? Have you used the Mac before? For better than word processing? Have you used a CD-Rom before? If given a choice for a final project, would you prefer to write and research a paper in the conventional way or work on the computer? If given a choice for a final project, would you prefer to work alone or with 1-2 others? If given a choice for a final project, would you prefer to submit your project in writing or on videotape (i.e., present your project in a room with just the instructor and video technician)? If given a choice, would you prefer to submit your project in writing or as a formal presentation to the class?
The demographic questions yielded a class with, for the most part, much experience with upper-level history/art history/cc/anthro classes. One of the students plans to be a New World archaeologist (he has recently hauled a friend into the class, so I may have two archaeologists); one has already been on an Etruscan dig. One of the students participated in a previous project (in my CC 305 class), and was apparently won over: although an older woman who might be expected to prefer (or at least not to fear) a formal paper, she's opted for "computer", "videotape", and "group". One student has had virtually every class on ancient studies offered outside our program, but this is his/her first inside. Students who show up short on formal classes have secret vices connected with classics; they're Ancient Mysteries or Hercules addicts. In general, then, most students haven't just plucked 304 out of the catalog to replace that potentially yucky Civil War class. That's the good news. The bad news: most have not had CC 105 or CC 205 which might have ensured them an introduction to Perseus. With the exception of one student who reports 1 1/2 hrs. on Perseus and my own 305 student who reports 25, no one has had any experience on Perseus. On the up-side, however, most have used either an IBM or the Mac, many for more than word processing, and some have even investigated the CD-Rom (although no one apparently owns one).
You may have already guessed at the answers to many of the preference questions--most of the class prefers to work in sullen solitude, submitting the final project on paper, for my eyes only. However, it is a new world--several expressed even enthusiastic accord with the computer/videotape options. I (somewhat ruthlessly) informed them that, although I would take into account their preferences and would offer a choice of final projects, it might happen that successful completion of the final assignment required use of the computer, at least in the research stage.
Still, with an eye to the possible ramifications of the project, I can say with some confidence that at the very least two of these particular students will complete truly outstanding projects, and that would be enough for our purposes.
This term we have particularly been exploring the "non-verbal information systems" of Greco-Roman antiquity, with an eye to the cultural messages communicated by the symbol systems of art and architecture. Now's your chance to show others some of the information you've retrieved from walking around ancient cities, and how to "read" without words.
Please choose an object from the ones provided by the Royal Athena Gallery or from the Museum of Art's permanent collection. Your task: to explain and illustrate how the object might have been used or viewed or made within the context of the culture which produced it. (You may find it useful to imagine the object in the hands of a single member of that culture, whether passive consumer or maker.)
You or you and your collaborators are to produce a paper and a videotape (equipment, videotapes, and technical assistance will be provided free of charge on a schedule to be posted later) presenting the results of your researches and liberally illustrated with photographs, maps, drawings, reconstructions, film clips, or other visuals found in the library, private collections, or the Perseus multi-media library. The emphasis here is on enabling a casual museum visitor to "see" the object in use in its own time and place.
Some points you may wish to consider: your viewer may wish to see other examples of your object, whether ancient or modern; while the historical context should be as accurately recreated as possible, your viewer may find it interesting if you invent a fictional character who handles your object in some way (try to "color" your character with historically accurate name, appearance, attitudes, etc.); in general, so far as your object permits, you should attempt to explain what the object is saying to its user--what messages it's conveying to the ancient user about the culture's values, what instruction it's giving about good/bad, civilized/uncivilized, beautiful/ugly.
Length of the paper and videotape should be determined by the subject matter (when you're done, you're done), but shall we say at least 10 minutes and at least 8 pages?
I will make myself available as a video/research/Perseus consultant for this project. I will post regular hours when I'll be available in the lab or (armed with video camera) in the classroom.
Ms. Huth and I would conduct at least one session with the students at the Museum to familiarize them with the objects, the setting, and the professional protocol of museum research. This session would be videotaped for the use of next year's student researchers and for a future "history of the project" videotape. The Museum would provide set hours for the examination (and even the handling) of the student's selection; the Royal Athena Gallery could possibly provide photos and parallels (from the Gallery's periodical publications on ancient art). Students may be able to obtain the Gallery's permission to photograph their pieces for their own use only. The Museum may arrange to have one of these sessions videotaped for the "history" videotape as well.
Perseus would be used not only for parallels and who knows? perhaps some genuinely valuable insights worthy of publication but also to illustrate the context of a work of art in a way which is only rarely possible even in the largest museums. Even the most ordinary objects--normally scorned by museum-surfers with only an afternoon to see the biggest and most famous pieces--can be made to evoke the whole of Greek life. I plan, for example, to model the final project for the students by plotting a path for the context of a fibula, which begins with the map of whole of the Mediterranean, then zeroes in on its city of origin (or on Athens, if no provenance is given), then views of the Agora, the plan of the Agora, the Temple of Hephaestus (let's say), a reconstruction, vase-paintings of women abroad, the sculptures of the Parthenon, close-ups of vase-paintings of women dressing, narrowing down gradually with more paintings and sculptures, to the fibula. Hey, Periclean Athens in a pin in the palm of your hand.
The students would produce a videotape and a paper for their final projects, regardless of what option they've chosen. If they've chosen to make a museum label (and they did seem enthusiastic about this option), they are not restricted, of course, to high-tech reproductions of the ancient works they wish to feature; they might just as well choose book illustrations and hold them up to the video camera. But the class has had, I believe, good experiences with Perseus (in both its simple and advanced incarnations) in the classroom and those who choose Greek objects will rely heavily on Perseus, I suspect. Since I intend to teach them to "path" their choices on Perseus for a smoother presentation, then any choice of Perseus provides another product: a Perseus "path" which can be loaded onto the Macs in three of our computer labs and "walked" by students researching parallels/context before going to the Museum, or reviewing this information outside the Museum. Needless to say, we would secure the student's permission for any such use of his/her work.
In the best possible outcome, we (with the help of our techies) would find some way to provide direct Perseus access to the museum's patrons for the whole length of the exhibit. The museum has a classroom wired for computer access and VIS, and we have given Perseus demonstrations there. But this would require rather more formal access to Perseus than I would prefer--I would like the patrons to be able to gratify their desires for instant information and impulsive exploration in some setting which lets them feel their false starts and poor typing are secure from the despite of wandering computer jocks. In the best case scenario, Perseus 1.0 would be made available on the Museum's own computer(s), permitting the visitor to access the student's own path, notes, and, incidentally, paper directly and actively, rather than just passively viewing the results on a videotape set on continuous loop. Moreover, the visitor might then interact with the student's work (by leaving a "note" in the project "notebook" or in e-mail or on a WWW page), commenting on their choices or adding specialized knowledge of their own (since the project deals with daily life in antiquity, visitors from the local community may have genuinely valuable insights into farming practices, for example). This would have the effect of keeping the "label" alive, ever-growing, and would encourage the community to take ownership of its Museum.
But even without the financial and technological assistance which would make this option a reality, it is possible to jury-rig a system which permits some of the same interaction. The Museum and the University Library might have videotapes to check out--one containing a sample of the students' work, another called "What is Perseus?" or some such which walks the viewer through an afternoon on Perseus, showing where the labs are, how to gain admittance to the labs, how to start up the program, etc. A video instruction book, so to speak. Since we may assume that most of the Museum's patrons have access to a VCR, this tape could reach most of the Museum's target audience. Since I have already shot approximately 15 hours of brand-new Perseus users manipulating the program for the first time (although on CD-Rom players, rather than networked, as in our newest lab), some of the raw material for such a video is already available.
Mr. Joyaux, Ms. Huth, and I believe that the project itself would make an effective program for, at the very least, our public television channel 5. To this end, we've decided to videotape much of the preparation for the project (including discussions, student sessions with Ms. Huth, etc.). We would certainly provide this tape to the Honors instructors, if they would wish to participate in this or a similar project. We would also make the tape available in our own library, as a model for other departments which may have an interest in producing their own "living labels" for other works of other periods. In time, the project may attract the attention of a wide audience, and the videotape would be at hand to dispatch to the local high schools or other museums or universities. We plan, time and funds permitting, to make the videotape of broadcast quality by employing our fine Teleplex technicians, and it may be that the tape or some parts of it find a home on some other broadcast.
This project unites representatives of four fields--art history/museum curating, classics, English, and honors instruction; thus there are four potential sources of presentations/publications. In addition, of course, this may be of interest to the academic computing organizations or even to the art/museum glossies (several of which are published by the Royal Athena Gallery itself). The students themselves may find the project of interest to a wide variety of groups--they may wish to present papers at the annual meeting of the undergraduate classics honorary, for example, or at some undergraduate research competition, or at the national honors education conferences. In the end, on our campus, they may find the work they've done gives them a head start on a senior honors thesis (see below).
Product Assessment: the student questionnaires filled out by my 304 class are a valuable first step, I believe, since having some idea of what the student expected from the course and preferred for a final project puts into clearer focus any surveys taken at the end. Honors classes may likewise prefer to make use of questionnaires at the beginning and end. The Museum has used questionnaires for casual patrons very successfully in the past. We may be able to arrange e-mail access for immediate feedback (and glitch-hunting).
Immediate gratification: Alain Joyaux, Director of the Art Museum, has agreed to set up a contest for the students (a wonderful illustration of the Greek artistic agon). He and Ms. Huth (and the Gallery owner, perhaps) would judge the submissions, and Mr. Joyaux has graciously donated an ancient fibula as prize. Perhaps awarding of the prize might correspond to the opening of the exhibit, and some Pooh-Bah be persuaded to present it.
Delayed gratification: For the student who intends to go on to grad school in art history, classics, anthropology, history, or even telecommunications or computer science, this project has obvious value as a first professional "commission". But any student might well be pleased to be able to include this item on his résumé, whatever her future position might be. After all, assisting a local museum in mounting an exhibit would surely speak to the student's versatility, if nothing else. I have taken steps to ensure that the student's name-credit accompanies the "label"/object throughout its use (if the object becomes a part of our permanent collection, in perpetuity). Of more immediate benefit to the student, we intend to make application to BSU's own TV Channel 5 with an eye to promoting either a program on the project itself or short subjects on the individual objects, using the student's video footage. Of course, we would investigate carefully the matter of rights and permissions and arrange to provide the student with a copy of the telecast. In any case, the student would have his/her own video to display at a future workplace.
"Perseus: the next best thing to being there."
The subject matter demands a technological update. It might be argued that Faulkner, for example, is not better read on a computer monitor, and that any annotations accompanying a computer text are only as good as their author, who might after all have published them in book form. Thus, while it might be interesting to the Faulkner-seeker to have instant access to a full-color, computer-generated fantasy map of Yoknapatawpha County, it is not essential to her understanding. But the art of the ancients, particularly the pieces available to a small university museum, can be uncommunicative in the extreme: the label, "Libation bowl, date and provenance unknown" raises more questions than it answers--the viewer knew it was a bowl, after all, and (just as the label) didn't know its date and provenance, now he has to wonder, "What's a libation?" But any delivery system which can provide the casual visitor to a museum with a full range of full-color parallels which can be easily magnified, or detailed, or laid alongside others must be regarded as a significant advance in information processing.
Technology is wedded to the subject at hand in a way which yields real-world results--in other words, the point of the exercise of the equipment is not the exercise of the equipment, but the production of an exhibit which could not easily have been mounted by conventional means. Previously, to acquire the kind of information which Perseus can put in the viewer's hands, dozens of books, each turned perhaps to only one illustration would have to have been plunked down in front of the patron. With Perseus the patron has instant, easy, and full-color access to the appropriate parallels and contextual references. But, more than that, in the best case scenario, that is, with Perseus and its reference tools available on a Mac in the Museum, the viewer can also be given instant access to explanations of the explanations--all attuned to the viewer's own pace and state of knowledge.
Life got harder for professors here. We now already expect them to incorporate into their classes the wealth of new material our university's advanced technological resources have made available (you still have to say something about that picture you're broadcasting) and points of view new to their disciplines (we used to answer the question, "What did the Greeks think of women's sexuality?" with "Uh ... nothing."); to require them to manipulate complex electronic equipment and byzantine computer programs is to invite mutiny. Honors instructors are particularly vulnerable to overload, since just the plain-old-Socratic-method teaching of courses outside one's own discipline is quite demanding enough (I never thought I would live long enough to teach Fenimore Cooper).
This project can help, in some small way, with information inundation: every Honors professor has at least one class period in a semester for which he is legitimately absent (sickness, or attendance at conferences, etc.), and those periods are often "wasted" in the sense that the students are doing something other than receiving instruction. The "video-labels" at the Museum would seem to fill this time slot with meaningful activity, whether we envision the activity as introducing the student to museums, or to our museum, or to curating--or to antiquity, or to ancient art and archaeology--or to the Mac, CD-Rom technology, or to the art of multi-media presentation. In any case, the professor is required neither to master the Mac or Perseus (this "module" can be completely independent of other work in the course) nor to master the material Perseus displays (the computer itself can provide answers to any questions the students might have--on the spot, or very nearby).
Moreover, by showing the "What is Perseus?" video in advance or requiring students to view it on their own, the professor introduces the student to this library and can make his own assignments, confident that the students, at least, can gain access to this great research resource. We Perseids might assist this process by providing sample exercises, assignments, or essay/exam questions to make the process even easier for the professor.
Such a project as this rings a lot of bells currently on our campus. The project gives a workout to a wide variety of technological tools--potentially every single bit of technology readily available to the student--notably, the computer labs, VIS, the videotaping/editing facilities, student broadcasting services, e-mail, the internet (Honors students may even wish to establish a Web-page in the fall, since other universities may book the same exhibit), etc. Moreover, our university has been at some pains to wire classrooms on campus with top-of-the-line electronic gewgaws of every description, and we can be said to be one of the most technologically advanced campuses in the U. S. I note also that our campus has been in the forefront in the interface of computers, video, and museums: January 16 our Teleplex remote television production crew stormed Chicago's Field Museum to broadcast an "electronic field trip" to 7,800 students nationwide.
The project unites technology and teaching in the best possible way. If we do indeed produce modules on ancient art and architecture/daily life in antiquity which can be easily accessed by students in two modes (video and Mac), in a variety of locations (computer labs, classrooms via VIS, even the dormitories via Mac-hook-ups), then someone/thing other than the professor can instruct outside the classroom, effectively, interactively, then class time can be freed up for other valuable activities (or filled with meaningful activity, if the class might otherwise have been cancelled). Perseus, then, is performing the functions of a graduate assistant to the professor--he can (metaphorically) "drill" the students with parallels and examples, pull and file slides, schlepp a slide projector across campus, make up assignments and exam questions, and can occasionally be relied upon to fill a class hour with his knowledge. On a campus like this one, where the Honors College, Classics, English, Art, and History have few (or no) graduate hours available to assist professors in undergraduate general studies classes, even mechanical graduate students look good.
The project is beyond interdisciplinary--it's intercollegiate (the Museum is affiliated with the College of Fine Arts), it's an interface between the academic and administrative cultures of the university (the Museum's directors are administrative personnel), it's an interaction between the university and the community (since the Museum is an important resource for the local grammar and high schools, for example, and has strong ties to local organizations). Moreover, the project serves nicely the interplay between professor, university, and advanced student which our university particularly fosters: students are mentored into the professional milieu before that cold plunge into graduate school. In the area of support of undergraduate research, we, too, excel, as a middle-size university with professors for the most part still in the classroom in regular contact with undergraduates.
201 Honors Humanities 1: The Ancient World. (3 credit hours) Study of major intellectual and cultural movements of the Greek, Roman, and Judeo-Christian civilizations.
Open only honors students.
390 Honors Colloquium. (1-3 credit hours) Exploration of selected issues linking several disciplines. Emphasis is on discussion, individual projects, and ways of combining information from several sources.
Open only to honors students by permission.
A total of 3 credit hours may be earned.
499 Senior Honors Project. An inquiry culminating in an honors paper prepared in accordance with accepted standards of documentation and presentation under the supervision of a faculty member.
Open only to seniors participating in the Honors College or completing the requirement for departmental honors.
These are the courses on which this project would have the most immediate impact, since, at the very least, their instructors would be kept abreast of the project's developments. In time (and computer time permitting) our general Western Civilization courses might sign on to use any Perseus modules generated by this program; certainly many of their students will be assigned the exhibit.