EXHIBITION TEXT AND LABELS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Next week, meet at the Peabody and be prepared to talk about your object. We will go to galleries to view two objects.• Please submit papers as word docs. I make notes

in track changes and send the file back to you.

“ORDER CONCERNS”• “Higher Order Concerns”: Big Picture• Topic• Audience• Thesis Statement & Purpose• Organization• Supporting data

• “Lower Order Concerns”: Mechanics• spelling• grammar• punctuation• sentence structure• word choice• syntax (word order)

• Higher & Lower Order Concerns necessary for success!

WHAT STORY ARE YOU TELLING?

• The Big Idea:• theme or story that sets the tone and limits the content

• Topics (incomplete thoughts) are not ideas • Different stories• Positivist, curator-driven story• Multiple meanings

• To get at the “big story” consider meaningfulness of object for your audience• Different types of labels: interpretive, non-interpretive,

categories of labels

LABEL STYLES

• Interpretive vs. descriptive• Active vs. passive

engagement• New Museum Age:• dispersed authority• Accountability• Poetics and politics

DIFFERENT KINDS OF LABELS

WRITING LABEL TEXT

• Topic• Theme• Message (‘When people have read this they will

know…’)

THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND

• Ferguson, et al (1995) identify a number of factors that shape texts:• what is being discussed: the subject matter• who is taking part: the audience• the way the communication is taking place: the nature of language that

translates to the style of the text• the structures and form of language used: the choice of words and the

interactions between the authors of the texts and the end user

• They also describe other factors specific to museums:• museum visits are free form: visitors choose what they attend to• museum texts complement other forms of interpretation, acting as labels for

interactive, signposts and orientation devices and instructions• museums have visitors: all kinds of people with a wide variety of learning

styles and interests are motivated to visit museums for a range of reasons

• Ferguson, L., MacLulich, C. & Ravelli, L. (1995). Meanings and messages: language guidelines for museum exhibitions. Sydney: Australian Museum

WRITING TEXT AND LABELS THAT WORK

• Serrell (1996, p.84-91) identified a number of steps in writing visitor friendly labels:• start with information directly related to what visitors can see, feel, do, smell, or

experience from where they are standing• vary the length of the sentences• use short paragraphs and small chunks, not large blocks of information• metaphors are better for other forms of narrative, not labels• alliteration is an easy device to overuse• exclamation marks in labels shout at readers and force emphasis on them• humor should be used sparingly• use quotations when they advance the narrative and are necessary• expect visitors to want to read• use informative paragraph titles and subtitles• have a snappy ending• newspaper journalism is not a good model as articles are written with the assumption that

readers will not read everything• stay flexible within the label system - labels that all look the same become boring to read• interrelate labels and their settings• include visitors in the conversation: encourage their participation

V & A GUIDE

• Write for your audience• Stick to the text hierarchy and word count• Organize your information• Engage with the object• Admit uncertainty• Bring in the human element• Sketch in the background• Write as you would speak• Construct your text with care

PACKING AND UNPACKING

Containing the length of labels is like packing for a trip…consider packing in three separate piles:• The things we would like to take• The things we think we need• The things we absolutely cannot get along without

And then take only the third group

PART OF THIS IS EDITING

• Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print

• Never use a long word where a short word will do• If it is possible to cut a word, always cut it out• Never use the passive when you can use the active• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a

jargon word if you can think of an everyday equivalent

• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous• George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946

THE LABEL AS SHORT STORY

• Active• Subject• Context• Significance/message

Reproduced photograph, man wearing headdress (2004.29.24259.1)

1898, Marquesas Islands

William McM. Woodworth produced this studio photograph as a way for Western audiences to experience an "exotic" culture. This man’s tattoos fascinated Western audiences but were also a way to convey adulthood and served as visual armor to ward off malevolent spirits and human enemies in his Polynesian culture.

THINKING ABOUT INTERPRETATIONS, LABELS, AND ARCHIVES

• Museum 2.0• http://www.museumtwo.blogspot.com/

• AAM curators committee• http://www.curcom.org/curcom_comp_2012.php

• On display• http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/71706.html?mulR=13509|2

• Social tagging• http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/socialTagging.html

• Archives and labels:• http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/

search_object_details.aspx?objectId=3106302&partId=1&searchText=London&fromDate=1990&fromADBC=ad&toDate=2012&toADBC=ad&productionInfo=on&orig=/research/search_the_collection_database.aspx&images=on&numpages=10&currentPage=6?bioId=159228

• Back to the British Museum: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/americas/kayak_clothing_from_greenland/kayak_clothing_from_greenland.aspx