ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

Dear List, 

I accidentally surprised and alarmed a few list members with a blog post I wrote yesterday about the "Difference between a science museum and a science center", here: 
http://www.idea.org/blog/2011/03/31/difference-between-a-science-museum-and-a-science-center/
That blog post was mostly based on quotes from a recent discussion thread on this list. As part of blogging, I monitor many lists and feeds. 

I would like to restate my apology for not asking in advance about using quotes. I assumed that like comments on a blog, or any social media platform, that there's nothing private about a listserv. The ISEN-ASTC-L is a public list, and it's publicly archived and fully indexed by search engines. Public archive:  
http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/WA-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=ISEN-ASTC-L&X=1CA5CF619E5C38FEAE

My faux pas raises an interesting generational issue. I don't mean generational in terms of age, but in terms of who embraces a post-privacy era. It would never occur to me to post something to a public email list (like this) that I am not comfortable with the world seeing.

But there was a second factor at play. I know that there's a casualness to conversations here. As an outsider, I incorrectly assumed that the definition of the field (what's a museum vs. a center) was pretty basic stuff. So quoting casual comments seemed reasonable. 

In contrast, I have another story in progress about how many museums don't pay for journal access. My sense was that is a more subtle issue. As part of research on the story, I previously emailed several list members off-list for quotes. Not because I did not consider their on-list comments fair game, but because casual comments on a controversial topic are more likely to risk catching people out of context or imprecisely, and I don't want to embarrass anyone. 

So again, sorry for jumping the gun in assuming a degree of publicness which some list members did not expect. And perhaps other list members have comments about presumptions of privacy on public lists.   

Kind regards, 

Michael Douma
IDEA.org



On Apr 1, 2011, at 4:39 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:

> Michael
> 
> I think it would have been courteous to have posted a request to the discussion group letting us know you were going to do this and asking if anyone wanted to opt out. This discussion was not meant to be public as it is not a public list. So, in the future would you please bear this in mind?
> 
> I ma not sure if you've had private conversations with members of the list about this. I have not. This is my personal opinion.
> 
> Martin
> 
> On Fri, Apr 1, 2011 at 12:04 PM, Michael Douma <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> Dear List:
> 
> This is a great and useful discussion.
> Yesterday afternoon I posted a blog article summarizing some of the views:
> http://www.idea.org/blog/2011/03/31/difference-between-a-science-museum-and-a-science-center/
> 
> This is a publicly accessible discussion list, but you might expect a relatively small readership. If you have a moment and you chatted about science centers vs. museums in this thread, please let me know if any comments seem unrepresentative or you'd like them edited.
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Michael
> www.idea.org
> 
> 
> 
> On Mar 30, 2011, at 12:13 PM, Andrea Motto wrote:
> 
> > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> > *****************************************************************************
> >
> > Hello friends and smart people,
> > I'm working on a paper for a History of Science class regarding the
> > social and political climate surrounding the emergence of science
> > centers and I would love to get some perspective from the field. What
> > are your criteria for a "science center" (as opposed to a museum,
> > though there is certainly crossover) and which institutions do you
> > consider to be the firsts in the field, that is, the people and places
> > who founded our industry. How, if at all, do you make the distinction
> > between a science center and a museum? When was the science center
> > born and how do I know one when I see it? I'm sure there is no clear
> > answer, but I would love to hear some opinions. Once I know the "what"
> > and "when" I can start looking at the "how" and "why." I know of work
> > on the history of the Exploratorium, but what other institutional
> > histories are worthy of exploration?
> >
> > --
> > Andrea Motto
> > Graduate Research Assistant
> > Virginia Tech
> > Blacksburg, VA
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
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> ***********************************************************************
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
> 
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
> 
> The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
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> 
> -- 
> –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
> Martin Weiss, PhD
> Science Interpretation, Consultant
> New York Hall of Science
> mweiss at nyscience.org
> 347-460-1858
> 

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