ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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As an exhibit designer my portfolio is made up of either photos I have taken myself or ones that were given to me either by the museum I worked for or the design firm I worked for.  They are used to show folks what I can and have done in the past.  I take great pains to make sure folks are aware that not everything in every photos was designed entirely by me (with exceptions) as is the norm in this business.  I have never been questioned about my right to use the images.  

Now with the need to have a web-presence I will be looking at these images yet again and double checking  permissions with the original sources wherever possible.  Currently I just use a Flickr page to display some of my projects.  I used to have it mixed with my personal photos of family and friends but stripped that out.  

There is certainly a concern that now anyone can just grab an image from the web and use it for lord knows what.  Even before the Internet I witnessed the use of "stolen" images in portfolios.  During the first twenty years of my career in NYC probably 1 out of 5 design portfolios I looked at contained images of things for which the designer had no business taking credit.  On one occasion I actually saw something I had worked on myself as part of a larger team presented as the soul work of the designer.

Recently I have seen both museums and designers point folks to personal blogs via Facebook.  These blogs usually gave glowing reviews of the museum or exhibit but the writer was not associated with either museum or designer.  Obviously this is ripe for abuse.

I think the line between profit and non-profit is getting rather blurry.  Using images for a portfolio and using an image for a sales brochure are different yet both are meant to get business.  But one is presented in a very controlled manor and the other is put out there for general consumption.

It is also getting much harder to confirm the truth of what one reads online. Recently a friend posted a story to FB regarding supposed legislation to change the value of Pi to just 3.0 even.  The story was on the Huffington Post and had been picked up by a bunch of credible news organizations.  I did a Google search and if I looked only at the first 3-4! pages of links it appeared to be real.  Only after going in deeper did I start to see hints at the hoax it was and in the end I had to go directly to the House of Reps web site to confirm that the actual Bill had nothing to do with it at all.  But this stuff feeds off itself and is hard to stop.

With some selective clippings from recent articles and research we could easily start a rumor that museums are doing direct research on unwitting visitors and the information will be used to control and direct their experiences in ways they can not control.  Throw the right language into it and it becomes very sinister.
 
Erich Rose

Erich Rose Design
807 The Living End
Austin, TX 78746
512-626-9930; [log in to unmask]




On Apr 23, 2011, at 3:49 PM, Martin Weiss wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
> 
> We all have taken pictures of exhibitions we have developed or are
> developing in science museums.
> 
> Is there a blanket rule regarding their use without having obtained
> permission? Is it permissible to use them in a talk? Is it permissible to
> use them on a web site or another publication? Are museums considered a
> public space where you have right to take pictures and use the images as on
> a public street?
> 
> Sources would be helpful.
> 
> Martin
> 
> 
> –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
> Martin Weiss, PhD
> Science Interpretation, Consultant
> New York Hall of Science
> mweiss at nyscience.org
> 347-460-1858
> 
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> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
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> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
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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.

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