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Nina;

I think there is a world of difference between a "swarmy" suggestion 
(which may or may not be BS) and  a direct imperative to action. 
Certainly you can imagine a range of suggestions of how visitors can 
be involved. Certainly the MBA is in the fore front of advocacy for 
ocean and ocean wildlife conservation and creates a model for others 
to try and emulate.  Though for some the MBA model may not work as 
well as for the MBA which has a singular and unique focus.

This is an interesting question, advocacy, which was raised in a 
session at ASTC past and has not been discussed on this list. To what 
extent should museums take strong advocacy positions, even to the 
point of altering their mission statements to include advocacy? Some 
of the questions that it raises are what and who do we advocate for 
and what are the consequences, foreseen and unforeseen? The "who" is 
an interesting question when it comes to economic status eg if we 
advocate for increased technology how does this affect schools or the 
public who are not so affluent to take advantage of increasing 
technological advances?

I'd be interested in seeing if we can discuss this though just before 
holidays may not be the best time to have a continued conversation.

Martin

-- 
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation
Consultant,
New York Hall of Science

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