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

Dear Colleagues:

Greetings from Greenwich Village in Manhattan, New York City.  In the late
19th-century.  That's because we have no electricity, hot water, Internet,
or cell phones.  We do still have a few land-line wired phones, but many
of them are not working either. I have to walk a mile north to get an
internet connection (which is how I'm sending this post).

I'd invest in a horse if I could buy one, because a horse-drawn carriage
would go a long way to replace the non-functioning subways, rare taxicabs,
and sparse supply of buses (on "limited Sunday schedules").  Taxis have
difficulty getting gas because the gas pumps are all electric.  Actually,
the folks cleaning up are people on the street selling D-cell batteries
for $4 each.  New York entrepreneurs!  Remember the science fiction
post-apocalypse stories in which the hero breaks into a museum and saves
the world with pre-electric technologies from the exhibitions?

But this really is an ISEN query.  For an NSF-supported COSEE-OCEAN
inquiry group about ocean science literacy, I'd welcome a quick answer
from people around the US and beyond to this question:

	Does your state or local government have existing programs
	(commissions/funding sources/ordinances/laws/policies)
	which support informal science education in general,
	and/or ocean science literacy in particular)?

For example, New York City has a Department of Cultural Affairs, which
provides annual operating support subsidies for museums, zoos, and
aquaria.  New York State has two commissions, one of which funds museums
and the other which funds living collections.

It would be great to have yes/no answers, and any additional information
would be terrific.  To avoid clogging ISEN, please send any responses to
me at [log in to unmask]  Results will be compiled and published
free on-line next year as part of our COSEE-OCEAN inquiry group report.

Thanks from pre-twentieth century Greenwich Village!

Cheers,
Alan

________________________________________
Alan J. Friedman, Ph.D.
Consultant for Museum Development and Science Communication
29 West 10th Street
New York, New York 10011 USA
T  +1 917 882-6671
E   [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
W www.FriedmanConsults.com <http://www.friedmanconsults.com/>
 
a member of The Museum Group
www.museumgroup.com <http://www.museumgroup.com/>

***********************************************************************
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
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]