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

Paul

Alan's statement was "*. . .I note that some smaller
institutions win a large number of highly competitive grants and awards,
**from NSF, IMLS, private foundations, and others who require evaluation. .
. .  *and he went on to name some of these institutions.

Martin

On Tue, Nov 1, 2011 at 8:09 PM, Paul Orselli <[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.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> While I appreciate Alan's encouraging words regarding funding and the
> influence of smaller museums, I'm afraid the data differs somewhat.
>
> Since actual facts and figures are so important to this conversation, a
> search a few minutes ago of active NSF awards for museums shows less than
> 4% going to small museums (or affiliated organizations.)
>
> Similarly, although both ASTC and AAM state that the "majority" of US
> museums are small museums, both of their boards each only contain
> approximately 10% representation from small museums.
>
> I really wish it was a case of "too small to fail" but the only museum
> statistic where small museums are leading the way since 2008 is in closures.
>
> Far be it for me to question a museum because their primary concern is to
> keep the doors open, rather than debating the finer points of evaluation
> methods.
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------
>
> Paul Orselli, President and Chief Instigator
>
> Paul Orselli Workshop (POW!)
> World Headquarters
> 1684 Victoria Street
> Baldwin, NY  11510
>
> (516) 223-1043
>
> POW! website
> <http://www.orselli.net>
>
> Exhibit tips + tricks at the ExhibiTricks blog:
> <http://blog.orselli.net>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 1, 2011, at 1:11 PM, Alan Friedman wrote:
>
> > ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> > Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> >
> *****************************************************************************
> >
> > Hey, my responses are getting shorter!
> >
> > 1.  Joe, front-end evaluation is all about finding out what the visitor
> > wants, as well as what the visitor believes and knows.   Formative
> > evaluation can also find out what the visitor wants and needs, even if
> the
> > visitor doesn't know until he/she sees what we are proposing (e.g.,
> people
> > didn't know they wanted a planetarium until they saw one for the first
> > time).  So yes, the visitor counts at least as much if not far more than
> > the exhibit developer or curator does, when we find out using evaluation.
> >
> > 2.  Adela, Beryl, Erich, Jeff, Paul, and everyone who is concerned that
> > some funders' preferences for proposals with evaluation put small
> > institutions at a great disadvantage, I note that some smaller
> > institutions win a large number of highly competitive grants and awards,
> > from NSF, IMLS, private foundations, and others who require evaluation.
> > I'm thinking Sciencenter in Ithaca NY, Montshire Museum of Science in
> > Norwich Vermont, Explora in Albuquerque NM, Chabot Science Center in
> > Oakland CA, Manhattan Children's Museum in New York City.  I serve on a
> > foundation board that regularly makes grants to organizations with just
> > two or three paid staff, and we require (and pay for) evaluation every
> > time.  I'm sure this listserv could come up with many more examples here
> > and abroad.
> >
> > Perhaps a good ASTC session could be on how at least some smaller
> > institutions manage to do evaluation and compete successfully with much
> > larger places.
> >
> > Beryl, I've sat on NSF panels where people said "this proposal is such a
> > small part of that giant institution's work that they will not give it
> any
> > attention," and penalized the giant proposal because of that.  So both
> > small and big institutions can experience bias.  I've also seen positive
> > votes on small institution proposals just because they were small
> > institutions, and the project would be so important to them that they
> > couldn't let it fail.  Hmmm, too small to fail.  I like that better than
> > the banks' claim that they are too big to fail.
> >
> > 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/>
> >
> >
> >>
> >
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-- 
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Martin Weiss, PhD
Senior Scientist
New York Hall of Science
mweiss at nyscience.org
cell   347-460-1858
desk 718 595 9156

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