1. Welsh describes the domains of museums as materiality, engagement, and representation.  In your opinion are these domains applicable to ChinaVine.org?  If yes, please provide examples from the website for each domain.  If no, please support this response through references to the article and the website.

ChinaVine.org uses many of the domains that Welsh outlines for museums.  The first domain Welsh describes is materiality which is “human capacity to physically, emotionally, and cognitively modify our surroundings to suit our purposes.”  Materiality involves the relationships visitors have with other individuals, objects, and spaces.  While ChinaVine does not have the same physical space as a museum does, it does provide a platform for these types of relationships to be made.

The domain of representation best fits the ChinaVine website.  ChinaVine.org provides a clear mission statement with an outline of the scope of the project.  Like a traditional museum, ChinaVine ‘exhibits’ topics with visual aids and interpretive text.  ChinaVine also uses video and interactive elements which have been incorporated into museum exhibits to cater to multiple learning styles.  The use of maps on the website displays dual representation in the sense that artists are defined by their artistic style as well as their geographic location.  After reading about the improvements that are proposed for the new ChinaVine website, geotagging is an important feature that will reinforce representation based on geographic location.

Engagement is an important domain for traditional museums as well as ChinaVine.org.  The domain of engagement involves the relationships between the institution and its publics.  Both traditional museums and websites are limited by their display medium (exhibits for museums, webpages for ChinaVIne) however they both have the ability to engage and educate their visitors.  Understanding the limitations of each medium can allow exhibit planners and contributors to the ChinaVine website respectively, the ability to engage visitors in new and exciting ways.

The website is visually engaging and provides a large body of content that visitors can explore through one or multiple visits.  The use of social media sites in connection with ChinaVine creates a level of engagement though interactivity.  I think it is also important to discuss engagement also involves “the multiple ways that we use museums to create images of ourselves.”  I think by viewing information about other cultures we can better understand our own culture and traditions.  ChinaVine.org gives the viewer the ability to learn more about traditional Chinese culture and in doing so, allows the visitor the ability to critically discuss their own culture.

In terms of creating new content for ChinaVine.org I read a quote by Kathleen McLean in Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions which speaks to how visitor engagement is in the hands of the individuals who produce the material.  “People’s experiences in a exhibition will depend to a great extent on the expertise and abilities of exhibit planners.  If the planners have not taken care to understand how visitors respond to exhibits, to define exhibit goals, and to select design strategies that most closely support those goals, visitor’s experiences will probably suffer.”

2. Welsh describes museums as repositories, educational, celebratory, stewards, learning centers, collaborative, conceptual, and reflexive.  Describe how ChinaVine falls into each of these categories.  Use at least one example for each supporting your opinion.  If you believe that ChinaVine.org is not addressing one of these categories describe how it could do so.

I think it is best to look at each circuit as it pertains to its domain.

Materiality: Repositories, stewards, and conceptual

While traditional museums have become repositories for tangible objects, they also act as repositories for intangible culture.  ChinaVine.org mostly deals with the display of tangible objects in a digital platform as well as displaying intangible culture.  The website acts a repository of information and provides documentation that can commonly found in art and cultural museums.

“The legacy of museums as repositories has been guided by a preservation ethic.  The idea of museums as stewards is driven by recognizing that cultural preservation does not mean valuing stasis over change, or that the preservation ethic of museums can be applied in a value-free manner.”

Stewardship according to Welsh, involves museums offering alternatives ideas of ownership.  ChinaVine offers a number of individuals ownership over the produced content.  First, it strives to be respectful of the individuals and culture that is featured on the site by providing honest, authentic information.  Second, the students and field teams that have done work in China for ChinaVine have a sense of ownership in the sense that they produced material (interpretive texts, photographs, and videos) of their experiences in China.  Finally, ChinaVine uses the material collected to help build relationships with contributors in China for future field work as well as building relationships between visitors to the site.

While the interpretive material provided on the website does suggest some central authority (one institutional voice), ChinaVine does discuss the conceptual configurations of materiality.  It does this by discussing the relationships people have to objects.  One such example is the cloth tiger artist Liu Qingha which discusses the method of creating the actual objects as well as the impact this art form has with her community and cultural history.  In doing so, ChinaVine “emphasizes dialectical and paradoxical relationships that are embodied in objects and other forms of material expression.”

Representation: Educational, learning centers, and reflexive

At the core of ChinaVine’s mission statement is education.  According to Welsh, “the core activities of educating publics of all kinds have guided collecting, conservation and research, and education has been the currency by which museums have elevated their access to power.”  By choosing what material to put on the ChinaVine website, contributors are providing and educational opportunity for visitors.

ChinaVine, in my opinion, could work more towards becoming a learning center.  While ChinaVine provides a great amount of educational content, it does not provide many avenues for visitors to construct their own meaning or participate in their own meaning-making.  Even though the website allows for visitors to make their own path though the provided information, they are not encouraged to participate beyond knowledge absorption.  By providing more ways for website visitors to contribute to the body of information provided on the site would lead ChinaVine to become more of a learning center.

Reflexivity in the context of museums allows “opportunities for visitors to respond to claims made in exhibits highlight both the visitor’s views and the fact that the exhibit is authored by individuals living in a particular time and with access to particular values.” I think ChinaVine acknowledges the fact that while it is a collaboration between institutions in China and the United States, it offers a unique perspective on the topics they discuss.  Again, by offering opportunities for greater participation,  visitors can offer their own perspectives on the subjects presented.

Engagement: Celebratory, collaborative, and complicitous

I feel that ChinaVine definitely takes on a celebratory role on their website.  ChinaVine expresses their value to the wider English-speaking community by celebrating the accomplishments of their field teams as well as Chinese culture.  The section on “About the Authors” is as prominent as the cultural information ChinaVine displays suggesting the importance ChinaVine has in displaying who collects the material provided and how.

This notion feeds into the second circuit, [museums are becoming] collaborative.  Since ChinaVine does not have a physical exhibition space, ChinaVine is really a site that preserves “cultural memory.”  ChinaVine is a collaboration between a number of institutions in China and the United States but it is also collaborative in the sense that it strives towards “interpretive stewardship” as described by Welsh.  There are a number of narratives provided on the ChinaVine website including those from artists as well as contributing field team members.  The use of narrative in exhibits of displays is an important component in collaboration.

Overall, I think that ChinaVine offers viewers many of same experiences that museums give visitors.  Both ChinaVine.org and many museums need to increase levels of participation in order to create an institution that are learning centers with the ability to collaborate with its visitors.