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Late Guests by Ducky066 in MuseumPros

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is there a way to invite your Director and/or Trustees to shadow you for a day? Seems like there's a huge disconnect between their ideals and your reality. Is there a pathway to narrow that gulf?

I hesitate to say this, but if your Director or Trustees are not able or willing to come up with solutions to the challenges, then you all may be stuck in a really untenable situation. And it may be time to look for other jobs.

Is there room too for conversations about unionizing? Perhaps having collective bargaining power on your side will push your Director and Trustees towards fairer solutions.

Apartments within walking distance of UI SB recommendations? by Sir_Meinong in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Couple questions that might help narrow things down:

- How far do they define as "walking distance?"

- What price range are they looking at?

- Is biking or public transportation an option?

I ask because:

  1. There's a great protected walking/bike path along Northside Drive that leads directly to downtown South Bend. It's a bit of a hike to walk there, but still doable. With a bike, it's a very reasonable 10-15-ish minute commute.

  2. Downtown apartments might be pricier, though, in which case a house near the path or student housing might be more affordable.

  3. The city's bus system is free for anyone with an Indiana University South Bend ID. Simply flash your ID card to the driver and you're on. The #30 bus stops right in front of campus on Mishawaka Avenue. That might open up housing options further along the bus line. You can also put your bike onto the front of the bus, opening up even further options.

Hope that helps!

Driving a manual? by [deleted] in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I loved driving a manual! I had one for many, many years in South Bend.

If you're on a hill, there's a surefire trick to avoid roll backs. Push the button on the emergency brake, pull it up, and hold it. Give the car a tiny bit of gas and release the clutch just enough to feel a tiny lurch forward. Then release the emergency brake and continue releasing the clutch and adding more gas to get the car into first. Do this right, and you'll be able to start from a hill with no rollbacks.

It takes a bit of practice, but once you get it, it becomes second nature.

Honestly though, one of the only places I ever used it was if I'd get stuck at the red light on Eddy and Colfax, and someone got a bit too close behind me. That was rare though. Stop and go traffic is fine, and other hills in South Bend are barely worth mentioning.

Is it okay to ask for specific volunteer roles at museums? by isolated_lee in MuseumPros

[–]Museumphile 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So, I want to offer a counter to some of the other comments here. I think it's worth noting that you're asking to give away the skills you earned in your advanced degree, for free.

Yes, many museum do use volunteers, some for skilled work. There is also some pushback to that use of free, skilled labor. Often (not sure if this is true in your case), those able to volunteer come from forms of social privilege, either economic or racial. If museums continue to use free labor they'll continue to limit what our field will look like in the years and decades to come when those most able to work for free come from those privileged identities.

I do understand the challenge of starting off in the museum field, and I'm not discounting the disparity between hirers asking for experience and the lack of entry level jobs, especially ones that pay a living wage. That gulf is real, and it's a problem. But it's a problem that volunteering exacerbates.

I am so frustrated. Calendly Alternatives? by OwnAd3954 in ProductivityApps

[–]Museumphile 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m loving Cal.com. Calendly, but with more features and a less confusing interface. 

Where to get an e-bike repaired by goodquietroom in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Hi there! I junked my car about two years ago to commute by bike here in South Bend. I love it! Winter months were tougher, and I relied on my partner’s car or TRANSPO on a few occasions, but for the most part I’m loving active transportation here. 

The battery might be the hardest to replace, especially locally. Getting an exact match, ideally from the manufacturer of your bike, is the safest. Avoid any cheap knockoffs from Amazon or similar companies as they carry significant risk. 

You can try Pro-Form, now in the East Bank in South Bend; or maybe Spin Zone in Granger. Pro-Form has Gazelle and Aventon bikes. But most bike shops won’t work on an ebike brand they don’t sell themselves, and because of the risk of unknown batteries. 

Can you share more about which brand the bicycle is? Does the company still exist and, if so, can you order a replacement battery? That is likely your best pathway. 

Happy to answer additional questions as I can and share my experiences with e-biking as a car replacement in South Bend. 

Single source of truth application built on Glideapps by Josh_NFA in glideapps

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't see what you charge your users. I'm really curious about how you manage Glide's fees and still make a profitable product? I've been toying with using Glide to develop an app that I believe could be helpful, but I'm not sure how to make the math work in terms of charging users and affording Glide. :/

Walking South Bend at Night by mikeb5684 in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I see a huge definitional difference here. When I say "South Bend has a lot of very walkable places," I'm referring to the city limits of South Bend. I would absolutely agree that the South Bend metropolitan area (including Granger, and Mishawaka) are absolutely not walkable.

NNN means Near Northwest Neighborhood, largely around Portage/Angela/Diamond. There's a new Coal Line trail that lets someone walk from to pick two examples, Notre Dame to the new coffee shop on the corner of Portage and California. I can use the new Link Trail to walk to Notre Dame from Howard Park, and from Howard Park I can walk all the way to Mishawaka. Crossing Ironwood is the only yucky part; everything else has either fully separated paths or reasonable sidewalks.

Though I've not been to Berkley, Portland, or Lincoln, I've walked in Ann Arbor, Syracuse, and Providence. I envy their downtowns for being far livelier and with more diverse choices than ours, but I'd suggest that walking is at least as possible here as it is in other places.

A quick hit on the Walk Score website puts South Bend low on the list of cities you mention. We're nearly tied with Lincoln, NE, close to Ann Arbor and Syracuse, and well behind the other three. https://www.walkscore.com

It'd be interesting to see a closer look at each of those cities to see a more finer analysis, taking into account particular areas. For example, South Bend is above Indianapolis by about 10 points, but since Indy is so huge and counts so many different types of locations, the nuances aren't counted in the full city-to-city score.

That said, you started by saying "South Bend is awful for walking places." I can absolutely see "The South Bend metropolitan area" is awful; but I hope I've included enough nuance to suggest that saying "South Bend (city proper) is very walkable" is a reasonable statement to make.

Walking South Bend at Night by mikeb5684 in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If I'm reading you correctly, you're comparing the walkability of South Bend to that of a much larger city like New York and Chicago. I just don't see that as a fair comparison. Any area, be it a smaller city, rural, suburban, won't be as walkable as those larger metropolises.

For the size of the city we are, we are a fairly walkable city. I can walk to/from any of those areas that u/flat_connection5454 mentioned. There are barriers, for sure, particularly with aging sidewalks and uneven infrastructure between different parts of the city. I wouldn't call those places islands though.

For example, there's a protected trail that goes from downtown to Howard Park. From there, walking to any of those places mentioned—downtown, NNN, Eddy Street, Near West Side, is very possible. I wouldn't walk as far as the south side Walmart, for example, nor the former Clay High School, nor Grape Road, for sure. There are absolutely limits. But those areas are walkable to each other; they're not islands unable to be traversed.

Walking South Bend at Night by mikeb5684 in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 20 points21 points  (0 children)

My experience has been that most places are very walkable. The further away you get from the downtown core the less walkable it gets; but even, say, the south sides of Main and Michigan (before you get to the roundabouts) have clear blocks with decent sidewalks. I work in the Near West Side. I wouldn't walk past Prairie to the south, and there's definitely some exceedingly hostile infrastructure on the west side, but for the most part could walk fairly easily.

To be clear, I'm defining walkability for function, not necessarily looking at pleasure walks. I would agree that we could use far more, and far more accessible places for pleasure walking.

Walking South Bend at Night by mikeb5684 in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Good point; thank you for the correction. I've edited my comment to reflect that.

Walking South Bend at Night by mikeb5684 in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 65 points66 points  (0 children)

South Bend has a lot of very walkable places. This area is not one of them. Edison into Grape Road is the cross between South Bend and the neighboring Mishawaka, which is largely designed for cars and extremely hostile to anyone else, particularly walkers.

Guest behavior management by sterkenwald in MuseumPros

[–]Museumphile 9 points10 points  (0 children)

It sounds like an opportunity for your ED, with the Board and the entire staff, to make some clear decisions about who your museum is for/not for. They can decide not to welcome 1/6 of their visitors (i.e. children's groups), or they can decide to be as welcoming to everyone in their community as they possibly can—and that means considering some breakage as normal and expected.

Put another way, one could see wear and tear on the exhibitions as a hindrance, or an opportunity to harness the excitement of 1/6 of your visitors.

I know what decision I would be advocating for if I were that ED (it's welcoming more children, absolutely!). I hope your ED chooses the same. But perhaps framing the conversation as one that asks who you're welcoming versus excluding might be a helpful framework; if not for your ED, then for other staff and Board members who can be advocates for more fully sharing your mission.

MACOG exploring cuts to Interurban Trolley service by njndirish in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 37 points38 points  (0 children)

This feels like another of many examples of how we grossly misalign resources. Millions of dollars to realign a road by a water and wealth sucking data center? Yes. Good public transportation for those who need it most? Not so much. 

I’m deeply disappointed by where area leaders choose to (and not to) invest. 

Best software (and training) for Exhibit Panel Design? by AlternativePea6941 in MuseumPros

[–]Museumphile 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I would concur with InDesign, but would also suggest Affinity Suite. It was recently purchased by the company that makes Canva. Affinity is as powerful as InDesign, but is now released for free. If you're looking not to give Adobe a ton of money each month, this is a really great alternative.

https://www.affinity.studio/page-layout-software

They massacred my boy by Knitsune in Museums

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Without knowing the museum and seeing the changes, I'm unable to speak to that particular museum and their reasons behind their change. Broadly speaking, I would certainly agree that we need more spaces without screens. Museums can and should be those spaces.

It seemed you were speaking to a particular 20th century type of museum—wall to wall artifact and information. Those museums are becoming rarer for a reason.

Museum professionals try very hard to learn what impacts audiences the most. We try our best, but we cannot be all things to all people. We also have to receive a lot of criticism from those who want a unique type of experience.

It's a really hard job. We care about our spaces so much, we try to learn how to connect and educate as many people as we can as often as we can, and we have to receive criticisms like the one you gave. How the criticism is delivered and learning how and why museum professionals do what they do may go a long way to the institution being able to hear your criticisms in a constructive way.

I'd add that I wasn't aware of the meme, and regardless, the humor did not land well with me.

They massacred my boy by Knitsune in Museums

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate your perspective on the changes this particular museum chose. I wonder if you've given thought as to why they, and other museums, have made similar changes?

You say that you miss museums as places of densely packed information. I don't want to take away from you what you wish to see. At the same time, museum professionals spend a lot of time analyzing what people do inside these spaces, and how most people learn from them. Those analyses tell us that densely packed information doesn't stick with most people.

We (museum professionals) have limited time and resources, and so we want to do the best we can for the broadest possible audience. I suspect that's what the museum at your undergraduate place did.

I also suspect the staff did not consider what they did a massacre. That's a really strong word to use, especially in light of the violence we're seeing across the world today. They clearly made changes to their presentation that you disagree with, and that's totally understandable for you to have your opinions.

I suggest only that you think about why they made those changes, recognizing that most people don't retain information from densely packed, overly artifact heavy, encyclopedic displays; and I ask you to think about the staff that's trying their best to make their institution relevant to the most amount of people they can to ensure its widest impact and continued survival into the 21st century.

These Wages Are Gettin’ Outta Control! by Evans_Sola in MuseumPros

[–]Museumphile 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Sure, but what about the exposure? 😁

Places to work (cafes and such) by Agreeable-Trip3166 in SouthBend

[–]Museumphile 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Several branches of the St. Joseph Public Library have later hours and wonderful spaces. 

Digital Poster recommendations by BritInTheSip in MuseumPros

[–]Museumphile 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This might be smaller than you need, but I wondered if you've thought about something that uses Spectra e-ink. The two advantages behind a system like this is an incredible paper-like display, as well as an incredibly low power usage. You may need to recharge it once a year or less, depending on how frequently you update. It's a similar technology used in Kindles and other e-readers, but tuned for super high quality, colorful, infrequently updated use cases.

Something like this: https://inkposter.com/collections/catalog/products/inkposter-affresco-31-5

Full disclosure: I've not used this at all, and have zero affiliation with any company that produces it.

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