Australian Museum Science Research Strategy is online and of interest. From a foundation of fundamental research approaches (includiing building collections), there is research on Australian biota in a range of environments, regional evolution and biogeography, human impacts and future trends. AM covers also anthropology and archaeology.
Ken Arnold from the Wellcome Collection and Thomas Soderqvist have developed a challenging set of rules and contentions for museum exhibitions dealing with science - what would the effect be? The rules in brief are as follows, but read the Wellcome blog for discussion:../more
1. Exhibitions should be research-led, not a form of
dissemination
2. A scientist should always be involved in the exhibition,
a technologist if it is about technology
3. Be clear about exhibitions being “multi-authored”
4. Use only original material
5. Never show ready-made science
6. Jealously guard a place for mystery and wonder
7. Reject most exhibition ideas
8. Leave out as much as possible
9. Embrace the showbusiness of exhibitions
10. Celebrate the ephemeral quality of exhibitions
11. Make exhibitions true to the geography of their venues
12. Avoid artificial lighting
13. Always involve more than one sense
14. Make exhibitions for inquisitive adults
15. Remember that visitors ultimately make their own
exhibitions
16. Make exhibitions the jumping off place for further
engagement
17. Don’t be afraid to bend, break or reinvent the rules
Nature editorial on a report from the German Wissenschaftsrat (national science council) on criteria for assessing scientific value of collections on a national scale. Can't yet find an English version on the WR website. Preserve the past Nature 470, 5–6 (03 February 2011) doi:10.1038/470005b
