Poster Session
MUSE Easy to Read: An Easy Way to Explore the Museum
Poster Session Romana Scandolari, Alessandro Zen
“MUSE Easy to Read” is an easy-to-read- and -understand museum guide, written in Easy to Read (EtR) language, which is an European standard of simplified writing. Through a series of rules about sentence structuring and using of terms, it makes the content easier to read and understand for everyone. In full compliance with the saying “Nothing about us without us”, the easy-to-read MUSE guide was designed and written in collaboration with the EtR Group of Anffas Trentino onlus (made up of people with different disabilities) and published after a year and a half of reviews, guided tours and a patient work, in order to reduce and translate the texts provided by the museum's staff. In addition, this inclusion purpose merged with the multicultural view of MUSE by translating the EtR italian guide in five languages (German, English, French, Russian and Spanish). This work of translation involved ten students from the “Sophie Scholl” Linguistic High School in Trento (Italy). Moreover, the museum staff attended specific training to learn to realize the same guide in AAC (Augmentative Alternative Communication) symbolic language, with the scientific support of the Center for Augmentative Communication of Milan and Verdello (Italy), using software that allows the morphological translation of scientific texts.
Sri Lankan Cave Temple: Site A In-situ and Digital Mural Color Trial Study View Digital Media
Poster Session Paulette R. Hebert
Ancient Sri Lankan Buddhist cave temples’ mural collections are symbolic, sacred, and colorful. Murals evoke feelings of magic, mystery, and religious devotion. Limited literature exists regarding Sri Lankan mural collections. Researchers investigate murals and document their color palettes. They postulated diverse observers (i.e. age, eye health) may see mural colors differently. As part of a larger, ongoing study, the research team explored one mural, located at Site A in Sri Lanka. After observing the mural in-situ, researcher-participants determined the existing lighting did not illuminate well enough to ascertain color nuances. They searched online and located a photograph of the mural. They utilized CorelDRAW (a vector graphics editor) to digitally extract mural’s colors; create color palette. The resulting 16 color samples were printed and studied. Researcher-participants independently matched CorelDRAW samples to industry-produced and printed paint chips. Paint chips were compared to a standard color wheel; hues were identified. Demographics and current eye health status were self-reported. Preliminary trial revealed researcher-participants did not select identical color matches for studied mural. Sixteen total color chips were selected and hues ranged from red to blue to yellow and their secondary colors. Individual selections varied. Demographics: three males; 25-42 years old; vision: excellent to limited. Resulting color palette and photos of researchers-in-action are presented. Observers may have different experiences when viewing murals. Some religious symbolism and mystery, related to color, may be differently interpreted. Collection managers may learn insights regarding observer experiences. Additional studies should be conducted on more murals with more diverse participants.
