Summer School Content and Narrative. Writing and Designing Museum Panels, Labels, and Flyers

The one-week intensive Summer School is hosted by the Museums of Art, technology, and the Natural Sciences of the University of Pisa (Sistema Museale di Ateneo – SMA).

The Summer School addresses the strategies and methods of communication inside a museum, focusing on the content, design, and technologies of labels and educational panels. How to balance information and simplicity? What information does an object require to be fully understood and appreciated? When is a text effective? How can we construct lengthier historical or geographical narratives? What are the current design standards for educational materials inside a museum? What may new technologies offer to provide a rich/individual experience, tailored to diverse audiences and types of visits? These and related questions will be discussed by experienced instructors from a variety of backgrounds, including archaeologists, art historians, curators, exhibition designers, developers of digital/virtual educational tools, experts of communication for children, the neurodiverse public, and visitors with limited vision or hearing abilities.

The school will be entirely held online, via Microsoft Teams.

Aim

The Summer School aims to provide participants with the main notions about the production and display of texts in museums, as well as an overview of the most up-to-date research in museum communication and technologies.

Classes engage participants both at the theoretical and empirical level, so that participants may develop a broader awareness of the topic, as well as practical skills and competencies.

The Summer School includes experiences from collections in a variety of fields: art history, science and technology, and the natural sciences.

BA, MA, PhD students in art history, archaeology, museum studies, communication sciences, digital humanities.