Publications

Selected Articles
A Partial Listing of Consulting Reports, Presentations and Documents
INSTRUCTIONS How to Read and Download Our Articles

Selected Articles

New: Managing A Creative Process - The Exhibition Budgeting
By Milton McClaskey
Using the words creative and budget in the same sentence sets up a ringing cognitive dissidence in the minds of many (whereas the expression creative accounting doesn’t but instead brings up thoughts of criminal intent or tax evasion) because the words seem to come from opposing camps: the first describing a freewheeling, dancing, laughing, unrestrained joyful process and the second a staid, buttoned down, inflexible and completely under control activity. The first determinedly and deliberately going out of bounds at every opportunity and the second equally determined to keep everything contained and defend the boundaries against all assaults. Read the full article

Framing Possibility - Exhibition Budgeting
By Milton McClaskey
Article on budget strategy, management and cost estimating for exhibitions.
The Informal Learning Review March - April 2006, Number 77. Informal Science Inc., Washington, DC, pages 19-23. Read the full article

Real, Simple and New
By Joe Ansel
Report concerning excessive design, ineffective evaluation and fostering creativity in three new (2002) European science centers.
The Informal Learning Review November - December 2003, Number 63 Informal Science Inc., Washington, DC. Read the full article

Experiential Exhibits, Models and Teaching Props in Science Centers
By Joe Ansel
The Informal Learning Review January-February 1997, Number 22 Informal Science Inc., Washington, DC, pages 1, 13-15. Read the full article

In-Kind Fundraising: Securing Gifts of Needed Goods or Services
By Joe Ansel
Collective Vision, Starting and Sustaining a Children's Museum
Mary Maher, Editor, Association of Youth Museums, Washington, DC, 1997 pages, 243-246. Read the full article

Profit-making and Entertainment, Not Education Increasingly Guiding Choice of Traveling Exhibits
By Joe Ansel
The ASTC Newsletter July-August. 1994, Volume 22, Number 4 Association of Science Technology Centers,. Washington, DC, pages 9-12.

The Unionization of the Exploratorium
Institutional Trauma: Major Changes in Museums and Its Effect on Staff
By Joe Ansel
Elaine Heumann Gurian, Editor, American Association of Museums,
Washington DC 1995, pages 77-101. Read the full article

Concrete Gifts and Gifts of Concrete: In-Kind Fundraising
By Joe Ansel
Hand to Hand Volume. 2, Number 2
Linda R. Edeiken, Editor, The Children's Museum Network, Salt Lake City, UT, 1988 page 7.

The Stuff of Science
By Joe Ansel
The Exploratorium Quarterly Volume 9, Issue 4, 1985
The Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA pages 14-15.

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A Partial Listing of Consulting Reports,
Presentations and Documents

A Vision for phaeno's Exhibition
July 2004, 2 pages Read the full article

Cultivating Creativity Anecdotes and Comments on Creative Institutional Environments
Invited guest speaker to present a formal, 1 and 1/2 hour, lecture to researchers, managers, artists and guests at Interval Research Corporation, Palo Alto, California, November 13, 1998 13 pages of presentation materials, including charts, images and notes.

Topics and Questions Concerning Exhibit Sales in Non-Profit Educational Institutions
First written April, 1993, revised April 1998, 5 pages.

Whose Idea Is It Anyway?
A presentation for the ASTC Conference, St. Louis, MO October 21, 1997, First presented in 1996 and revised. With an annotated bibliography, 9 pages. Read the full article

Vision and Leadership: Guest Lecture Notes
Dr. Alan Friedman's class entitled, Directorship in American Museums, Fordham University, NY November 11, 1996, 9 pages.

Considerations Upon Acquiring or Creating Science Exhibits
A presentation for the ECSITE conference Cardiff, Wales November 25, 1995, 8 pages.
Read the full article

Creating a Science Center
An initial presentation for Fundacion YPF S.A. Buenos Aires, Argentina, basic advice concerning the five elements of a science center, Created September 15, 1997, 15 pages.

Puerto Curioso, Buenos Aires, Initial Considerations
The final report for Fundacion YPF S. A. Buenos Aires, Argentina July 10, 1998, 82 pages with complete customized, computerized financial model, 79 pages.

Issues in Contract Negotiations for Interactive Science Exhibits
A document prepared to assist and advise a client in purchasing science exhibits. November, 1993, 11 pages.

A Few Comments on Costs for Science Exhibitions
Written advice prepared in 1995 concerning the calculation and estimation of costs for science center exhibitions, 4 pages.

A General Discussion of Costs for Interactive Exhibits
A short document on exhibit costs created in 1993 and revised April 8, 1996, 2 pages.

A Brief Listing of Some Entry Area Service Requirements
Advice for clients and architects concerning the ordinary and special needs science centers have in their entry areas., July 1998, 5 pages.

General Issues in the Design of Exhibition Halls
Brief advice for clients and architects, 1997, 3 pages

Science Oasis, A Report on Elements of The Cairo Meetings
An extensive report concerning the architecture, operations and potential exhibit content for the Science Oasis, Arriyadh, Saudi Arabia, November 15-19, 1993, 27 pages.

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