Recently I went to Worcester to attend a Dementia and Tech talk at the university.  As the talk wasn’t until 4 I decided to catch a morning train and make a day out of sight-seeing.  As soon as I got off the train, I decided I would let the ‘tourist signs’ choose my fate.

First decision was made when I saw Worcester Museum and Art Gallery to the right. I started taking pictures before I even stepped foot in as the building itself is so gorgeous.  

Walking in, I was in awe of the architecture.  As my eyes gazed up, I noticed colorful signage of the steps telling me the art gallery, museum and cafe were upstairs.  Like a moth to a flame I headed upstairs.

In the first room I was impressed with the World War I exhibition.  Yes there are a lot of them out there right now but please take the time to see a few of them as each of them are personalised stories of local people and their sacrifice.  I started to take pictures and asked the attendants for the twitter id.  They were more than pleased to have me tweet and share. 

(Yes, I thought he was tweeting…)

I headed to the other room which had fantastic museum mannequins.  I immediately knew I wanted to try to take a few selfies for MuseumSelfie day and also to share them on #MuseumMannequin tumblr.  However, the attendant in that room told me I had to fill out a form.  Ok, not a big deal.  A tad old fashion but I’m not going to judge.  When I started to read the form (which I will admit I normally never do) there were two particular words that jumped out at me:  morality obligated.  To my photos.  Read the rest of this entry »

Guest post from Laura Haapio-Kirk, community manager at sharypic.com, a collaborative photo sharing platform for events. Laura has an MSc in Visual Anthropology from Oxford University and is interested in museum experience.

Photography is increasingly central to our everyday experience of the world, both as a means to mark significant moments and to document aesthetic sights (or, in some cases, to share what we’re having for dinner). However, in a museum we are often uncertain of whether photography is allowed and there is debate on the issue amongst museum professionals, with many institutions still hesitant to give full permission because uncertainty over lender’s rights (this informal survey highlights the issue nicely).

Read the rest of this entry »