Monthly Blog Assignment September: FIRST DAY AT PLANES OF FAME / Reflection Pictures

Forgot to post these pictures with my Monthly Blog Assignment September.

Me with my work clothes and two California Dusters

Me dusting the Douglas D-558-2 Skyrocket #1

Monthly Blog Assignment September: FIRST DAY AT PLANES OF FAME / Reflection

Hello, everyone. Benny here. Similar to August's blog post, I'll be going over my initial thoughts and observations from Planes of Fame compared to what I have done or seen before. Once again, if you want a more descriptive paragraph about my mentorship duties, please refer to my Mentorship Log (9/20/14). Other than that, let's get started.

Reaffirming my previous preconceptions, most of the volunteer staff at Planes of Fame is around 50-70 years old. Most of them come from either military or aviation backgrounds and have been volunteering at the museum long past the 6 month requirement. Also reaffirming my blog post from last month, the exhibits at Planes of Fame are not as interactive as those in the California Science Center and not as visitor safe (I heard from one of the volunteers at the brake room how a boy scout, despite the opposition of the scout master, went under the wing of an aircraft and bruised his head on the wing) whereas the Science Center focuses on interactive exhibits and whose aircraft based artifacts are either suspended beyond visitors' hands or heavily encased and or closed of by heavy plastic or railing. For the work policy, as a cleaner, my job isn't heavily enforced as my responsibilities are knowing how to correctly clean an aircraft, however unlike the Science Center, since most of the aircraft at Planes of Fame are flyable and fatalities have occurred, the museum has a very strict safety policy with safety officers patrolling the campus.

Unlike the science center, where I had to utilize a lot of my skills that I learned from iPoly as guest services, as I was a cleaner I only had to use my social skills when interacting with a few visitors and coordinate / work together with fellow staff.

Well with this I will end my monthly blog. There are unique challenges that I must now face in both museums, Planes of Fame as a cleaner in a under-funded museum that pursuits in keeping history alive and as guest services at a highly interactive heavily-funded museum. These unique challenges over time will allow to explore more aspects of a museum then if I were to stick with one. Well with that I bid a far well. Until next time, take care everyone.

Blog 6 - Second Interview Preparation

1. For Interview #2, I plan on interviewing John Watkins who is Lead Detailer at Planes of Fame Air Museum in Chino, CA.


2. Interview Questions

1. I'm interested in studying, museology. What can you tell me about it?

2. From your perspective, what could I study that would be significant?

3. Who else would you recommend I talk to?

4. What kinds of places or activities do you recommend I do for the mentorship component?

5. What books should I read in this field?

6. What do you define a museum as?

7. What questions are often raised in your job field?

8. How did you come across your job?

9. What are the most important aspects of your job?

10. Why did you decide to work at Planes of Fame instead of other museums?

11. What kind of skills did you have prior to entering your field? How did those skills help you?

12. What kind of knowledge did you need to learn in this kind of field (museums)?

13. How has working here changed your perception of museums?

14. What was your initial perception of your job prior to working?

15. What is it like to work in a facility of this scale?

16. How long have you worked here?

17. What motivates you to come to work at a museum?

18. What is the main goal of a museum?

19. How does your job help with the guest experience?

20. Describe your daily duties as a ________?

21. How has your job changed adapted over these past few years? How have you adapted to these changes?

22. How do your work with other project managers or coordinators?

23. How do you deal with people outside of the museum for work?

24. Tell me about Planes of Fame?

25. What kind of a museum is Planes of Fame?

Blog 5 - Mentorship Reflection

1. 

For my senior project, I am or will do my mentorship at two places California Science Center in Los Angeles and Planes of Fame in Chino, California.

The first time I found out about volunteering at the California Science Center was a few weeks after I came home from Europe. One of the first things I did after coming home was to sign up for the volunteer program at the Planes of Fame museum as my sole mentorship. I got the idea to volunteer at Planes of Fame after watching volunteers work there when my dad and I visited the previous year and also because I heard a senior from the Class of 2013 did his mentorship there. I applied to Planes of Fame as a cleaner, but the Detailer who was supposed to train me was gone for several weeks. While I was waiting for the Detailer to be available for the orientation, my mother gave me the idea to volunteer at the California Science Center as a second mentorship so that I can start working on my senior project and expand the scope of my project. I filled out the appropriate paperwork and drop it off at the California Science Center. Though I am still waiting to begin my training as a volunteer Planes of Fame, I had already become a volunteer at my second mentorship at the California Science Center.

2.

The most important article that I have read so far was Museums and History by Alex Werner, a Curator at the Museum of London. The article discusses that, even though the purpose of most museums “traditionally revolved around collecting, preserving, researching and displaying objects”, how each museum chooses approach history makes no two museums completely the same. Take for example the British Museum and the British Library. Though both museums contain content that are of historical significance to the history of Britain, the former focuses on the actual history of Britain while the latter portrays itself as a “‘museum of the world’”. I have always classified museums based on its contents, but after reading this article and how even museums categorized under the same type can have completely different messages, approaches, interpretations, management, despite having similar artifacts made me rethink my perspective of what a museum is. This was later reaffirmed during my mentorship at the California Science Center. While both the California Science Center and Planes of Fame contain air and space related content, the California Science Center portrays itself as a learning facility while Planes of Fame focuses primarily on the preservation of its artifacts.