A couple of months ago, the N.Y. Times ran an article, titled When an Arab Enclave Thrived Downtown, that briefly explored the history of the Arab American community in lower Manhattan. That’s right, long before 9/11 and the Park51 Community Center a vibrant community of Arab Americans inhabited lower Manhattan. This was the neighborhood of [...]
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend a small meeting at the Library of Congress that focused on the curatorial challenges of archiving citizen journalism. The two-day meeting, titled Citizen Journalists and Community News: Archiving for Today and Tomorrow, was hosted by the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). The primary goals [...]
Our museum strives to document, preserve and celebrate the history and contributions of Arab Americans. The museum’s location within the heart of southeast Michigan’s Arab American community affords certain advantages. Patrons can visit our exhibits or participate in a program and then leave the museum and experience firsthand certain aspects of the culture. However, our [...]
Earlier this evening I was interviewed by Radio Tahrir, a one-hour long talk radio program hosted on Pacifica Radio, WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City. Radio Tahrir is a weekly radio magazine that focuses on documenting and presenting issues and topics that affect Arab and Muslim communities in the US. As part of tonight’s [...]
Last November I reported on the advantages of managing your business using the Google Local Business Center (now Google Places). It’s an excellent tool for updating and managing business location information, including hours of operation, pictures, videos, and coupons. Additionally, there are numerous beneficial tools to learn about your customers. Foursquare is now offering businesses [...]
A few months ago I learned of Kickstarter, a new and emerging website designed to “fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.” Sounds interesting, no? It is! Kickstarter provides an intuitive platform for launching a fundraising campaign. As a campaign manager, you establish the parameters for your Web-based project. This includes the duration on the campaign [...]
The second post in my two-part series as a guest blogger for Metromode was published this morning. The article is titled Striving to be a National Institution. What does it mean to be a national museum? Whose stories do we reflect? What do we aspire to be? These are all common questions that I receive [...]
I was recently asked to be a guest blogger on Metromode.com, a Website that “posts daily reports on job growth and development in Southeast Michigan.” I’m a fan of both Metromode and its sister publication, Model D, so agreeing to write a few short articles on the Arab American National Museum was a no-brainer. In [...]
The past few days have been incredibly hectic. I returned early this morning from three days of work in Washington, D.C. A colleague and I met with museums, government agencies, and members from the Arab American community to discuss new educational opportunities and a forthcoming exhibit we are developing. I departed Washington, D.C. at 3:30 [...]
This is the second and final part of a series on how to build a simple interpretative panel for an exhibit. If you missed part one, then point your browser to How To Build A Simple Interpretative Panel For An Exhibit Pt.1. Now that the final exhibit graphic has been proofed and the substrate cut [...]