Social Construction Of Cultural Artifacts

Museum exhibits are commonly understood as organized displays of a selection of items that are presented for the public. But exhibits do more than just display items that are otherwise unreachable; they also provide a site for the construction of identity. When people go to museums, they want to be told what they should value. Exhibits provide resources for reflecting upon objects, ideas, social relations, histories, and memories. Visiting exhibits, then, allows people to formulate notions of quality, worth, and other values. Although sometimes intrinsic, values are socially generated and established patterns of hierarchy can also help define ideologies of identity. Exhibits covey and condense value and are suited to construct social identities

Texts convey referential content, present and explain concepts, categories, themes, and other information that define an interpretive framework and help create social value. The particular topics selected, word choices, and emphases suggest criteria of judgment, hierarchies of merit importance. The model known as SCOT(Social Construction of Technology) claims that “’relevant social groups’ who play a role in the development of a technological artifact are defined as those groups who share a meaning of the artifact” (765). The taxidermist, museum director, the people who put the display together, and the visitors, all play a role in the meaning of, in this case, the museum display. Texts help define an exhibition and its organization, marking structure with different kinds of texts and font size. In this exhibit the title of the display and the subgroups of species are in are large, bold colored text. If this text had sound it would be very loud. Meanwhile, the information under each subgroup is in small, plain black text. This small size text is more like a whisper, pulling the viewer in, suggesting an intimacy. In addition to the text size, the style or tone of exhibition texts and labels may suggest particular attitudes and relations between visitors and subjects on display. The choice of words used in the display, such as “compete,” “aggressive,” and “threatened” evoke a sense of intrusion from these species. The sentences read like an informing newspaper article that encourages people to take action. The text suggests ways to combat these organisms, leaving the visitor feeling like they are in control. With labels such as “Looks are deceiving” and “Selfish settlers” the visitor is inclined to believe that humans are the superior species. Infused with the authority of their institutional setting, exhibitions constitute and endorse criteria of authenticity, skill,