yesterday ...

Yesterday, alone on site and still fuzzy about how to approach creating a diagram that considers -- and even begin to visually reflects -- all of the (potential and actual) expertise that continuously is exchanged and drawn upon within the museum.

thinking the obvious thought: if expertise is exchanged through and because of the object the same may be true of the notion of expertise itself. Thus, a return to the object may eventually prove to be the way of making the object obsolete (obviously!! I'm an academic!)

begin to test by returning to the idea of the object existing within or outside the collection: in particular, what is absent (lost or mislaid?), what potentially informs the collection by its absence, and what -- exactly by it's absence -- becomes desirable?

as a result of initial testing, the line of questioning regarding absent objects turns into debates about the favourite object and then becomes a fully fledged survey when we reached the Most Desirable Object through the question: There's a box. There could be anything inside it. What do you most want it to be?
... and (as a challenging addendum and to maintain the rigour of the process) how would you argue for the inclusion of the object into the collection or its [re-introduction] into the display?

for me, it is from this last part that the machine or game diagram will eventually come. and, it is here that the expert reasoning truly exists and things become really interesting -- and accessible: through the object but outside the object.

so far the arguments has been for:
the return of the bog chair (currently removed by the order of high raking official)
crown jewels, gowns and big cars (alluding to a glamourous part of Doncaster past)
art deco jewellery (currently located in the V&A)
the miner's lamp (that's mislaid or missing)
the almost extinct bittern, the locally extinct sturgeon and the 'most probably there but never discovered' bog-body.

objects that all highlights personal and professional interests and passions but within the collection also (visibly):
returns rightful ownership [includes "it's mine -- give it back!"]
redresses the gender balance within the display
gives the opportunity to rethink the display and broaden its interest
highlights [a personal passion for] a deserving cause
and finally, objects or specimens that further their own cause, secure their own salvation or ultimately assist in saving temselves [by adding weight to an argument and protecting a particular site or environment from development or demolition]

People need more time to think, so I agreed with Fiona to email the question and then she'll distribute widely.
Witness the publication of the "Most Desirable Object Survey" [MDOS].