This page is part of the documentation on the MOOseum Tools Project, a collaboration between Kalí Tal and ConnectionsMOO. The purpose of this project is to provide a suite of tools based on a museum metaphor to humanities scholars who are interested in integrating new media technology into their courses. The tools, currently under development, will be distributed freely as a suite, and will run on LambdaCore, JHCore and enCOre MOOs. If you are interested in beta testing these tools, contact Kalí Tal.
Items typed <inside angle brackets> should be typed without the brackets when you give commands on the MOO. For instance, if you saw the following command:
@create #624 named <name of your animatronic>
You would type:
@create #624 MyAnimatronicName
[The generic MOOseum exhibit stand, create by Percival/Tari, 8/15/99. Some code for the stand was borrowed from the generic corkboard, #1507, which was created by Ken@JHM and ported to Connections on 1/25/97 by Percival/Tari. Questions/problems/bug reports to Percival/Tari.]
The exhibit stand can be used as a table, shelf, display case, etc. for MOOseum exhibits. Multiple stands can be placed in one room; however stands placed within other stands or within any kind of container other than a room will not work properly. Items can be registered with a stand so that, if a user removes them from the stand, a MOOseum curator will eventually return them to the stand.
To make your own MOOseum exhibit stand, make a child of the generic MOOseum exhibit stand:
@create #350 named <name of your stand>
Remember, you don't have to call your stand a "stand"--you could name and describe it as a table, a curio shelf, a display case--anything items might be placed on. This way your exhibit stand can be part of your exhibit if you with; for example, you could make King George's writing desk and display letters from King George on the table.
To place an item on an exhibit stand:
place <object> on <stand>
To remove an item from a stand:
take <object> from <stand>
To see the description of an item on an exhibit stand:
look <object> on <stand>
Note that to make other uses of an object on a stand--for example, to read its text or push its buttons, you must first take the object from the stand.
To read the provenance* card for an exhibit stand:
prov for <stand>
To read the references** card for a stand:
ref for <stand>
Only the owner of an exhibit stand can add and remove users for the stand. People on a stand's user list are able to register and unregister objects with the stand, and also to set the timing of the stand, so that an exhibit stand may be conveniently shared by several people.
To add someone to the user list for an exhibit stand:
@add-user <person> for <stand>
To remove someone from the user list for a stand:
@rm-user <person> for <stand>
To see the list of users for a stand:
@users for <stand>
Only the owner of a stand, and people on its users list, can register and unregister items.
To register an item with an exhibit stand:
register <object> with <stand>
To unregister an item from an exhibit stand:
unregister <object> from <stand>
To see what items are registered with a stand:
@registered with <stand>
When an item is registered with an exhibit stand, if a user removes an item from the stand and forgets to put it back, a curator will come and return the item to the stand. You can set the amount of time a curator will wait before returning items to a stand by setting the timing for the stand; see below. The default waiting time is 600 seconds--10 minutes.
Note that you need to place the objects on the stand FIRST before the curator will start keeping track of them. If you don't place the objects on the stand, even if they are registered with the stand, the stand will appear empty and you will not see the objects!
To set the amount of time the curator waits before replacing a removed item on an exhibit stand:
timing <stand> is <number of seconds>
For example:
timing shelf is 300
(The curator will wait for 300 seconds--5 minutes--before returning a removed item to the shelf.)
timing desk is 900
(The curator will wait for 900 seconds--15 minutes--before returning a removed item to the desk.)
Remember that timing must be express in seconds--`timing desk is 10' means the curator will retrieve an item after 10 seconds, NOT 10 minutes!
If your exhibit stand is itself an exhibit item--for example, your exhibit stand is Emily Dickinson's writing desk--you will probably want to add provenance and references fields to the stand. Only the owner of an exhibit stand can add provenance and references fields to the stand.
To add a provenance field to an exhibit stand:
@prov <stand> is <Whatever you want to say.>
To clear the provenance field for a stand:
@prov <stand> is
(In other words, enter the command, but don't enter any text.)
If you want to use an editor to fill in your provenance field, enter:
@edit <stand>.provenance
You'll be sent to the in-MOO note editor, or to your local editor, depending on which option you use for editing.
To add references to an exhibit stand:
@ref <stand> is <Whatever you want to say.>
To clear the references field for a stand:
@ref <stand> is
(In other words, enter the command, but don't enter any text.
If you want to use an editor to fill in your references field, enter:
@edit <stand>.references
You'll be sent to the in-MOO note editor, or to your local editor, depending on which option you use for editing.
*The provenance of an object is the object's story: dates, makers, owners, circumstances of its discovery, testing, information on how it came to the museum, etc. The provenance of a silver tea set might say something like, "Maker: Paul Revere, 1768. Commissioned by Mrs. Robert Johns as a wedding gift for her daughter Theresa Johns Smith. Purchased by the museum from the 1975 estate sale of Thomas Brown, great-great grandson of Theresa Smith."
**The references field of a MOOseum object is intended as a place for the owner of an exibit object to refer the viewer to further sources of information on subjects related to the object; the references on a silver tea set made by Paul Revere might refer the viewer to books or URLs about Paul Revere or about tea sets of the period.
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