Museum Education

On History, Creativity, Serendipity, and Gelato

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On History, Creativity, Serendipity, and Gelato

Once upon a time, my memories of Florence fell to hunting for treasures in and around the top 10 tourist attractions with a four-year-old. And, of course, gelato. My favorite flavors were the citrus sorbets, like lemon, lime, and blood orange.

Then, exactly two years ago in April 2014, both my gelato preferences and my association with Florence changed. Radically. That's when Mary Hoffman and I, as co-faculty of Julie Hedlund’s Writer’s Renaissance, first brainstormed, over una coppetta di gelato tre gusti – this time cioccolato, pistachio, and nocciola, how we might bring my time traveler tour concept to life in Florence...

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Thinking of Going Digital? Here are Five Tips to Help you Pick the Perfect Development Partner

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Thinking of Going Digital? Here are Five Tips to Help you Pick the Perfect Development Partner

We’re Engaged!

Join me in welcoming OnCell, LLC, as Time Traveler Tours, LLC's new development partner!

Now some of you might be imagining a group of guys with various color pens lined up in their pocket protectors, repeatedly pushing thick rimmed glasses back up onto the bridges of their noses. Not Team OnCell. These peeps are young, dynamic, hip, creative, and anything but a boys club. They speak the languages of code and user experience design and visual storytelling. They have made it possible for me and Team TTT&T to bring our unique storytelling concept to you on the touchscreen device of your choice. Here are a few members of the OnCell team:

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Five Steps to Creating a Story-driven App Tour

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Five Steps to Creating a Story-driven App Tour

Eureka! We’ve cracked the code as to how weave a story into the fabric of a place!

If you’re an author wishing to write for us, a museum professional wishing to consult with us, an educator or parent wishing to time travel with us, or if you’re just plain interested, please read on…

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Michelangelo Meet-up in Music City

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Michelangelo Meet-up in Music City

I saw the advertising poster the minute I stepped off the plane in Nashville...

Twenty-six rare drawings by Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564) on loan from the artist's family home in Florence were on exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in the home of my youth, Music City USA.

A good omen for me and TTT&T in 2016!

Lily, Jim, and I had traveled to Nashville not just to ring in the holiday season, but to celebrate my parents’ 60th wedding anniversary with the rest of the extended Towle family.

Immediately I knew what I had to do...

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Case Study Spurred by Paul Revere

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Case Study Spurred by Paul Revere

This post is dedicated to Sree Sreenivasan, Chief Digital Officer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Compelled by his challenge – outlined here – to find and “do something” with a set of Paul Revere’s spurs, I became inspired to craft a mini- Time Traveler Tour for the Met.

What follows is a snapshot of my brain in the midst of the digital storytelling process. I hope you enjoy this Case Study Spurred by Paul Revere.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments.

Sree’s Challenge: Locate Paul Revere’s spurs.

His Clue: The spurs can be found in the Met’s Arms and Armor exhibit.

The Hint: As I set off, I found myself chewing over a vibe I'd received from one of my Met hosts that the Arms and Armor exhibit was perhaps an odd place for a set of antique spurs. This sounded like a “pain point” to me: like the museum had these great objects, but didn’t know quite where to put them.

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