logo

Category:Tech


Blue lines: multispectral imaging for pigment identification

By: Nina Owczarek

Visible-induced infrared (IR) luminescence is the invisible light that some materials produce when they are excited with visible light. We can capture that invisible light with a modified camera and use it to identify those materials and find out where they are. For those of you who follow the Artifact Lab Blog, this technique will […]


Ecuador, Audiovisual Heritage, and Watson Kintner shines again.

By: Kate Pourshariati

Watson Kintner’s 1940s films have deep significance for people in Ecuador


a BTS of BTS (Behind the Scenes of Beneath the Surface)

By: Lee Roueche

The Digital Media Center recently paired up with the Preparation Department to film a series of short five-question interviews that will be used in the upcoming exhibition Beneath the Surface.  Over the last three weeks, we interviewed five experts on topics ranging from the history of the Coclé people of Sitio Conte and the excavation […]


Mr. Kintner meets TedX

By: Kate Pourshariati

Recently the Archives department had a request for footage of Morocco, which turned out to be for a film about current day and historic use of water in Rabat. Once again Watson Kintner’s beautiful Kodachrome footage (1951, etc.) has had another outing in the world, this time returned to Rabat where the filmmaker has presented […]


Report from the Field: Luang Prabang 1

By: Ardeth Abrams

In late December 2012, the fourth and final phase of the $300,000 Penn Museum Luce Program to Strengthen Southeast Asian Archaeology begins. Its focus is Luang Prabang Province, Laos, where the Museum’s Middle Mekong Archaeological Project (MMAP) has conducted surveys, test excavations and related multi-disciplinary studies since 2005. Nattha Chuenwattana, a Thai PhD student from […]


Building Better Search

By: Scott Williams

Have you ever searched for ‘Buddhism’ only to find records which contain exactly  ‘Buddhism’ and not ‘Buddhist’, ‘Buddha’, or related concepts like ‘Maitreya‘ or ‘Bodhisattva‘? Frustrating, no? Problem Like many museum’s online collections, the Penn Museum’s first online collection site (launched in January) worked like the previous example and matched the terms a user searched for […]


One Search to Rule Them All

By: Michael Condiff

Over the past couple of months the I.T. department had received several inquires about not being able to find specific content on our website. After getting some time to test the Search Functionality myself I had to concur that what had been implemented at the launch of the website two years ago was not going […]


Going Mobile: iPod Touch Tours

By: Amy Ellsworth

This cassette tape is from the era of Museum 1.0 audio tour technology. I dug this out of my treasure trove of floppy discs and zip drives in the IT office. I have yet to play the tape because I don’t have a tape player. The mobile age of museum media is forcing us to […]


Electronics Recycling

By: Michael Condiff

A lot of the materials in computers and monitors are very harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly. Over time computer equipment becomes antiquated and or broken and it is the job of the I.T. department to follow Penn policy and recycle this e-waste. As Penn Museum has transitioned from the large CRT […]


Sign Language iPod Tours

By: Amy Ellsworth

We just finished taping the American Sign Language (ASL) Tours for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired with SignWorld TV. The video tour features actor and comedian CJ Jones signing in the galleries. The Highlights of the Galleries in ASL tour will be available on iPods as well as a video download on the website in […]