School of Information Management & Systems.
142  Access to American Cultural Heritages. Buckland. Spring 1997.

Examinations Fall 1997.
It is intended to have THREE in-class exams, each of ONE hour, provisinonally scheduled for Sept 30, Nov 4 and Dec 4, INSTEAD of the conventional Mid-term and Final exam. This is subject to the approval of the Committee on Courses. Approval is expected, but if approval were denied, we shall have to have a conventional Final exam. We would retain the first two in-class exams on Sept 30 and Nov 4, but not on Dec 4.

The only available models are the Midterm & Final Exams of the Fall 1995 offering:

FALL 1995 MIDTERM - SEPTEMBER 28, 1995
ONE HOUR. THREE QUESTIONS OF EQUAL WEIGHT. ANSWER QUESTION 1 AND ANY TWO OF QUESTIONS 2 - 5. WRITE CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY. AS AND WHEN APPROPRIATE, ILLUSTRATE YOUR ANSWERS WITH ACTUAL OR IMAGINARY EXAMPLES AND / OR REFERENCES TO CLASSROOM DISCUSSION.

ANSWER THIS QUESTION:

1. The first assignment was to find out what others thought "culture" was. Another Berkeley student who is not in this class and who has not done the assignment wants to know what we found. Provide an explanation. Don't assume the student has a social science background.

ANSWER ANY TWO OF QUESTIONS 2 THROUGH 5

2. How was the video Separate lives, broken dreams relevant to this course? What aspects of access to American cultural heritages did it illustrate?

3. What does Roszak say in chapter 5 of The Cult of Information? How does it relate to the content of this course thus far?

4. Summarize the article by Deirdre Stam "Documenting whose heritage?".

5. One doesn't normally think of museum-keeping as a political activity, but our guest speaker says that his work as a museum anthropologist and curator is "political". What did he mean? In what ways?

FALL 1995 FINAL EXAM - DECEMBER 13, 1995, 8:10 - 11:00 am.
FOUR QUESTIONS OF EQUAL WEIGHT. WRITE CLEARLY AND LEGIBLY. AS AND WHEN APPROPRIATE, ILLUSTRATE YOUR ANSWERS WITH ACTUAL OR IMAGINARY EXAMPLES AND / OR REFERENCES TO CLASSROOM DISCUSSION.

ANSWER QUESTION 1:

1. Cultural Heritage may seem to be a matter of harmless historical interest, but we have encountered some substantial concerns and vested interests during the semester. Who cares and why? How and why are cultural heritage issues significant in society?

ANSWER ANY THREE OF QUESTIONS 2 - 6.

2. What is "cultural property"? What issues and value questions arise with respect to cultural property? What kinds of laws and policies relate to it?

3. ANSWER EITHER 3A OR 3B:

3A. What is meant by "the construction of meaning"? How does it arise in the context of cultural heritage? What is its significance? Explain your answer in relation to material discussed in the course.

3B. In what ways was the James Burke video on the development of the theory of evolution relevant to this course?

4. Imagine that you are the Superintendent of a California school district. A group of Fundamentalist Christian parents are complaining about "secular humanism". They think that their and their children's religion and cultural heritage are being attacked by your schools' education materials. They have made an appointment to meet with you. What issues would you expect to arise? How might you respond to their complaints?

5. Imagine that the existing National Endowment for the Arts has been abolished and that you have been appointed to create and direct a new Agency for the Public Funding for the Arts (APFA). What definitions, policies, priorities and procedures would you establish?

6. A rose is still a rose whatever it may be called. So why do people get excited about the words used in library subject headings and museum labelling? What issues arise?