Interactive Tasks - Help & Discussion

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

Cruddy crud crud... I already have links going to page not found : (

[Janice, Moderator]

Christina wrote: "Cruddy crud crud... I already have links going to page not found : ("

Frustrating! Sorry you're having trouble. Sometimes if you google the title of the picture, you can get an alternate site.

[Kristie, Moderator]

Sooo... after reminding everyone not to give you interactive tasks that they were going to use themselves I started reading a book for a task I thought I had written for myself but had actually written for you. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤷‍♀️ Just making sure... I am able to use a similar task for a different item, just not the same task for the same item, right?

[Janice, Moderator]

That's correct, Kristie.

[Esther]

Kristie wrote: "Sooo... after reminding everyone not to give you interactive tasks that they were going to use themselves I started reading a book for a task I thought I had written for myself but had actually wri..."

Glad that I am not the only one. The fact that I did mine at the same time as Janice`s for these museums got my memory confused as well.

[Jenn]

I did three options for each of the three museums that I did for Janice, and then selected one for each based on the tasks that everybody else put forward - so that I could avoid duplication. So, that means that I still have two possible tasks built for each of those three museums, but haven’t looked at any of the other museums at all - could be a rough year, especially considering how disorganized I am feeling these days lol

[Kristie, Moderator]

Glad I'm not alone, Esther!

I didn't duplicate the task, Jenn. I actually did a similar thing creating a task for Janice and then a task for me to avoid duplication. I just mixed up which task was mine in my head. So when I went to add the book to my challenge the task wasn't there. Wasn't I surprised! I'm just going to change up one of my other interactive tasks, so the book will end up being in badge 3, which I likely won't even finish, but at least I feel better still adding it. lol

[Jenn]

I wasn’t criticizing Kristie, I was commiserating lol but I didn’t really complete my thought lol I did three tasks gave one to Janice, but don’t remember which ones I gave away lol
And, that sucks Kristie 😞 is there no way to change enough of the task wording as to make it different and still fit?

[Kristie, Moderator]

I didn't take it as criticism, Jenn. I thought you might have misunderstood my original issue and I was trying to clarify. I can change it a bit and use it for a different museum. I'll make it work. No worries. :)

[Viji]

3. Museum 3: Bangkok National Museum
Link:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
Task: Book with chariot/s on cover or in the title

I created the above Interactive task for Museum 3. Would work for a chariot? If not, could I use it for the horse task?

If the above book does not work for the task, could my other choice be used for the chariot?

Thanks.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I don't see a chariot at all in the first book, Viji. The second one works.

[Janice, Moderator]

Viji wrote: "3. Museum 3: Bangkok National Museum
Link:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
Task: Book with chariot/s on cover or in the title

I created the above Interactive task for Museum 3. Would [book..."

Your link to the collection piece doesn't work.

The DeSilva book would work for the horse on the cover task.

[Viji]

Kristie wrote: "I don't see a chariot at all in the first book, Viji. The second one works."

Thanks, Kristie.

[Viji]

Janice wrote: "Viji wrote: "3. Museum 3: Bangkok National Museum
Link:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
Task: Book with chariot/s on cover or in the title

I created the above Interactive task for Museum 3..."

Thanks, Janice.
The interactive task link for Museum 3 :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok...

I hope it works.

[Janice, Moderator]

Viji wrote: "Janice wrote: "Viji wrote: "3. Museum 3: Bangkok National Museum
Link:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...
Task: Book with chariot/s on cover or in the title

I created the above Interactive ta..."

The link works now. Thanks.

[Dee]

want to make sure i understand because all these posts are confusing me...so for Museum 30. Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence

https://www.accademia.org/explore-mus...

the original statue of David (by michaelango) is one of the exhibits - i could say a book by an author David - or is that too vague?

[Janice, Moderator]

Dee wrote: "want to make sure i understand because all these posts are confusing me...so for Museum 30. Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence

https://www.accademia.org/explore-mus......"

You could. It's not too vague.

[Dee]

Janice wrote: "Dee wrote: "want to make sure i understand because all these posts are confusing me...so for Museum 30. Galleria dell'Accademia in Florence

https://www.accademia.org/explore-mus......"

thanks! i thought it did, then i started reading other peoples questions and was like maybe i'm missing something :)

[Janice, Moderator]

Some of the interactive tasks people are coming up with are quite specific which makes me think they're fitting the task to the book rather than writing a task and then finding a book. And that's okay too.

A bunch of the members got together and determined all my interactive tasks for me to work on. I think it was Cherie who gave me the interactive task for museum 30, and it's pretty much the same task as what you came up with - author named David or the Statue of David on the cover.

[Cherie]

I confess to the latter, Janice. It is hard to look at all of the different libraries and see all of the paintings, and articles and not have something in mind.

On the other hand, I have had fun using the links that you used for the Collection tasks and coming up with another task for them too. The guy in the "hat task" in Museum 23 lead me down a rabbit hole coming up with other things to focus on. I liked how he was sitting nicely posed with his hands together and focused on his hands because his arm looked weird in the painting, and I found a book with "hands on the cover" that I already owned. I thought about using the view out the window too, but could not quite make myself go through with it. I have used a couple of them, but I have not posted any yet. I have a note on the Museum 8 Interactive task on my spread sheet with a book title that says "create a task to use this book". Some of your collection pictures were just too awful to think about using for something else, except for the Carrion Flower. I think my task for it is posted in my Museum 38 list of tasks for badge 2. The Andy Warhol painting in Museum 15 lead me to create a task for a book that I already owned, after you told me who he was.

Actually, finding just the right thing for an already specified book is hard, depending on the library. Some of them are more accommodating to be able to link to a picture than others - at least for me.

[Shirley]

Yes, and you might also unconsciously make up a task according to the kinds of books you normally read, not necessarily a specific book. For example I probably wouldn’t make up the task about dragons, or anything to do with fantasy. I have a task to read a book where a major event is a doctor being called to the house. (I read a few books last year where that happened, so I thought it’d be relatively easy), but now that I’m gophering, I find it’s not so easy. So now I’ve decided to wait and hope that as I read throughout the year, it just pops up.

[Janice, Moderator]

This year's challenge lends itself to Historical Fiction with all the locations, so I tried to write tasks that would allow for other genres. There are times that I create a task and immediately know which book I would slot into that challenge, but I don't have a book in mind when I write a task. At least not consciously. If I was doing my own interactive tasks, I probably would have had a book that I would write a task for.

[Esther]

Janice wrote: "This year's challenge lends itself to Historical Fiction with all the locations, so I tried to write tasks that would allow for other genres. There are times that I create a task and immediately kn..."

I did have a look at my library wish list before I did. But I tried to write them so I would not be stuck with only one book.

[Janice, Moderator]

That's a good approach, Esther.

[Shirley]

Yes, I think we all appreciate the thought that goes into writing tasks. This Challenge is so good for stretching our reading comfort zones. There have been many books I've read for the Challenge that I wouldn't normally read (because I have to complete a badge), and have really enjoyed them.

[Janice, Moderator]

There's different layers in this year's challenge for sure. I've been enjoying seeing what everyone comes up with for the interactive task.

[Anne ✨]

Shirley wrote: "Yes, I think we all appreciate the thought that goes into writing tasks."....

I think I'm 'overthinking them' - I come up with too many tasks for the task, and then I can't choose:

As my example: For NZ Museum I chose photo of colossal squid exhibit (which I've actually visited and seen in 2010 - very cool). The blurb about it said: Colossal Squid caught in Antarctica, brought to NZ on display in TePapa. 470lbs. Living at depths in excess of 1000 m, and temperatures near freezing in Antarctic waters, adults of this species are exceedingly rare in collections.

And so in attempting to come up with a task I have all these as possibilities, and am stuck in 'agh i can't decide mode'... LOL
> A book set in Antarctica
> A book about the oceans
> A book with an ocean dwelling animal on the cover
> A book that's greater than 470 pages
> A book with a word respresenting size in the title (ie. small, large, big, huge, gigantic, colossal, tiny, etc)
> A book from a 'rare' genre that you don't usually read from (and haven't read from in
the past 12months)..
....and it could go on and on and on and on...

I guess I need to input all these possible tasks into one of those randomizer websites that will choose for me LOL!!!

[Kristie, Moderator]

I've done that too, Anne. I've actually been even worse and sometimes chosen a couple of different exhibits from museums and made a list for each of them. My plan today (or over the next couple of days) is to go through my options and select one task for each museum. That way I can make sure I don't duplicate tasks for myself and I'll be less overwhelmed by the options.

I'm finding that I'm collecting books to report because I don't know where I'm putting them (for which museum or for which badge) and that makes it harder for Janice. (Don't worry, Janice. I haven't read very much and I promise not to report a whole bunch at once!) So, I need to get it organized.

[Janice, Moderator]

Anne ✨ wrote: "I think I'm 'overthinking them' - I come up with too many tasks for the task, and then I can't choose:..."

If we're voting, I like this one, "> A book with a word representing size in the title (ie. small, large, big, huge, gigantic, colossal, tiny, etc)".

[Peggy]

I made my tasks for only a couple of the museums, but I tried to create a variety in the aspect of the book to focus on. So that I wouldn't end up with all cover tasks, but also tasks related to genre, title, author, series, page count, publication year etc.

I just browsed for an item that really appealed to me, and then created a task that was specific enough to make sense, but also one that is open enough that I know I can find something. And when I had a task, I stopped thinking about it, lol! Didn't always work, sometimes 2 or 3 tasks popped into my head simultaneously.

[Kristie, Moderator]

I think I just spent too much time in the museums looking at their collections. Oh, I like that!... Oh, that's nice!... Oh, I want to do that one!!... lol Hence too many options.

[Cherie]

Kristie wrote: "I think I just spent too much time in the museums looking at their collections. Oh, I like that!... Oh, that's nice!... Oh, I want to do that one!!... lol Hence too many options."

I found myself doing that too, Kristie. I finally had to make myself stop looking at all of the museums. I first went through all of the tasks to see if I already had a book to fit the Location, About, and Collection tasks, from books that I already owned. After that, I sorted by which museums I had all three books and decided which ones to use for Badge 1 and almost all of the ones for Badge 2. Those are the Interactive tasks that I tackled first. I do have a few Interactive tasks on my spreadsheet that I might never use, but I have as a place holder.

Anne - I loved your thought process for your NZ example, but I could see how it would begin to boggle you after the first ten things. I liked the page length one. ;o)

[Shirley]

Peggy wrote: "I made my tasks for only a couple of the museums, but I tried to create a variety in the aspect of the book to focus on. So that I wouldn't end up with all cover tasks, but also tasks related to ge..."
I did the same thing Peggy. Browsing the museum exhibits and finding something that really spoke to me was fun.

[Amanda]

There aren't a lot of collection pics for museum 2 - Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán. I did some looking and it looks like the tombs were built into pyramids. The museum itself is pyramid shaped. Could I make a task like "read a book with diagonal lines on the cover"?

[Janice, Moderator]

Amanda wrote: "There aren't a lot of collection pics for museum 2 - Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán. I did some looking and it looks like the tombs were built into pyramids. The museum itself is pyramid shaped..."

Yes, you may.

[Beth]

Amanda wrote: "There aren't a lot of collection pics for museum 2 - Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipán. I did some looking and it looks like the tombs were built into pyramids. The museum itself is pyramid shaped..."

I found some with skeletons, so I am using it for crime/mystery type books that have skeletons on cover or in the plot.

[Saar The Book owl]

I find the interactive tasks a bit difficult. I've looked at the museums, but we don't need only to look at the websites of the museums? Wikipedia is also okay? And pictures of exhibitions/expositions don't count, it should be pictures of something in the collection?

[Kristie, Moderator]

Saar The Book owl wrote: "I find the interactive tasks a bit difficult. I've looked at the museums, but we don't need only to look at the websites of the museums? Wikipedia is also okay? And pictures of exhibitions/expositi..."

Janice said exhibitions were ok to use, as is Wikipedia. As long as it's something on display at the museum, it should work.

[Saar The Book owl]

Okay, so, if I give the link to Wiki, then it's okay, also?

[Christina ❤️M❤️]

@Saar - Yes. She has already approved one... I think we can get them from anywhere. As long as it is for the right museum. I hope so because I am using a few from a travel travel guide site.

[Saar The Book owl]

Ah, okay, I've just found 4 tasks for my 4 museums. It's a fun search.

[Janice, Moderator]

Yes, there is discussion towards the beginning of the thread about sourcing your pictures. You can get them from other places as long as they are part of the museums' collections and exhibits.

[Annerlee]

I've just been looking through the museum help threads to get a feeling for what's going on. The number of questions we ask!

Janice: you ARE amazing to keep up with it all, log everything and still keep a clear head and sense of humour! I just wanted to put that out there and express my appreciation.

Also, this challenge is so cool! I'm discovering so much by visiting these virtual museums. It's almost better than going in person, because I can dip in and out of them and don't feel I need to 'consume' everything at once... So much virtual travelling is also good for the soul during a lockdown 👍👍👍

[Janice, Moderator]

Thanks Annerlee. It gives you a bit of an idea of what I do when creating the challenges. The thing that I love about digging out all these facts is that it gives me an opportunity to learn so much.

I was just mentioning to a friend that I bought a Trivial Pursuit game to farm it for the questions I used in last year's challenge. I wonder how much of the answers I remember. Anyone want to try me?

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I love it too as working in an institution that has resisted digitalisation for so long, places have realised we have to do this to survive. So this is the best time to do it as new content is coming out all the time, and 18 months ago we wouldn't have access to half the content we do now.

It's brilliant and timely, Janice.

[Emma R.]

I've just started creating tasks and I'm wondering how simple/complex the task can be? I'm hoping to read a book about WWII and I am using The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Since the museum is all about WWII, does that count as a building feature?

The wording of the task would be something like The National WWII Museum in New Orleans is dedicated to WWII. Read a book relating to WWII.

[Katrisa]

Emma R. wrote: "I've just started creating tasks and I'm wondering how simple/complex the task can be? I'm hoping to read a book about WWII and I am using The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Since the museum ..."

I did something similar with the Black Civilization Museum. I just picked an item and said that since the museum was dedicated to black civilization that I would read a book with the word black in the title. So maybe you could choose something from the collection which I assume all have ties to WWII and then read a book with a WWII theme

[Kristie, Moderator]

Emma R. wrote: "I've just started creating tasks and I'm wondering how simple/complex the task can be? I'm hoping to read a book about WWII and I am using The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. Since the museum ..."

Janice always has the final say for this challenge, but she is currently in hospital, so the other mods are helping out with answering questions for her the best we can at the moment.

My understanding is that Janice wants us to select a piece of art from the exhibit and tie our task to that, not to the museum itself, unless the museum is the art. So, I would say you need to link your task to an item on exhibit.

With that said, the museum is dedicated to WWII, so I'm guessing that any item you choose can be linked to WWII in some way and you can still use that task. It would just be, this exhibit piece is from WWII instead of linking to the whole museum.

[Peggy]

I agree Kristie, I think that would be Janice's answer exactly :)

[Emma R.]

Kristie wrote: "Emma R. wrote: "I've just started creating tasks and I'm wondering how simple/complex the task can be? I'm hoping to read a book about WWII and I am using The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. S..."

Kristie and Peggy,

Thanks for the help. That answers my question, and gives me a helpful guide for creating my tasks. Thanks!