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Darren Milligan

Smithsonian Staff

Hi! I am the former Senior Digital Strategist for the Smithsonian's Office of Educational Technology (OET), the team that built and manages the Smithsonian Learning Lab. While at the Smithsonian, I researched and developed services for making online museum assets accessible and helpful to educators and learners, including producing experiences such as online games and interactives, managing pan-Institutional social media initiatives for teachers, and directing web platforms, including the online portal for educational resources at the Institution, SmithsonianEducation.org and the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Formerly, I was the Interim Director of OET and the Director of the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Prior to my time at the Smithsonian, I developed citizen science programs and online mentoring communities at the Purple Martin Conservation Association.

Darren Milligan's collections

 

Saul Steinberg Smithsonian Letterhead Doodles

<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Steinberg" target="_blank">Saul Steinberg</a> created these drawings in the 1960s. A complete story of his time in residence at the Smithsonian is <a href="http://siarchives.si.edu/blog/%E2%80%9Cenigmatic%E2%80%9D-first-artist-residence-smithsonian" target="_blank">available from Smithsonian Archives</a>.</p>
Darren Milligan
32
 

Halloween

Spooky delights and dark treasures from the vaults of the Smithsonian itself!
Darren Milligan
49
 

Meryl McMaster and George Catlin

This collection pairs photographs created by contemporary Canadian artist Meryl McMaster that utilize paintings by nineteenth century American painter George Catlin. McMaster images from Katzman Contemporary (http://www.katzmancontemporary.com/merylmcmaster/ ): "Meryl McMaster is a Canadian-based artist and a graduate in photography from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Her work explores questions of identity, representation, perception, myth, memory and the environment. Meryl is the recipient of the Canon Canada Prize, the Nora E. Vaughan Award, the Design Medal from OCAD, the Vistek Photography Award, Heartline Pictures Award, and SNAP!Stars TD Award. Her scholarships include the K.M. Hunter Scholarship, the Doris McCarthy Scholarship and the OCAD Admissions Scholarship. McMaster is currently preparing for two concurrent solo new shows in early fall with Katzman Contemporary and the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe, and prolifically is featuring her past work in solo and group exhibitions across Canada (Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Dunlop Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, and FOFA Gallery)."
Darren Milligan
8
 

Pi (3.14159) and Pie (Yum) Resources from the Smithsonian

Resources for use with #piday
Darren Milligan
14
 

Easter Rabbits, Bunnies, and Hares!

<p>So many rabbits, bunnies, hares, and more!</p>
Darren Milligan
70
 

Some of My Favorite Faces

<p>To create the collection, I used the <strong>Zoom Lock Tool</strong>. You can use it too. <strong>1)</strong> Open up one of your collections, <strong>2)</strong> open up an image within that collection, <strong>3)</strong> use the zoom tools to zoom in and out and your cursor to reposition the image, <strong>4)</strong> click the checkbox next to the zoom tools, <strong>5) </strong>click done. Then save your collection to <em>reset the thumbnail images.</em> When others view your collection, that image will load at the zoom level and the position you set (although they will still be able to zoom in and out of the image).</p>
Darren Milligan
32
 

Beauty of Flight - Lepidoptera from the Smithsonian

<p>Selection of my favorite butterflies and moths (from the more than 180,000 described). The Smithsonian National Musem of Natural History's Lepidoptera Collection has 4 million specimens, occupying 30,000 drawers and 3,000 alcohol jars. The collection has the most complete representation of both larvae (123,000 specimens) and adults in the Western Hemisphere! <a href="http://entomology.si.edu/Collections_Leps.html" target="_blank">Learn more</a>.</p>
Darren Milligan
89
 

Beautiful Orchids at the Smithsonian

<p>This collection represents some of my personal favorites from the project to digitize more than 8,000 living specimens of the <strong>Orchidaceae family, </strong>in the <a href="https://gardens.si.edu/collections/plants/orchids/">Smithsonian Gardens Orchid Collection</a>.</p> <p>There are thousands (at the time of publishing) of orchid specimens available here in the Learning Lab. <a href="https://learninglab.si.edu/search?page=1&st=Smithsonian+Gardens+Orchid+Collection&st_op=and">Find your own favorites using this search.</a></p> <p>Learn more in the <em>Smithsonian Insider</em> article, "<a href="https://www.si.edu/stories/see-thousands-orchids-incredible-detail" target="_blank">See thousands of orchids in incredible detail in the Smithsonian's newly digitized collection</a>"</p>
Darren Milligan
48