Have Fun - Do Good

OCTOBER 30, 2009

Interesting WorldChanging post, Just Launched: Journal of Participatory Medicine. In the first edition of this partnership, I interviewed Erin O'Connor Jones , the Director of Candidate Services and Managing Associate at Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group. Early registration deadline is Nov. nonprofit (valued up to $75,000 ).

Los Angeles 40

Los Angeles Green Gift San Francisco 40

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 11, 2015

INTERNSHIPS If you want to join us in Santa Cruz for more professional learning, consider an internship at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. We''re offering internships this summer in: Participatory Exhibition Design. Help take the participatory elements of this permanent gallery to the finish line. Community Programs.

Participatory 20

Participatory Community Museum History 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 24, 2012

To that end, our exhibitions are full of participatory elements. Riding the art couch through downtown Santa Cruz with two visitors and a dog while blasting the Jackson 5 was one of the highlights of my year. Visitors can comment on how we can improve or what they would like to see. Happening Couch. Here's a picture of it in action.

Platform 41

Platform Open Museum Participatory 41

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 28, 2011

We've been offering a host of participatory and interactive experiences at the Museum of Art & History this season. I loved Jasper Visser's list of 30 "do's" for designing participatory projects earlier this month. This isn't even participatory. It's just fun. The risk of liability was worth it.

Design 45

Design Participatory Learning Instruction 45

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 9, 2010

Recently, I was giving a presentation about participatory techniques at an art museum, when a staff member raised her hand and asked, "Did you have to look really hard to find examples from art museums? Aren't art museums less open to participation than other kinds of museums?" I was surprised by her question.

Museum 29

Museum Difference Participatory History 29

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 16, 2013

Then again, Saturday was hardly normal at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. This past weekend, in conjunction with our exhibition about Ze Frank's current participatory project, A Show , we hosted " Ze Frank Weekend "--a quickie summer camp of workshops, activities, presentations, and lots of hugging.

Reflection 43

Reflection Community Museum Participatory 43

Museum 2.0

MARCH 13, 2013

Visitor-contributed photos surround a collection piece in Carnegie Museum of Art's Oh Snap! It can be incredibly difficult to design a participatory project that involves online and onsite visitor engagement. We found humor and fun to be great bridges between the physical and digital environments.

Authoring 53

Authoring Open Experiment Museum 53

Museum 2.0

MARCH 27, 2009

This week, the Denver Art Museum (DAM) opened a new temporary exhibition called The Psychedelic Experience , featuring rock posters from San Francisco in the heyday of Bill Graham and electric kool-aid. It’s a thrilling challenge to the traditional form of art museum exhibit design, and better yet, visitors like it.

Denver 21

Denver Museum Arts Remix 21

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

The Leading Change Summit was more intimate (several hundred people), participatory and interactive, intense, and stimulating. What I liked about this activity is that it is fun, creative, and people aren’t sitting down, but walking around. And, I always bring a set of fun materials, but it is time consuming to put them away.

Reflection 124

Reflection NTEN Change Facilitation 124

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 9, 2017

Hosted by a sound art collective, Ultra-red, the 2015 event promised "to investigate listening as a political activity and to interrogate the stakes of participation in neoliberalism." In other cases--like when I was asked to write a "fun" etiquette guide on how to visit museums--I said no. At first, I thought it was a joke.

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Voice Press 20

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 18, 2012

There are many participatory experiences that appeal primarily to adults, and they are designed distinctly for adults. There's a huge difference between the edgy, DIY beauty of Candy Chang 's participatory urban artworks and the dayglow colors, exclamatory language , and preschool fonts of most museum interactives.

Interaction 47

Interaction Design Museum Participatory 47

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 23, 2014

They were “preaching the museum gospel” in NYC via alternative tours at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. We interacted with the art and with each other through dynamic photo challenges, kinesthetic activities, and conversations. The tours boil down to three key things: engagement, relevance and fun.

Museum 55

Museum Interview New York Interaction 55

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 1, 2014

It made me dig up this 2011 interview with Tina Olsen (then at the Portland Art Museum) about their extraordinary Object Stories project. They designed a participatory project that delivers a compelling end product for onsite and online visitors… and they learned some unexpected lessons along the way. Photos are fun.

Museum 43

Museum Story Project Design 43

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 8, 2016

Last week I was honored to be a counselor at Museum Camp , an annual professional development event hosted by the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH). Nina Simon, the executive director of the museum, is an expert in participatory design and fantastic facilitator.

Causes 50

Causes Change Museum Social 50

Museum 2.0

MAY 21, 2010

Hosting a session on Monday at 2pm on Design for Participation with participatory design gurus Kathleen McLean and Dan Spock, along with research extraordinaire Kris Morrissey and participatory art rockstar Mark Allen. The Brewery Art Colony. Signing books on Monday from 4-5 in the AAM bookstore. The Newsroom Cafe.

Los Angeles 20

Los Angeles Participatory Museum Arts 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

Most of my work contracts involve a conversation that goes something like this: "We want to find ways to make our institution more participatory and lively." Most museums that offer interactive exhibits, media elements, or participatory activities offer them alongside traditional labels and interpretative tools. Fabulous!" "But

Audience 40

Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Museum 2.0

JUNE 12, 2012

It made me think in ways that I haven't before about the relation of art--as expressive culture--to democracy. It is multi-disciplinary, incorporates diverse voices from our community, and provides interactive and participatory opportunities for visitor involvement. Note: you can view these photos of the exhibition on Flickr here.)

Participatory 51

Participatory Museum Blackboard Game 51

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 16, 2010

I spent some time playing with this question last week at the Milwaukee Art Museum, a large general museum that is moving toward redesign of the permanent galleries. But the activity itself WAS compelling, because of the fun conversations, unusual recommendations, and evocative photos. Do you interrogate the map? Get deliciously lost?

Experiment 44

Experiment Lesson Learning Museum 44

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 13, 2010

Why the Video Contest Worked Video contests are one of the most challenging kinds of participatory projects to pull off. But many videos reinforced common stereotypes about science museums, full of bouncy evangelists in lab coats pressing the "science is fun!" It's great that you'll blog for the museum and have fun learning with kids.

Museum 34

Museum Contest Video Chicago 34

Museum 2.0

JULY 9, 2009

Last month, I met an artist who was part of a group that created a renegade podcast tour for the Portland Art Museum. But I also found myself wondering if this imagined set of interpretations for the art was any more compelling or useful than any other imagined set of interpretations.

Museum 22

Museum Alternative Portland Artist 22

Museum 2.0

MAY 3, 2011

Last week, I talked with Tina Olsen, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Portland Art Museum, about their extraordinary Object Stories project. They designed a participatory project that delivers a compelling end product for onsite and online visitors… and they made some unexpected decisions along the way. Photos are fun.

Story 53

Story Interview Museum Audio 53

Museum 2.0

JUNE 1, 2010

People make fun of each other and laugh loudly. Third places are more participatory and offer fewer basic amenities than most cultural institutions provide. it’s certainly possible for people to use museums or libraries as casually as they do taverns, playing around with the art or the exhibits or magazines instead of with pints.

Place 41

Place Discussion Culture Museum 41

Museum 2.0

JULY 27, 2009

I’ve long admired Improv Everywhere , the NYC-based participatory public art group. He could easily make fun of the (likely many) people who can’t identify the direction of Nicaragua. How can you use specific yet evocative instructions to invite visitors into complicit acts of exploration and art?

Instruction 21

Instruction Instructional Nicaragua Experiment 21

Have Fun - Do Good

JULY 31, 2009

We're taking the art of freelancing for writers, and making it much more transparent and much more public. The other two things that happened was that I started working a lot in participatory journalism. I'm a big believer in participatory journalism, or citizen journalism, whatever you want to call it. whatever the topic is.

Interview 40

Interview Fund Report Community 40

Museum 2.0

MARCH 17, 2010

This is the second in a four-part series about writing The Participatory Museum. Several hundred people contributed their opinions, stories, suggestions, and edits to The Participatory Museum as it was written. Several said things like, "I was curious to see how this kind of participatory, collaborative approach would work in practice."

Participatory 32

Participatory Museum Process Experiment 32

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

I'm thrilled to share this brilliant guest post by Marilyn Russell, Curator of Education at the Carnegie Museum of Art. In a straightforward way, Marilyn explains how her team developed a participatory project to improve engagement in a gallery with an awkward entry. Reassert the "forum"? SOLUTION: POST-IT NOTES?

Museum 45

Museum Arts Problem Design 45

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 2, 2008

Institutions tying their online and onsite activities, as the Ontario Science Centre did when it hosted a YouTube meetup , or the Smithsonian American Art Museum did when they developed an alternate reality game. But enough of these experiences have convinced me that the participatory museum is not a fringe concept. There is funding.

Museum 20

Museum Voice Minnesota Participatory 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 6, 2008

On June 4, we opened The Tech Virtual Test Zone , a new 2000 sq ft gallery at The Tech Museum of Innovation featuring exhibits on the theme of art, film, and music that were originally developed in Second Life by a community of creative amateurs. Give away the fun (and easy) part. It's also standard practice in community arts programs.

Virtual 21

Virtual Tech Lesson Develop 21

Museum 2.0

MAY 16, 2007

I can just imagine the headline: CHILD MOLESTERS CALL ON ART, VICTIMS. Why should the staff have all the fun in this way? How can going to an art museum be more like going to a convention for people who love art? Tags: participatory museum visitors. Structure the space with a clear story (and commensurate rules).

Museum 20

Museum Myspace Facilitation Social Network 20

Bloomerang

MAY 21, 2021

We’re going to have some fun today. We’re going to have some fun over the next hour or so. Steven: It’s always a fun transition. But there are some benefits, some real clear benefits of inclusive participatory strategic planning. So if it’s new to you, you are in the right place. I’m Steven.

Video 123

Video Nonprofit San Francisco Question 123

Connection Cafe

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

And so we at Blackbaud have a lot of fun on Giving Tuesday. We have a lot of fun. Change it, change it, do whatever you want with it, mess with the name, have fun. I’m in, what do we do? We’re a Nasdaq company. So we go to the Nasdaq Tower, we ring the Bell, we put pictures up, we bring customers in.

Social 22

Social Game Model Fun 22

Museum 2.0

MAY 15, 2008

It's not the most fun game ever. Tags: participatory museum Unusual Projects and Influences. It's engaging because the content is presented as a dialog among characters. The characters aren't expert scientists or fish researchers. They are knowledgeable, normal, relatable folks.

Conversation 20

Conversation Arts Museum Voice 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 15, 2009

In Praise of the Post-It There's lots of post-it-powered art on the web these days (like this and this ). The previous exhibit in this space was a very provocative art exhibit about sexual violence, and yet in our brief site survey in April we saw almost no one stop to look at the art. Not so for the post-its.

Advice 31

Advice Museum Facilitation Student 31

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 13, 2007

I hope to share some simple and fun ways to create "shoulder-to-shoulder" instructional media for the panel on Screencasting at NTC I'm doing. Tagging in Art Museums. While I'm still very much passionate about screencasting, I've come to dislike the term. Maybe it is more like moment capture. Tagging Nonprofit Missions.

Screencast 50

Screencast Instruction Instructional Tag 50

Museum 2.0

MAY 13, 2010

Oh, and they wanted it to be participatory. I talked with Sarah Rich , one of the project’s instigators and staff members, to learn more about 48 Hour Magazine and its implications for other participatory media projects. You made contribution to the magazine participatory. You had a huge response to this project.

Participatory 36

Participatory Journal San Francisco Interview 36

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 3, 2011

I published The Participatory Museum in March (with help from many of you!) A quick top five list of amazing experiences in no particular order: ArtPrize , the democratic art festival in Grand Rapids that blew my mind Taiwan. Fascinating and fun to stretch out from museums for a bit. Dear Museum 2.0 Everything about it.

Taiwan 38

Taiwan Albuquerque Milwaukee Museum 38

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 3, 2007

At first, we’d planned for these to vary from fun activities (i.e. But after a couple weekends, we learned, strangely enough, that the manual labor activities were far more successful than fun ones. Almost every part of each weekend, from the ceremonies (open guided discussion) to the meals (homemade) was participatory.

Collaboration 20

Collaboration Participatory Museum Exercise 20