Museum 2.0

MARCH 16, 2009

When I talk about designing participatory experiences, I often show the above graphic from Forrester Research. Museums see open-ended self-expression as the be-all of participatory experiences. Would you design an interactive exhibit that only 1% of visitors would want to use? This is a problem for two reasons.

Participatory 44

Participatory Experiment Museum Teen 44

Museum 2.0

JULY 20, 2010

Last week, I gave a talk about participatory museum practice for a group of university students at UCSC. Teenagers are often the target for participatory endeavors, and they definitely have high interest in creative expression, personalizing museum experiences, and using interactive or technological tools as part of their visit.

Teen 49

Teen Social Museum Participatory 49

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 25, 2009

Answers will differ depending on who's asking, but they are also influenced by the designed environment in which questions are asked. The outcome of our conversations is dependent on the diversity of designed environments in which they occur. "Where were you last night?" If someone asked you that question, how would you answer?

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Design Goal Difference Platform 31

Museum 2.0

APRIL 18, 2012

A group in their late teens/early 20s were wandering through the museumwide exhibition on love. When I walked by the first time, the teens were collaging and Kyle and Stacey were talking. I don't know what formed the bridge between the artists and the teens in this circumstance. Kyle had brought his baby with him.

Community 42

Community Teen Build Social 42

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 16, 2013

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. Or that we take a group photo together at the end of the day. It was pretty freaking amazing.

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Reflection Community Museum Participatory 43

Museum 2.0

MAY 8, 2013

We''re more successful when we target particular communities or audiences and design experiences for them. Single-speaker lectures languish while lightning talks featuring teen photographers, phD anthropologists, and professional dancers are packed. How do you reconcile inclusion and targeting in program design?

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Museum Social Arts History 55

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? For this reason, I see history museums as best-suited for participatory projects that involve story-sharing and crowdsourced collecting (e.g.

Museum 29

Museum Difference Participatory History 29

Museum 2.0

MARCH 28, 2008

Museums aren't the only venues facing this question: news outlets, corporate brands, and educators are also grappling with the question of trust in the participatory age. I'm reading a book of essays about how to teach written by teens. Many of the teens write, "learn with us. In the Web 2.0 It's very relational.

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Participatory Museum Teen Voice 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 18, 2015

The people were of all ages--moms with babies strapped to their fronts, six year-olds using skillsaws, pre-teens building robots, teenagers doing homework. The design and feel of the place was different than any science center I''d ever experienced. What unique design elements make Community Science Workshops work?

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Green Interview Share Community 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 21, 2014

When I look back at some recent projects that I''m most excited about (like this teen program ), I realize that I had very little to do with their conception or execution. Participatory work can be very labor-intensive. In the meantime, here are some. THINGS I''M MOST PROUD OF: Making space for distributed leadership.

Museum 49

Museum Director Teen History 49

Museum 2.0

MARCH 27, 2009

It’s a thrilling challenge to the traditional form of art museum exhibit design, and better yet, visitors like it. There are two aspects of Side Trip that really stand out: the immersive environment and the design of the interactives. We’re all together, man. The interactive experiences in Side Trip are superlative.

Denver 21

Denver Museum Arts Remix 21

Museum 2.0

MAY 5, 2009

I led two sessions, one on visitor co-created museum experiences, and the other on design inspirations from outside museums. Visitor Co-Created Museum Experiences This session was a dream for me, one that brought together instigators of three participatory exhibit projects: MN150 (Kate Roberts), Click! More on that in months to come.

Slides 20

Slides Participatory Museum Children 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 1, 2006

Ready to turn your institution into a site of participatory engagement? specializes in designing museum experiences and exhibitions that are community informed, socially stimulating, technologically ambitious, and intriguingly experimental. Want to bring the spirit of this blog to your colleagues and projects?

Museum 21

Museum Professional Service Participatory 21

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 14, 2009

The London Science Museum team designed an entire exhibition and then left a few open vitrines at the end for visitors to contribute their own toys during the run of the exhibition. I worked on one project in which the client institution thought they wanted unfettered teen expression. It invites people to play. Projects Core Museum 2.0

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Project Museum Teen North Carolina 22

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

I'd always joked that my dream job was to design pinball machines--a technical problem wrapped in creativity and pleasure. At the big one, I worked on a small project with teens to design science exhibits for community centers in their own neighborhoods. I designed electricity workshops for families.

Museum 52

Museum Boston Participatory Job 52

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

Every other year, they convene TUPAC, a group of 35 outside advisors, including teens, college students, Temple University professors, artists, philanthropists, and community leaders. They live their mission, working in questions and projects rather than exhibitions and programs.

Process 20

Process Share Philadelphia Arts 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 3, 2009

We're always happy for more bodies in the door, but if supporting teens means alienating seniors, there's a problem. But it skips some of the fundamental design and operational choices that separate community centers from the rest of the civic and cultural landscape. Tags: participatory museum inclusion comfort.

Community 22

Community Museum San Diego San Francisco 22

Museum 2.0

MAY 16, 2007

The irritating design? The recent flurry of restrictions that has sent teens fleeing? Tags: participatory museum visitors. When you think of MySpace, what is the first thing that comes to mind? The bizarre obsession with "adding" friends? Or is it the stalkers?

Museum 20

Museum Myspace Facilitation Social Network 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

In many museums, comment cards are currently the most "participatory" part of the visitor experience. It may be useful if you want to ask "What kind of teen programs should our museum offer?" Great user interface; see this in-depth article about its design. Negatives of GetSatisfaction: Free version has ads.

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Comment Tools Museum Conversation 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 18, 2008

On 8.16.08, the Museum of Art and History (Santa Cruz, CA) hosted FreelanceCamp, a free unconference that brought 150 designers and techies from the south bay area together to talk shop. Heck, it doesn't even attract the museum exhibit designers. Projects participatory museum. marketing Museums Engaging in 2.0

Museum 22

Museum Hosting Model Community 22

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I've written before about the difference between participatory processes and products , but this question of frameworks and sensibility is more broadly applicable to community engagement strategies. In fact, I find that participatory products are often more likely to reflect a formal sensibility than their traditional counterparts.

Voice 42

Voice Los Angeles Denver Museum 42