Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 22, 2010

In the most extreme cases, I've talked to folks from museums that are government-mandated to provide all content in multiple languages who say they are unable to invite visitors to make comments because they'd have to translate all of them and simply can't dedicate the resources to do so.

Museum 38

Museum Work North America Language 38

Museum 2.0

APRIL 25, 2011

I've spent much of the past three years on the road giving workshops and talks about audience participation in museums. The Museum 2.0 In 2008 and 2009, there were many conference sessions and and documents presenting participatory case studies, most notably Wendy Pollock and Kathy McLean's book Visitor Voices in Museum Exhibitions.

Question 49

Question Participatory Museum Vietnam 49

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 20, 2009

I'm working on a section of my book about sharing social objects and am writing about the most common way that visitors share their object experiences in museums: through photographs. Revenue Streams: Museums want to maintain control of sales of "officially sanctioned" images of objects via catalogues and postcards.

Museum 54

Museum Photo Policy Open 54

Museum 2.0

JULY 20, 2010

Last week, I gave a talk about participatory museum practice for a group of university students at UCSC. During the ensuing discussion, one woman asked, "Which audiences are least interested in social participation in museums?" So what's a museum to do--especially one that is funded to encourage youth and teen participation?

Teen 49

Teen Social Museum Participatory 49

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 28, 2010

Every once in a while I come across a project I wish I could have included in The Participatory Museum. an exhibition produced with schoolchildren at the Wallace Collection in London, is a lovely example of co-creation that demonstrates the multiple benefits of inviting audience members to act as partners in arts organizations.

Children 46

Children Museum Create Project 46

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Imagine that your museum is ready to start creating content on a small-scale in Web 2.0. By posting intelligent, insightful, value-adding comments and responses on pre-existing high-traffic sites, you can drive more visitors back to your own site and nascent Web 2.0 Let me give you an example. Where should you start?

Museum 22

Museum Technorati Boston YouTube 22

Museum 2.0

JULY 1, 2008

Dear Museum 2.0-ers, ers, Next week, I'll be going to DC for a meeting convened by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Museum and Library Services on "Museums and Libraries in the 21st Century." Over the last 50 years, public-facing museums and libraries in the U.S. From the Web 2.0

Museum 20

Museum Library Participatory Wikipedia 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 18, 2008

I've long believed that museums have a special opportunity to support the community spirit of Web 2.0 This month brings three examples of museums hosting meetups for online communities: On 8.6.08, the Computer History Museum (Silicon Valley, CA) hosted a Yelp! Me: Have you ever been to this museum?

Museum 22

Museum Hosting Model Community 22

Museum 2.0

MARCH 10, 2008

Thank you to Susan Spero and all the folks at JFKU and Left Coast Press for starting a highly stimulating conversation this weekend at the colloquium on Museums and Civic Discourse. There were, as we say in the museum business, some good aha moments. What role should museums play in promoting discourse?

Museum 20

Museum Site Participatory Facilitation 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 28, 2008

Museums (and libraries) are trusted sources of information. In February 2001, AAM commissioned a study about the trustworthiness of museums and found that "Almost 9 out of 10 Americans (87%) find museums to be one of the most trustworthy or a trustworthy source of information among a wide range of choices.

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Teen Voice 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 26, 2009

On a recent trip to DC, an old friend showed me around a new exhibit at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), From Memory to Action: Meeting the Challenge of Genocide. The paper is perforated with one section for the promise, which visitors keep, and another section for a signature, which visitors leave at the museum.

Pledge 23

Pledge Museum Digital Indianapolis 23

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Audience segmentation and research has become a hot topic in museums, especially when it comes to crafting appealing offerings that are customized to different kinds of visitors. I sat down with Kristen Denner, Director of Membership and Annual Fund, to learn more about the program's development and the museum's goals for its future.

Interview 46

Interview Director Museum Arts 46

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 15, 2008

The presumed answer is "yes" your museum needs a blog, a pony, or a set of comfy couches. Does your museum need a custom online social network? Many museums have been experimenting in these spaces by creating institutional profiles, museum affinity groups, and connecting with visitors and other museum professionals individually.

Social Network 20

Social Network Museum Case Study Discussion 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 16, 2008

I've written before about the inspiring work that the Brooklyn Museum of Art is doing with their community-focused efforts. Click is an exhibition process in three parts: The Museum solicited photographs from artists via an open call on their website, Facebook group, Flickr groups, and outreach to Brooklyn-based arts organizations.

Museum 24

Museum Participatory Artist Arts 24

Museum 2.0

MAY 5, 2009

I just returned from the American Association of Museums (AAM) annual meeting in Philadelphia. I led two sessions, one on visitor co-created museum experiences, and the other on design inspirations from outside museums. what is the value of the exhibition experience to non-participants, that is, regular museum visitors?

Slides 20

Slides Participatory Museum Children 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 20, 2008

This blog often analyzes how websites, designed spaces, even dogs promote participatory experiences among users. Today, we look inward for a how-to on one type of participatory design as applied to museum exhibits. Second, unlike viral web experiences, the in-person pointer is setting up a social interaction with the pointee.

Design 21

Design Participatory Social Museum 21

Museum 2.0

APRIL 1, 2008

Last year, I wrote a post explaining what Twitter is and how it might be applied in museums. Now, a year later, I’m using Twitter on a daily basis, and it’s brought up some new observations about participation on websites and in interactive venues like museums. Consider, for example, this blog. I’d love Museum 2.0

Twitter 24

Twitter Participatory Broadcast Museum 24

Museum 2.0

MARCH 22, 2007

For example, in Bloom’s taxonomy of Educational Objectives, knowledge and comprehension of content comes before application. Shulman offers the great example of doctors, relating a comment from a surgeon that, “’Internists make a diagnosis in order to act. Was this the right decision? Narratively, this makes sense. Back to my diagram.

Taxonomy 20

Taxonomy Museum Social Wikipedia 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 7, 2008

It means seeking out people in their "natural habitat" of the social Web and paying attention to what they are blogging, writing, and saying about your institution. Defining the Museum Brand Charlene and Josh argue that your brand is defined by your customers' perceptions and expressions, not by your marketing.

Museum 20

Museum Teen Second Life Discussion 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 16, 2007

What makes Web 2.0 into the museum is the potential to encourage more positive in-museum interactions among strangers. I want in-person museum experiences to be more like experiences on social sites like Flickr, where strangers connect and form relationships around content. Or is it the stalkers?

Museum 20

Museum Myspace Facilitation Social Network 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

Today, the Luce Center at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) is launching what they claim is the first ever alternate reality game (ARG) in a museum. Why would an art museum create an ARG? To experiment with the web as a medium for extension of onsite experiences. To expand their audiences.

Game 20

Game Museum Arts Alternative 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

DECEMBER 15, 2006

SL has the potential to add a new level to the existing web technologies. s article has been linked to from all over the web, expect more of these me-too???s a couple of times and yet fall into the web 3.0, web geeks and cardboard cutout avatars. principles that has turned the web from pushed to participatory.

Environment 50

Environment Teach Second Life Learning 50

Museum 2.0

APRIL 10, 2009

Games are already highly participatory, but over the last few years game designers have been giving players more control over the gameworld and experience. But it hasn't realized that goal, and it's a cogent example of what happens when you conflate self-expression with participation. Last week, Wright spoke at the Web 2.0

Game 20

Game University Create Wiki 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 10, 2009

This can be an incredibly technical topic, as it focuses on the ways that platforms (online, exhibits, museums) can harness the individual activities of many visitors and create meaningful experiential outputs that connect people to each other. But designing an entire museum that functions this way probably isn't your goal. exhibition.

Social Network 22

Social Network Tech Network Museum 22

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 26, 2009

Here's the basic idea: while you are at the museum, you save digitizable content--either content you make (photos of yourself) or content you collect (museum-supplied text or media of interest). When you get home, you type a long code into a web browser or receive an email with a link. Contextualize the output with more content.

Personal 34

Personal Museum Pledge San Jose 34

Museum 2.0

JUNE 15, 2009

They reminded me of street vendors or great science museum cart educators, imparting an energy to the space without overwhelming it. In Praise of the Post-It There's lots of post-it-powered art on the web these days (like this and this ). This is a good lesson for museum talk-back design. People also asked follow-up questions.

Advice 31

Advice Museum Student Facilitation 31

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 7, 2009

Every time a colleague tells me her museum has just hired a "community person," a part of me cringes. While subsequent museum staff have kept the project going, the community had connected with me as the focal point, and there has not been a new person who has been able to comparably rally the community to high levels of activity.

Community 40

Community Management Museum Aggregator 40

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 11, 2008

This post explores the mysteries of Web 2.0's s Hawaiian son as applied to museums. The most well-known example is Wikipedia , a user-generated encyclopedia which boasts over 6 million entries written and edited by about 30,000 volunteer participants. Wikipedia, like YouTube and Facebook, is a giant in the world of Web 2.0.

Wiki 23

Wiki Wikipedia Museum Doc 23

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

In many museums, comment cards are currently the most "participatory" part of the visitor experience. But there are three problems with museum comment cards: The comments are so scattered over a wide range of topics (including generic ones like, "Thank you!") In other words, comment cards aren't effectively organized for use.

Comment 20

Comment Tools Museum Conversation 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 20, 2007

As part of the article I’m working on for the journal Museums and Social Issues on using web 2.0 to promote civic discourse in museums, I’m developing an argument about the “hierarchy of social participation.” Voting, whether for American Idol, national elections, or museum kiosk surveys, falls in this category.

Museum 32

Museum Social Interaction Movie 32

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 13, 2007

I personally want to move away from the metaphor of making movies of the computer screen to more shoulder-to-shoulder instructional media and perhaps something that is more participatory or for lack of a better word, social. Here are the examples I showed you in the screencast, using the tag ??? For example, I???ve sharpie.???

Screencast 50

Screencast Instructional Instruction Tag 50

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 23, 2009

As many of you know, I’m writing a book about participatory design for museums. The book is intended to be a practical guide to participatory museum experiences focused on design strategies, case studies, and activities. The WHY of participatory design is really important. And there’s a third reason.

Participatory 26

Participatory Design Museum Wiki 26

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 25, 2010

A simple example: the cocktail party The best place to start conceptualizing structures for social participation is via familiar social experiences. The social Web provides some of the most powerful examples of unfacilitated me-to-we participation. Ideas participatory museum. Tags: Core Museum 2.0

Design 34

Design Museum Social Participatory 34

Museum 2.0

JULY 17, 2008

Traditional exhibition design, in which the museum has a specific story or message to tell, doesn't easily accommodate visitor co-creation. This realization--that a single museum voice was not the best way to tell a particular story--formed the basis for MN150 , the exhibition explored in this post. We printed out every web nomination.

Interview 21

Interview Minnesota Museum History 21