Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

Writing my masters thesis for Gothenburg University’s International Museum Studies program while also working four days a week as the Director of Community Programs at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History this spring was certainly a challenge but also an incredible opportunity.

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Museum Program Participatory Community 49

Museum 2.0

MARCH 6, 2013

I write this piece in good faith about the organizations I know best: museums. The vast majority of American museums are institutions of white privilege. The popular reference point for what a museum is--a temple for contemplation--is based on a Euro-centric set of myths and implies a white set of behaviors.

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Museum St. Louis Arts Artist 55

Bloomerang

JUNE 3, 2024

The team at EdVenture Children’s Museum is spreading the value of play. EdVenture Children’s Museum increased donor retention from 29% to 46% after it was able to implement technology to support its staff in stewarding existing donor relationships. Use online fundraising tools. Monitor engagement.

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Arts Culture Fundraising Nonprofit 73

Museum 2.0

MAY 22, 2012

Imagine you've just been tasked with developing an innovative, future-thinking national museum for your country's history. Blueprint is the story of a group of people who tried to create a Dutch Museum of National History (INNL). The Museum directors released Blueprint as a showcase for these plans. Limited interactivity.

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Museum History Netherlands Create 36

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 23, 2008

Lynda Kelley I'm here in Sydney, Australia and just finished an informal workshop and discussion with Powerhouse Museum staff and other museums. Will post reflections shortly) I met Dr. Lynda Kelly, a blogger and the Head of Audience Research for the Australia Museum. The site is called Museum 3.0.

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Museum Interview Ning Australia 50

Museum 2.0

APRIL 14, 2011

Dear Museum 2.0 As of May 2, I will be the executive director of the Museum of Art & History at McPherson Center in Santa Cruz, CA (here's the press release ). I am closing down my consulting business at the end of April, but the Museum 2.0 Here are a few things that make the MAH an exciting museum to me: It's small.

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History Museum Arts Consultant 55

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 16, 2010

I spent last week in the glorious country of Taiwan, hiking, eating, and working with museum professionals and graduate students at a conference hosted at the Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts. It's not topic-specific; I've done these exercises with art, history, science, and children's museums to useful effect.

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Museum Technique Taiwan Social 41

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. Who is the lead singer, guitarist, bass, and drums. Here’s how that translates to team facilitation: Facilitator Lead: The person who is facilitating the discussion or exercise.

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Reflection NTEN Change Facilitation 124

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 28, 2013

Earlier in 2013, I was amazed to visit one of the new “Studio” spaces at the Denver Art Museum. The Denver Art Museum is no stranger to community collaborations, but we’ve been dipping in our toe a little more deeply when it comes to developing permanent participatory installations. Some community artists even helped install the space.

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Denver Museum Arts Collaboration 35

Bloomerang

APRIL 12, 2022

When my sister first started working with a nonprofit museum, she had a lot to learn about the fundraising process for the organization. The museum had notes saved in their donor management software about the seating preferences for their major donors and that particular donor preferred their regular seat toward the front. Bloomerang.

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Software Management Donor Guide 103

Bloomerang

JULY 5, 2021

The sorry state of donor retention has been a topic of discussion for at least the past decade, since the Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report began collecting data. Note that the relationship extends to every interaction between the consumer (aka donor) and your brand. And only 43% of all donors remain loyal?

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Donor Strategy Retention Relationship 141

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). Each year they bring together diverse, passionate people for a sleep-away camp for adults where they learn together through active, creative workshops and activities.

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Causes Change Museum Social 50

Achieve

JUNE 21, 2015

Museum of Contemporary Art. National Geographic CEO Gary Knell will bring decades of media experience to the stage where he’ll discuss the future of National Geographic and how similar publications can shape education. In each of these five Learning Labs, participants will gather for an interactive time of teaching and discussion.

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Chicago Museum Arts Influence 52

Museum 2.0

MARCH 8, 2010

It drives me nuts that it's being called "groundbreaking" in the realm of human-to-human interactions. Chatroulette exacerbates the perception that stranger interactions are uncomfortable, weird, and often sexual in nature. The interactions are private, which means there's no external social pressure to conform.

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Interaction Giving Museum Internet 26

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? Let's discuss what it means, how it works, where it can go. The Brooklyn Museum of Art is a great example of a museum really embracing these environments for community-building purposes.

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Museum Social Network Case Study Discussion 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 3, 2014

Each of these activities invited contribution on a different level. The suitcase collaborators contributed to the exhibition for months, through a sequence of outreach, discussion, writing, object sourcing, editing, and design. In my experience, offering many different forms of participation garners more quality interactions.

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Participatory Museum History Arts 45

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 29, 2012

Last month, MAH curator Susan Hillhouse and I sat down and wrote an exhibition philosophy for our museum. Here's the short version (read the whole thing here ): The Museum of Art & History is committed to creating exhibitions that inspire our diverse audiences to engage deeply with contemporary art and Santa Cruz County history.

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Museum Artist Participatory History 38

Connection Cafe

FEBRUARY 14, 2019

As I was discussing fundraising and membership with a coworker, I realized that my emotional connection to one particular type of organization created a foundation on which I base my giving. You gravitated toward the museum, zoo, gallery, symphony, cultural management organization because of your roots. Can’t think of any?

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Arts Generation Culture Giving 31

Museum 2.0

JUNE 22, 2010

This is the fourth installment of a book discussion about Ray Oldenburg’s book The Great Good Place. You can join the conversation in the blog comments, or on the Museum 2.0 Facebook discussion board here. You can join the conversation in the blog comments, or on the Museum 2.0 Facebook discussion board here.

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Place Discussion Internet Mail 29

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 18, 2011

We’ve been doing a little experiment at our museum with labels. The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum recently loaned us some fabulous surfboards that tell the co-mingled history of surfing and redwood trees in Santa Cruz. We can certainly write a decent label based on this activity. But one post-it threw me for a loop.

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Participatory San Diego Museum History 48

NTEN

JULY 14, 2011

Each interaction has helped to shine a national spotlight on the tragic frequency of LGBT suicide. The United States Memorial Holocaust Museum had 1100 pictures of children who were victims of the Holocaust. Remember Me. It wasn’t known how many of these children survived, and many photos were missing identifiers. More Than Sharing.

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Social Media Websites Integration Media 99

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 28, 2009

What role does “promoting human happiness” play in the mission statements and actions of museums? That’s the question I’m pondering thanks to Jane McGonigal and the Center for the Future of Museums (CFM). Earlier today, the CFM offered a free webcast of Jane McGonigal’s talk on gaming, happiness, and museums.

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Museum Game Structure South America 21

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

Note from Beth: I had pleasure of facilitating a panel discussion in October at the recent Grantmakers in the Arts pre-conference on technology and media with Rory MacPherson where I learned about some of the preliminary study result he discovered. We’d love for you to have a look at our results and join the discussion.

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Arts Social Media Studies National 110

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 9, 2011

Two weeks ago, we inaugurated a Creativity Lounge on the third floor of our museum. Lisa was thrilled that her work was on display at the museum. We started a pretty fascinating (and yes, a little frustrating) dialogue about the puzzle and the question of what constitutes desired engagement in the museum.

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Museum Arts History Columbus 51

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 20, 2013

It started as a handout for a session that Stacey and I are doing at the California Association of Museums, and then I realized it was so darn useful that it was worth sharing with all of you. The majority of our public programs at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History are created and produced through community collaborations.

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Collaboration Community Tools Museum 55

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

The conventional wisdom on museum memberships is that they are "one size fits many" programs whose primary benefits are free entrance to the museum and insider access to exhibition openings. But what about all the other people who love your museum? Want to know how the Brooklyn Museum is answering this question?

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Museum Audience Program Artist 24

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 5, 2008

But last year, over Thanksgiving, I sat next to a man who was working on his laptop (not an activity that invites conversation), creating a presentation on elementary education and technology. But the more I learned, the more I wondered where the real threat is, and why children's museums have been so resistant to change.

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Classroom Children Museum Model 22

Museum 2.0

MARCH 3, 2011

Thirteen students produced three projects that layered participatory activities onto an exhibition of artwork from the permanent collection of the Henry Art Gallery. When activities were not facilitated, people were often too timid to interact. As one participant said, "the museum feels friendly in a way it usually doesn't."

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Participatory Arts Audience Museum 51

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

In the spirit of a popular post written earlier this year , I want to share the behind the scenes on our current almost-museumwide exhibition at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, Santa Cruz Collects. This is the first time we've had an ongoing activity with a lot of materials (Memory Jars). A million thanks to them.

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Participatory Museum History International 44

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

SEPTEMBER 3, 2009

The SXSW Interactive Festival. Last year, there was an event called "Social Media for Social Good" organized by Jeff Pulver that prompted quite a rich discussion. And like last year's ROI Poetry Slam , our session will be interactive, thought-provoking, and dare I say, fun! Let's discuss: join us!

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Social Media Cancer Jordan Kiva 79

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 26, 2009

This guest post was written by Ruben Huele and describes the scenario-based strategic process used at the Dutch Natural History Museum, Naturalis , to innovate the redevelopment of their permanent collection. The new building of Naturalis, the Dutch National Natural History Museum, opened in 1998. It should not surprise the Museum 2.0

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Museum Process Wiki Netherlands 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

AUGUST 17, 2009

The SXSW Interactive Festival (scheduled March 12-16, 2010 in Austin, Texas) is a mega huge social media industry event. Last year, there was an event called "Social Media for Social Good" organized by Jeff Pulver that prompted quite a rich discussion on whether social media for fundraising and marketing can effect real on the ground change.

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Comment Social Media Jordan Cancer 95

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 14, 2007

Inventory isn't a museum activity that inspires curiosity in many visitors. This summer, the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art ( Österreichisches Museum für Volkskunde) is trying to change that. People often talk about non-collecting museums as the museums of the future.

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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. But one page!

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Museum Library Participatory Wikipedia 20

NonProfit Hub

JUNE 17, 2015

People from across the country will gather at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago to experience MCON in person and over 20,000 people will stream the event online. Most MCON speakers stay for the entire event and participate in the sessions, activities and parties, even after they’re done speaking.

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Chicago Museum Arts Influence 28

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 12, 2007

The site will be active until Oct 16, so keep the ideas coming! In it, John Harris provides a whirlwind tour through arcades, Ataris, and Nintendos, discussing the design principles and evolution of video games described as “open world” or “exploration." In a museum, we're limited by the physical. And now, back to Game Friday.

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Museum Game Open Map 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 21, 2008

It's been awhile since I've shared the progress of The Tech Virtual , the web and Second Life-based virtual exhibit workshop that The Tech Museum of Innovation opened in December of 2007. Some of these people are professional artists or exhibit designers, but most are just talented folks with an interest in museums. It's lovely.

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