Museum 2.0

MARCH 3, 2007

But I’d been scribbling notes for an art museum label post for awhile, and then yesterday, the NY Times had a review of a new show at MOMA, Comic Abstraction. And it ended with this: No wonder it [MOMA] ends up showing shallow, label-dependent art rather than work that offers deeper, more contradictory encounters.

Arts 30

Arts Museum Artist Audio 30

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 is an incredible museum experience. The visitor is given a copy of her poster and the museum keeps a copy as well.

Denver 21

Denver Museum Arts Remix 21

Museum 2.0

MARCH 7, 2007

Nik inquired as to how I feel about museum blogs. what's your take on museums that keep blogs? In general, yes, I think that museums maintaining blogs is an effective, cheap way to get changing content out to the public frequently. version of the news clippings tackboard on “Current Events” in hallways of some museums.

Voice 36

Voice Difference Museum Aggregator 36

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 7, 2010

Nina has written a fantastic book engagement called The Participatory Museum. Most of my work involves museums, but these categories can be useful in any project that involves user participation. Nina Simon is an independent museum exhibit designer and publisher of the Museum 2.0

Model 98

Model Activities Active Activism 98

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 13, 2007

This week, a look at the third section of Visitor Voices , the excellent book coedited by Kathy McLean and Wendy Pollock. Who controls the content in the museum? Who controls the museum experience? First, museum content. First, museum content. Who controls the meaning making? Is one of these better than the other?

Voice 20

Voice Create Museum Arts 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 18, 2008

Thanks to Bryan Kennedy from the Science Museum of Minnesota for providing this overview/reflection on the Museums and the Web conference that recently concluded in Montreal. Museums and the Web 2008 guest blogger Bryan Kennedy here. The Walker Art Center is turning its teen website over to the teens. Sharing Authority.or

Museum 20

Museum Web Teen Flickr 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 15, 2010

People often ask me which museums are my favorite. I visit lots of perfectly nice, perfectly forgettable museums. In some cases, that's based on subject matter, as at the Museum of Jurassic Technology or the American Visionary Art Museum. Some are scrappy and iconoclastic, like the City Museum in St.

Support 41

Support Museum St. Louis NSF 41

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

As Peter wrote: If someone enjoys Arts Event A because it’s social, informal, energetic, fun, and hip, why should we expect her to also enjoy Arts Event B if B is individual, formal, quiet, serious, and traditional (at least in its presentation, if not artistically)? Dias de las Muertos or Chinese New Year to attract new audiences.

Audience 40

Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

I visited two museums in which resources were devoted to experiences that only a tiny fraction of the visiting public would consume. As my husband said, that secret room with its mousy trappings was "the coolest part of the whole museum." Let me explain. In both cases, these exclusive experiences were wonderful surprises.

Louisiana 31

Louisiana Museum Audience Denmark 31

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JANUARY 20, 2009

is the managing editor for Global Voices. is the author of the popular Museum 2.0 Blog that covers how museums are using social media. Rebecca Krause Hardie overs the arts sector and use of social media. Tags: nptech. Social Change Activists. Georgia Popplewell. Christine Eggers. Nina Simon. Kivi Leroux Miller.

Technology 75

Technology Companies Netsquared Social Media 75

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 2, 2008

Today, Museum 2.0 I started the Museum 2.0 blog in 2006 as a personal learning exercise about "the ways that museums do and can evolve from 1.0 I started the Museum 2.0 blog in 2006 as a personal learning exercise about "the ways that museums do and can evolve from 1.0 and watched the Museum 2.0

Museum 20

Museum Voice Minnesota Participatory 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

DECEMBER 31, 2008

Microblogging in a Museum Context. Organizational Versus Personal Voice on A Blog. Be A Voice for Darfur: Great Example of A Multi-Channel Campaign. Fighting for the Arts With Social Media. Tags: socialmediametrics. Where Are The Gen-Y Bloggers Who Write About Nonprofits and Social Change? Twitter Demographics.

ROI 50

ROI Widget Cambodia Metrics 50

Museum 2.0

APRIL 7, 2009

Which of these descriptions exemplifies participatory museum practice? Museum invites community members to participate in the development and creation of an exhibit. Museum staff create an exhibit by a traditional internal design process, but the exhibit, once open, invites visitors to contribute their own stories and participation.

Participatory 27

Participatory Design Difference Museum 27

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 22, 2009

I've added a fourth model to this citizen science typology, one may be more appropriate to facilities like museums than to scientific organizations: co-option. What's more participatory, making art or doing research? Working with the museum or using the museum as a platform to do your own thing?

Public 36

Public Research Participatory Report 36

Museum 2.0

MAY 29, 2007

One of the most popular posts on Museum 2.0 The fourth kind I talked about is the "personal voice blog," in which museum staff write honestly and openly about their institution and experiences. At the time, I referenced a blog from the top: the Walters Art Museum Director's blog. Floor staff. Check it out.

Museum 20

Museum Voice Aggregator Arts 20

NonProfit Hub

APRIL 8, 2014

It’s a social bookmarking tool that comes with annotated notes, tags and links so you can save, organize and discover new content. How it works for nonprofits: This helps you be a voice for whatever cause you’re advocating. It’s the worst when you want to remember a site and then can’t find it later. That’s where Delicious comes in.

NPO 57

NPO Social Media Site Social 57

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 20, 2007

I'm not talking contemporary art--these kinds of experiences are popping up everywhere. Like other museums that have hosted Bodyworlds and its sequels, the exhibit has doubled overall museum attendance for 2007--and it's only been here for three months. Consider the Creation Museum. Put visitors' voices front and center.

Content 20

Content Museum Voice Wikipedia 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 5, 2008

Cultural Connections is a group of museum professionals who meet up a few times a year and host excellent programs on a variety of topics. This week, they hosted "Let Them Be Heard: Visitor Participation in the Museum Experience," featuring four presentations on incorporating visitors' content into museums. Here's what they did.

Case Study 20

Case Study Participatory Studies Museum 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 25, 2009

In this guest post, Bruce Wyman, Director of Technology at the Denver Art Museum, shares his process for developing interactive technologies to extend familiar experiences in art museums. You may remember the Denver Art Museum from this post about their newest (highly interactive) exhibit space, Side Trip.

Experiment 20

Experiment Technology Denver Artist 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 25, 2009

Rabinowitz commented that "as a 40-year veteran of history museum interpretation, I can say that I never learned so much from and about visitors." This is the opposite situation of the previous design goal, one typical in science and children's museums.

Design 31

Design Goal Difference Platform 31

Museum 2.0

JULY 27, 2009

I’ve long admired Improv Everywhere , the NYC-based participatory public art group. For about half an hour, hundreds of people play together, silently, as directed by disembodied voices inside their headphones. The voice tells you what to do –stand up, shake hands, play Twister, make silly shapes—and you do it.

Instruction 21

Instruction Instructional Nicaragua Experiment 21

Museum 2.0

APRIL 1, 2007

Recently, I’ve become a little disheartened by the extent to which the web has dominated my—and others’—thinking about ways that museums can integrate 2.0 But today I had an experience that reinvigorated my love for and belief in tangible projects that can fill museums with content that is user-generated, shared, and explored.

Generation 30

Generation Content Lesson Museum 30

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 21, 2008

In this post, an exploration of ways that museums can support promoters, convert detractors, and generally energize visitors to share their experience with others. Supporting Promoters Somewhere out there, there are people who love your museum. Ratings and Reviews Imagine a visitor who leaves your museum enthused about her experience.

Museum 20

Museum Review Rate Voice 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 17, 2007

But this week, I got the opportunity to interview Jason Nelson, creator of digital art and avant garde game wonder game, game, game, and again game and how could I resist? Jason Nelson is a lecturer in cyberstudies/digital art/digital creative writing at Griffith University in Queensland, AU. just won an Italian art award.

Discussion 20

Discussion Game Oklahoma Museum 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 21, 2007

No one would contest the idea that most museum exhibitions, art shows, films, books, in short, most content experiences, have value both for the new and return user. And as the returner’s actions become more divergent from the newcomer’s, the extent to which both are contributing to a socially-rooted, multi-voice experience lessens.

Experiment 20

Experiment Create Museum Amazon 20

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

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. Some museum pros have been puzzled by this. than by talking in suppositions.

Virtual 21

Virtual Tech Lesson Develop 21

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 19, 2010

When I was in Taiwan, I heard again and again from museum professionals: "We are very conservative in Taiwanese museums. Everyone is so focused on everything looking perfect and the curator's voice only." This post is a photo essay focusing on an area at the Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts called the Digiark.

Taiwan 36

Taiwan Museum Arts National 36

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. When a page on the wiki became very busy with many voices, it was hard to follow (scroll down on this page for an example ).

Participatory 32

Participatory Museum Process Experiment 32

Museum 2.0

MAY 14, 2009

I've become convinced that successful paths to participation in museums start with self-identification. The easiest way to do that is to acknowledge their uniqueness and validate their ability to connect with the museum on their own terms. Who is the "me" in the museum experience? Not so at museums.

Museum 20

Museum Personal Experiment Profile 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 15, 2008

Radiolab does what I hope all great museum exhibitions can do--take a deep topic and make it compelling on many levels. Which brings me to museums and how we present content. Could you imagine a curator, designer, or museum educator speaking this way about an exhibition? So maybe it isn't just about novice voice.

Conversation 20

Conversation Arts Museum Voice 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 8, 2008

I have a lot of conversations with people that go like this: Other person: "So, you think that museums should let visitors control the museum experience?" Other person: "But doesn't that erode museums' authority?" If the museum isn't in control, how can it thrive? It lets you be the only expert with a voice.

Authoring 42

Authoring Platform Museum YouTube 42

Museum 2.0

JUNE 2, 2010

This year, the American Association of Museums annual conference was in Los Angeles (my hometown). I hosted two sessions, one on design for participation and the other on mission-driven museum technology development. He started with museums as a "place to go"--to see things, consume experiences. In this case, a heck of a lot.

Slides 22

Slides Museum Los Angeles San Jose 22

Museum 2.0

MAY 14, 2007

Was it a museum professional or an outsider? I'm kneedeep in the final run-up to the opening of Operation Spy at the Spy Museum, but in the fleeting moments between disasters and near-disasters, I'm thinking about AAM. Several were created or conceived by a single person, often an artist/non-museum professional.

Life 20

Life Create Change Museum 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 14, 2008

In this post, a discussion about the art of conversation in the groundswell. Many museums have jumped into the middle level—producing their own content—without starting with commenting. Consider the path of the Bay Area Discovery Museum. Jennifer Caleshu, their director of communication, is a museum talker extraordinaire.

Museum 20

Museum San Francisco Myspace Comment 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 19, 2008

Every museum has a number for its operating cost per visitor. Most museums don't strategically set this number--too many operating costs are fixed by building needs--but they can use it to assess how expensive each visitor interaction is and evaluate the efficacy of programs. So where do online initiatives fit in?

Virtual 20

Virtual Museum North Carolina Evaluation 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 18, 2007

Live facilitation has a varied role in museums. In children’s and science museums, explainers are everywhere. From a financial and management perspective, however, many museums try to minimize live facilitation as much as possible. Many peoples’ most memorable museum experiences come from interactions with staff.

Facilitation 20

Facilitation Museum Interaction Denver 20