Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 22, 2019

Last March, I wrote up some general notes about community engagement based on a mind-map I did at a #MuseumNext talk. Here is the gist of my remarks: Community Engagement is one of those terms that is tossed around in museums but can become encrusted with coded meaning. Share here in the comments or on social.

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Community Museum Summary Classes 37

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 13, 2019

As many a museum parent, I also assume I am dragging my children with me, often forgetting that they like museums. One of my children asked if we could go into the museum. Prior to this, my children had stopped at every odd junk-shop-cum-museum off of Interstate 90. I mean it had its doors open. We talk accessibility.

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Open Museum Ohio Children 28

Museum 2.0

MAY 6, 2016

Five years ago, I left the consulting world to take the helm at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH) at a time of crisis and change. As I did at the one-year and three-year mark, here are some of the things I'm most proud of, mistakes I've made, and questions on my mind as we head into the next five years.

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Museum Director Arts History 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 19, 2019

Museum Computer Network has become my Shangri-la, in a way. In some ways, museum work has this illusory aspect. Or museum work is like atomic theory perhaps. I'm pretty open to a number of possibilities in museums. In every museum, we find different values, language and work practices.

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Team Museum Australia Language 34

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2019

Me with a friend As I keep saying, I’ve been to a few museums of late. In reflecting on the sample, I’ve made some broad reflections on museum workers and visitors. Our visitors often see museums as a genre, not unlike hospitals or libraries. But, while adjacent, museums differ from formal classrooms in numerous ways.

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Museum Participatory Interaction Classroom 35

Museum 2.0

JULY 16, 2019

Visitor (though, really my child) at the Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UK As I said, last week, I’ve been to a travelin’ girl for the last couple of years. So, instead, I am offering 3 posts this month about what I learned from visiting more than 300 museums. Last week, I talked about what I learned about museum workers.

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Museum Photography Phone Children 27

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 6, 2014

MuseumCamp is an annual professional development event at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History in which teams of diverse, creative people work on quick and dirty projects on a big theme. On the other hand, a photobooth where people were prompted to take a photo with a stranger they met at the museum was barely used.

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Experiment Impact Social Museum 52

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 30, 2009

This guest post, written by Philippa Tinsley, Collections Manager for the Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum (UK), describes the innovative Top 40 exhibition they mounted in the summer of 2009. In my experience, museum professionals aren’t big reality TV viewers.

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Museum Chart Picture Arts 23

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 29, 2012

Residents in the three counties that pay the millage will receive special benefits : free admission to the museum and expanded educational programming. Reading through the 300+ comments online reminded me eerily of the extraordinary 2010 ArtsWave report on the public value of art (full report here , my synopsis here ).

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Detroit Arts Public Support 49

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 1, 2010

Note from Beth: I so happy to sneak into last night’s 501Tech Club New York City gathering last night to hear Shelley Bernstein, Brooklyn Museum, and Naveen Selvadurai talk about Nonprofits and Foursquare. Here are some of my takeways, inspired in part by some of the great comments tweeted out via the #501technyc hashtag last night.

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New York City New York Badge Museum 95

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

The posts are meaty and the commenting is robust. And Carlton Turner runs Alternate Roots , another incredible artists' organization with a focus on social change that runs an annual conference/camp/experience which I have heard is mind-blowing in North Carolina.

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Arts Question North Carolina Museum 48

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 9, 2009

Between high-altitude hijinks, run-ins with wildlife, and very long days of hiking, I finished John Falk's new book, Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience. In other words, if you are a curious person, you will go to museums to learn new things. And this brings me back to the mountains.

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Museum Maslow Facilitation Personal 28

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 18, 2011

QR Codes: fab or a fad for Museums? View more presentations from Museums Computer Group. Museums have been using them to enhance the visitor experience and have been early adopters of the technology. The announcement prompted some discussion in the comments about the use of electronics during concerts.

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South Carolina San Francisco Chad Museum 102

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 9, 2013

And thanks to you for engaging with their posts and with the reruns from the Museum 2.0 She knits together nostalgia and activism with a level of nuance rarely found in debates about the value of museums, libraries, and other cultural spaces. Again, the comments are meaty and worth reading. IF YOU READ NOTHING ELSE.

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Library Museum Denver Arts 38

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JANUARY 30, 2012

If you think about what a museum curator does, it is very similar. Mindful consumption of information is at the heart of content curation practice. He kindly put together two mind maps with links to tools that are free and easy to get started with. Let me know in the comments. Benefits for Nonprofits. The Practice.

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Content Skype Learning Slides 101

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

Last week, as part of my museum's year-long Loyalty Lab project , we hosted a workshop for Bay Area museum professionals with special guests Ian Kizu-Blair and Sam Lavigne of the game design firm Situate. Our goal was to help people see the museum as a Friday night habit. When you mastered arcane rules to achieve your goal.

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Game Challenge Design Museum 44

Museum 2.0

JULY 25, 2007

Last week, I spoke with Jim Richardson, managing director of SUMO Design , about their very cool new project with the North East Regional Museums Hub : I like. museums is a website on which visitors can search for museums in the North East region of England. It furthers the idea of museums as multi-use venues.

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Museum Experiment Personal Ratio 20

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

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 12, 2012

This is a picture of the largest temporary exhibition gallery in the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. This winter, my museum is trying an experiment called Work in Progress. This winter, my museum is trying an experiment called Work in Progress. Thanks in advance for sharing your comments! And even scarier?

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Work Museum Artist Arts 40

Museum 2.0

MARCH 8, 2011

Nikki created "The Ministry of Rules" --a shadow organization that existed for one week during half-term break, staffed by visitors who served as "Inspectors" investigating, exploring, and poking fun at the rules that make museums and galleries go. I spoke with Nikki this week to learn more about the Ministry and their fun and games.

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Interview Museum Badge Game 37

Connection Cafe

JULY 28, 2016

October 26-28 in National Harbor, MD , some of the best and brightest minds in the social good space will come together to share ideas, gain inspiration, trade best practices, and discuss the ways that technology is empowering us to do more good. One of my favorite times of year is fast approaching—bbcon.

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Arts Culture Organization Tucson 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 14, 2017

This is the second installation in a series of posts on the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH)'s development of Abbott Square , a new creative community plaza in downtown Santa Cruz. But in the spirit of that last visitor comment, we feel it is our responsibility and our glorious opportunity to spread that love beyond our walls.

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Public Museum Arts History 27

Museum 2.0

MARCH 9, 2009

I once asked Eric Siegel, the Director of the New York Hall of Science, why museums are rarely innovative shining stars on the cutting edge of culture. He commented that as non-profits, museums are built to survive, not to succeed. At one point, Mark commented that they have a "deliberately unsustainable" business model.

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Model Business Los Angeles Museum 55

Museum 2.0

JUNE 10, 2008

What if witty cultural commentators reviewed museums the way they do music and restaurants? If Anthony Lane turned his cutting tongue from movies to museums? If Stephen Colbert "reported" on museums at times other than during the TV writer's strike? It's painful. And instructive. And revelatory. And painful.

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Museum Story America Culture 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 19, 2012

We're looking for an Exhibitions Manager to join our team here at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. You Can't Do That in Museums Camp is filling up. You do not have to be a museum professional to be part of this--we'd like a diverse mix of participants. Join our team. Come to Camp. This camp will be a 2.5

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Participatory Museum Blended History 32

Museum 2.0

MAY 31, 2011

Last week, at the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums in Houston, I was honored to chair a fabulous panel on empowering museum staff to take creative risks ( slides here ). Beck beautifully described her entry into museum work. What kind of support do you need to be confident about taking a risk in your work?

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Denver Museum Oakland PowerPoint 55

Tech Soup

JANUARY 4, 2012

The best advice is to take a tip from libraries and museums and curate all that information. Audience matters, and being mindful of what your community is interested in should inform the curation process. And Kontribune is a community newsletter that lets the audience add comments or content. What Is Content Curation?

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Content Romania Pennsylvania Newsletter 60

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 19, 2015

One of my favorite comments on the first post in this series came from Lyndall Linaker, an Australian museum worker, who asked: " Who decides what is relevant? The curatorial team or a multidisciplinary team who have the audience in mind when decisions are made about the best way to connect visitors to the collection?"

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Teen Museum Voice Collaboration 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 2, 2015

This summer, we opened two exhibitions at my museum that are highly relevant to local culture. Before the Princes of Surf exhibition, these boards rested deep in the collection storage of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. Who in their right minds would show up at 8am on a Sunday for a history event? Killer content. Muscle and bone.

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Museum Hawaii History America 20

Connection Cafe

AUGUST 17, 2015

While the blog post is targeted for performing arts organizations, many of them appeal to museums, zoos and aquariums as well. For a museum or other general admission organization, consider a similar methodology to identify the hottest days and times of day for attendance. One of the best things about this list ? Why does this matter?

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Arts Museum Map Austin 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

I don't know - and I hope you'll share your thoughts in the comments. Most museums that offer interactive exhibits, media elements, or participatory activities offer them alongside traditional labels and interpretative tools. So what's the solution? Dias de las Muertos or Chinese New Year to attract new audiences.

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Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 29, 2007

Thanks to Kyle Evans, who forwarded me the fascinating, lengthy master’s dissertation.art: Situating Internet Art in the Modern Museum by Karen Verschooren at the MIT Comparative Media Studies program. In it, Karen provides a survey of the evolving relationship of Internet art to art museums. Citizen science programs. On the website?

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Museum Web Arts Internet 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 10, 2008

On Monday, David Klevan (from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum) and I spoke at the MAAM Creating Exhibitions conference about Web 2.0 and museums. framework, and David shared lessons learned from the huge range of projects the Holocaust Museum has initiated. I provided the Web 2.0 When you start any Web 2.0

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Web Time Museum Audio 44

Museum 2.0

JULY 12, 2010

For the most part, Kickstarter projects are managed by young, creative individuals with small projects (and smallish funding goals) in mind. But then I started finding more humble projects related to broader issues, and I began to see Kickstarter as a potentially fascinating space for museums and cultural institutions.

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Fund Museum Pledge Game 49

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MARCH 4, 2013

Let’s say you want to improve engagement with stakeholders and your KPI is an increase in the number of comments on your social platforms. How do you pick that number? These two results show that organizations and projects are heading in the right direction keeping their audience and overall goals in mind when using social media.

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Benchmark Social Media Global Project 103

NTEN

AUGUST 13, 2012

With that in mind, we are pleased to see that nearly 15% of survey respondents considered themselves as Leading organizations, and only 5% indicated they were at the first level, Struggling. (We In the meantime, we'd love to hear about where you think your org falls in this Tech Adoption spectrum -- let us know in the comments below!

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Adopt Benchmark Tech Technology 81

Museum 2.0

JULY 26, 2010

From a museum perspective, I think there's a lot to learn from these venues' business models, approach to collecting and exhibiting work, and connection with their audiences. This list is by no means exhaustive: please add your favorites (especially non-American ones) in the comments. Machine Project (Los Angeles, CA).

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Culture Alternative St. Louis Los Angeles 49