Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 1, 2014

It made me dig up this 2011 interview with Tina Olsen (then at the Portland Art Museum) about their extraordinary Object Stories project. They designed a participatory project that delivers a compelling end product for onsite and online visitors… and they learned some unexpected lessons along the way.

Museum 43

Museum Story Project Design 43

Museum 2.0

APRIL 7, 2009

Which of these descriptions exemplifies participatory museum practice? 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. In the first case, you are making the design process participatory.

Participatory 27

Participatory Design Difference Museum 27

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 12, 2012

This exhibition represents a few big shifts for us: We used a more participatory design process. Our previous big exhibition, All You Need is Love, was highly participatory for visitors but minimally participatory in the development process. We focused more on design. A million thanks to them.

Participatory 44

Participatory Museum History International 44

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Last month, the Irvine Foundation put out a new report, Getting In On the Act , about participatory arts practice and new frameworks for audience engagement. I've often been asked about examples of participatory practice in theater, dance, and classical music, and this report is a great starting point.

Participatory 50

Participatory Arts Report Case Study 50

sgEngage

JANUARY 10, 2024

Datamaking, as an aspect of knowledge building , can even contribute to civic engagement and participatory democracy. The underlying assumption has been that collecting stories as data or even using data to tell stories will inherently bring a more equity-focused approach to philanthropy.

Data 96

Data Knowledge Philanthropy Policy 96

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 29, 2010

What should we do with their post-its and stories and drawings and poems? This question is a byproduct of the reality that most participatory projects have poorly articulated value. When a participatory activity is designed without a goal in mind, you end up with a bunch of undervalued stuff and nowhere to put it.

Participatory 48

Participatory Music Project Video 48

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 1, 2009

When I talk about designing participatory experiences, I often show the above graphic from Forrester Research. I show the tool and then they say, “yeah, but we really want people to share their own stories about fly-swatters,” or, “we think our visitors can make amazing videos about justice.” Consider a mural.

Participatory 50

Participatory Experiment Museum Teen 50

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 18, 2012

If you design interactives for kids, adults recognize that the experience is not for them, and they don't engage. There are many participatory experiences that appeal primarily to adults, and they are designed distinctly for adults. People of all ages are sensitive to the messages that design sends.

Interaction 47

Interaction Design Museum Participatory 47

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 25, 2016

Most participatory projects were short-term, siloed innovations, not institutional transformations. Five years later, project director Dr. Piotr Bienkowski's final report for Our Museum tells a different story. Bernadette Peters' provocative 2011 report, Whose Cake is it Anyway? didn't mince words.

Museum 20

Museum Participatory Resource Place 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 4, 2012

I was reminded of this "care, then act" framework when I saw a recent story about a student's experience at a powerful issue-driven exhibition at the Skirball Cultural Center, Half the Sky. When I visited the exhibition in November, I saw many participatory opportunities for visitors to act. No small task for a museum exhibition.

Story 47

Story Participatory Museum History 47

Museum 2.0

JUNE 24, 2010

The institution is community-funded, staffed, and designed. The new building was designed to meet neighborhood needs--not just in the content covered, but in the inclusion of spaces made for particular kinds of activities sought by locals (i.e. She told family stories. But participatory facilitation can be taught.

Museum 51

Museum Participatory Model Seattle 51

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 18, 2011

They’re no longer “an exhibit” per se—more of an evocative design element that hints at an important story told elsewhere in the museum. We decided to approach the label-writing for these boards in a participatory way.

Participatory 48

Participatory San Diego Museum History 48

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 29, 2009

It's my "artistic rendering" of one of the most inspirational participatory projects I know of--the Bibliotheek Haarlem Oost book drops. This brilliant design allowed patrons to create new knowledge about the books in the library while only slightly adjusting their book-returning behavior.

Participatory 40

Participatory Project Library Netherlands 40

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 28, 2011

We've been offering a host of participatory and interactive experiences at the Museum of Art & History this season. I loved Jasper Visser's list of 30 "do's" for designing participatory projects earlier this month. This isn't even participatory. All of them are cheap, mostly simple, and occasionally, dangerous.

Design 45

Design Participatory Learning Instruction 45

Museum 2.0

MARCH 16, 2009

When I talk about designing participatory experiences, I often show the above graphic from Forrester Research. I show the tool and then they say, “yeah, but we really want people to share their own stories about fly-swatters,” or, “we think our visitors can make amazing videos about justice.” Consider a mural.

Participatory 44

Participatory Experiment Museum Teen 44

Top Nonprofits

AUGUST 3, 2021

I’m sure we each have stories like this. Then one of the last arriving students, typing their name into the designated row, somehow deleted the whole roll sheet. It can be inclusive and participatory. My goal is to design virtual experiences to be as inclusive and participatory as possible. We weren’t sure.

Virtual 52

Virtual Track Student Virtual Classroom 52

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 7, 2017

I first read about Story House Belvédère on Jasper Visser’s excellent blog, The Museum of the Future. This small, startup cultural project in Rotterdam works directly and intimately with community members to share their stories. I hope you’ll be as charmed and inspired by Story House Belvédère as I am.

Storytelling 39

Storytelling Story Photography Museum 39

Museum 2.0

MAY 24, 2011

Ken is a game designer and writer who develops narrative, collaborative augmented reality experiences about serious issues. Giskin Anomaly Right around Thanksgiving 2010 a strange story began to unfold in Balboa Park, San Diego. As I said, a strange story. The goal was to design an audio tour for people who never do audio tours.

Lesson 49

Lesson Game San Diego Design 49

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 3, 2009

On Friday, I offered a participatory design workshop for Seattle-area museum professionals ( slides here ). We concluded by sharing the tough questions each of us struggl es with in applying participatory design techniques to museum practice. Tags: guest blogging participatory.

Technique 50

Technique Question Design Develop 50

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 3, 2014

I saw how participatory techniques were working in diverse museums around the world. For example: American museum visitors often feel comfortable sharing their own opinions/stories/creative expression. In this frame, any kind of participatory activity could work, anywhere. For years, I''ve heard some version of this refrain.

Culture 49

Culture Participatory New Zealand Museum 49

Museum 2.0

JANUARY 13, 2011

The best participatory projects are useful. The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum is a small historic house dedicated to the story of Chicago’s progressive activists in the early 1900s. From a design perspective, this activity is scaffolded for success. Finding legitimate ways for visitors to be of use is easier said than done.

Participatory 44

Participatory Museum Action Experiment 44

Museum 2.0

JUNE 10, 2015

Last week, the international press lit up with a story from Paris : the city is removing the "love locks" from the Pont des Arts bridge. And so, one of the most successful, accidental, and fraught participatory projects of the past decade comes to an end. Your love is memorialized forever. The other participants teach you how to play.

Participatory 20

Participatory Project Artist Instruction 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2014

It has an incredible story. They see this as directly related to the founding principles of the Mill as a place of experimentation, design, creating, and making. They invite people to participate: in design , prototyping , artifact interpretation , collections preparation , audience development. Imagine a historic site.

Museum 53

Museum Product Participatory Community 53

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 15, 2009

Over the past year, I've noticed a strange trend in the calls I receive about upcoming participatory museum projects: the majority of them are being planned for teen audiences. Why are teens over-represented in participatory projects? Teens are not the only people with stories to tell.

Teen 24

Teen Participatory Experiment Museum 24

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 16, 2011

This participatory event is offering two days of focused discussion about—how these networks, and the capabilities that power them, can be effectively leveraged to create greater impact. Annie Leonard , the director of The Story of Stuff Project , shared a rich story about they have built a global network of activists around the film.

Global 96

Global Network Participatory Netsquared 96

Museum 2.0

MAY 3, 2011

Lots of museums these days have video comment booths to invite visitors to tell their stories, but how many of those booths really deliver high-impact content? Last week, I talked with Tina Olsen, Director of Education and Public Programs at the Portland Art Museum, about their extraordinary Object Stories project.

Story 53

Story Interview Museum Audio 53

Museum 2.0

APRIL 28, 2009

On Friday, I offered a participatory design workshop for Seattle-area museum professionals ( slides here ). We concluded by sharing the tough questions each of us struggles with in applying participatory design techniques to museum practice. Tags: Talking to Strangers design. That's why I asked.

Technique 52

Technique Design Question Develop 52

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 7, 2010

I'm a huge fan of work and the way she thinks - especially after she road the Scare House ride on the Santa Cruz boardwalk with me and did a brilliant reflection on its design. Nina has written a fantastic book engagement called The Participatory Museum. I've purchase a two copies, one for me and one to give away.

Model 98

Model Activities Active Activism 98

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 4, 2012

This simple participatory project invites visitors to contribute their own small objects in little alcoves in our bathrooms. I walked into the women's bathroom and saw what I expected to see--a bunch of quirky objects on display with stories written on post-its. A couple stories. Here's the strange thing. No objects.

Museum 47

Museum Difference Examples Participatory 47

The Modern Nonprofit

OCTOBER 10, 2023

Building Meaningful Engagement: Crowdfunding can assist nonprofits in not just raising funds but also in constructing significant participatory relationships with donors, potentially expanding their current supporter base. Compelling stories highlighting the campaign’s purpose can significantly motivate donations.

Game 59

Game Fundraising Campaign Generation 59

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 7, 2014

I’m preparing for a webinar and with any training I begin the instructional design with surveying participants to understand their level, learning goals, and attitudes about the subject matter. Use Participatory Research Techniques To Discover Engagement Topics. Billboard (@billboard) April 4, 2014. Or just keep your ears open.

Social Media 101

Social Media Headline Media Social 101

Museum 2.0

APRIL 15, 2015

The result was a true experiment in designing the future--right here, right now--with artists and planners and civic leaders at the helm together. The Market Street Prototyping Festival stirred up a few thoughts related to design in public places, prototyping, and communicating complexity. Invitation works better than confrontation.

San Francisco 20

San Francisco Arts Design Marketing 20

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?

Design 31

Design Goal Difference Platform 31

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 27, 2017

Then, for an hour, former foster youth who helped design the exhibition shared their stories with supervisors. The Lost Childhoods exhibition is a platform for 100+ partners to share their stories, artwork, ideas, projects, volunteer opportunities, and events. This is the participatory platform model.

Platform 31

Platform Impact Childhood Museum 31

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 5, 2010

Many passionate people and stories. . Giving the audience a chance to interact and discuss content in full groups, share pairs, and small groups allowed for some great stories to emerge from the group. I loved this Five Dollar Bill airplane story. It was the first time I ever gave a talk on a cat walk stage.

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Conference Long Beach Slides Lecture 85

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 8, 2011

The opening chapters include many stories about networks and collective action and pull out key themes and strategies. In addition to the stories, you’ll find additional resources related to each theme. Designing for serendipity: Creating environments, in person and online, where helpful connections can form.

Network 104

Network Report Empowerment Structure 104

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2013

I''ve seen this line of questioning almost completely disappear in the past two years due to many research studies and reports on the value and rise of participation, but in 2006-7, social media and participatory culture was still seen as nascent (and possibly a passing fad). In 2008, the conversation started shifting to "how" and "what."

Museum 45

Museum Question Participatory Evaluation 45