Museum 2.0

APRIL 25, 2011

Note: the title of this post pays homage to Elaine Heumann Gurian's excellent and quite different 1981 essay of the same title. 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 Evaluation 49

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. People answer questions differently in harshly lit interrogation rooms than they do in welcoming therapists' offices or in the privacy of their own computer terminals. A lone "What do you think?"

Design 31

Design Goal Difference Platform 31

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 23, 2014

They give high-energy, interactive tours of the Metropolitan Museum and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). When the opportunity to design my own two-hour museum adventure at the American Museum of Natural History presented itself, I jumped at the chance. Today on Museum 2.0, an interview with Dustin Growick.

Museum 55

Museum Interview New York Interaction 55

Museum 2.0

MAY 24, 2011

When I worked briefly with the Balboa Park Online Collaborative to conceptualize a mobile phone-based game to connect visitors to the park to its cultural institutions and history, I knew Ken would be the perfect person to make it happen. Lesson: what myths are working for you in your game or participatory project? Was it too weird?

Lesson 49

Lesson Game San Diego Design 49

Museum 2.0

JUNE 12, 2012

It was fascinating to see people--across social differences--responding to representations of love in the paintings, images, objects and narratives that were part of the installation. It is multi-disciplinary, incorporates diverse voices from our community, and provides interactive and participatory opportunities for visitor involvement.

Participatory 51

Participatory Museum Blackboard Game 51

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 3, 2019

I love alternative history novels. I was thinking I’d do a few alternative histories of museums for the first post of the last month of the decade. As I imagined a world without Nina Simon ’s Participatory Museum , I felt sad about all the visitors whose voices (and post-it note comments) weren’t honored.

Museum 21

Museum Work Social Media History 21

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

Most of my work contracts involve a conversation that goes something like this: "We want to find ways to make our institution more participatory and lively." It requires trading a certain history for an uncertain future--a nerve-wracking prospect no matter the situation. Fabulous!" "But This is incredibly scary.

Audience 40

Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Museum 2.0

JULY 20, 2016

They catered to different audiences. I never felt like I stumbled into the gallery where no one else dares to tread (as I often feel when I enter the dioramas in many natural history museums, or the period rooms of art institutions). Both institutions made good use of their very different spaces. These displays were memorable.

Museum 20

Museum Audience Music Arts 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 29, 2015

These are the slides and notes for the talk I gave at the American Alliance of Museums conference on Monday, April 27 about the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. When I became the director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History four years ago, I took this work with me. Showing that their voice matters.

Build 20

Build Community Museum Artist 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 29, 2009

Two weeks ago, I conducted a participatory exhibit design workshop with staff at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. I tried to address the Smithsonian's particular challenges and opportunities while contextualizing it with lots of examples across different museum sizes and types.

Slides 20

Slides Process Video Open 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 20, 2009

While the majority of experience-based museums like children's and science museums have unrestricted noncommercial photography policies, many collections-based art and history museums continue to maintain highly restrictive photo policies. Visitors use personal photos differently from store-bought ones.

Museum 54

Museum Photo Policy Open 54

Museum 2.0

MARCH 27, 2009

There is no dissonance between the museum’s formal voice and laminate and the visitors’ pens and paper. He did the same thing as me, with different colors, and the staff member adjusted the throw of both of our projectors to overlap. Projects design participatory museum. We’re all together, man.

Denver 21

Denver Museum Arts Remix 21

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 2, 2008

And when I think back on the last year and how it compared to year one of blogging, the shining difference is you--your interest, your comments, and most of all, your extraordinary example. at the Brooklyn Museum , Tech Virtual at The Tech , and MN150 at the Minnesota History Center. (By This is a post to say thank you.

Museum 20

Museum Voice Minnesota Participatory 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2013

Our museum in Santa Cruz has been slammed by those who believe participatory experiences have gone too far. We always knew that the inclusion of participatory and community-centered practices in arts institutions was controversial. It''s a unique opportunity to learn from people with different perspectives. Resource balancing.

Participatory 53

Participatory Museum Arts History 53

Saleforce Nonprofit

MARCH 8, 2022

In partnership with women’s rights funds, sport for development organizations and feminist sport activists, Women Win launched the ONSIDE Fund — a participatory grantmaking mechanism that rapidly mobilises unrestricted resources for girls and young women-led organisations and groups through a pooled fund.

Costa Rica 111

Costa Rica Game Change Uganda 111

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

There are many curator and museum director voices in the article, but not a single quote from a visitor who engaged in one of these community projects. The whole process of being interviewed for the story made me question the stories we tell and words we use to describe participatory work. What is the metaphor for participatory arts?

Journal 54

Journal Participatory Museum Community 54

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

Yesterday, I had the delightful opportunity to participate in the 3six5 project , a yearlong participatory project in which 365 people write 365 journal entries for every day of 2010. It showcases diverse voices. The reasons to do so are many, particularly for a history-focused institution.

Participatory 34

Participatory Project Museum Journal 34

Museum 2.0

MARCH 10, 2010

This is the first of a four-part series on the behind-the-scenes experience of writing The Participatory Museum. Overview: Stages of Development and Participation Types The Participatory Museum was written over a 15 month period that began in December of 2008. Next week, part 2 will focus on participants' experiences.

Participatory 21

Participatory Museum Statistics Process 21

Museum 2.0

JULY 18, 2017

This month, we opened a new exhibition at the MAH, Lost Childhoods: Voices of Santa Cruz County Foster Youth and Foster Youth Museum (brief video clip from opening night here ). it uses art, history, artifacts, and storytelling to illuminate a big human story and an urgent social issue. But we decided that these were too conceptual.

Action 44

Action Childhood Artist Info 44

Connection Cafe

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

You may ask, what’s so different about the potential of a person today? It is held by few… New power” – that is, the power that is driving social change today — “operates differently, like a current. It is made by many; it is open, participatory and peer-driven.” So how do we catalyze the impact of an individual?

People 25

People Structure Influence Voice 25

Connection Cafe

NOVEMBER 1, 2018

And if there is now “new power,” then what is “old power” and how do the two differ (and can they work together)? What is new power and how is it different from old power? So one really easy way to think of that difference between old and new power is the difference between power as currency.

Social 22

Social Game Model Fun 22

Everyaction

OCTOBER 5, 2016

The Digital Media and Learning Conference is meant to be an inclusive, international and annual gathering of scholars and practitioners in the field, focused on fostering interdisciplinary and participatory dialogue and linking theory, empirical study, policy, and practice. It is our turn to make history. 10/24/2016. AASP Summit 2016.

Conference 111

Conference Calendar DC Washington 111

Museum 2.0

JUNE 2, 2010

Kathleen McLean (Independent Exhibitions), Dan Spock (Minnesota History Center), and Kris Morrissey (University of Washington) all shared thought-provoking and useful insights on visitor participation in museums, but Mark Allen and Emily Lacy brought down the house with their bluegrass rendering of the Machine Project and its engaging, quirky work.

Slides 22

Slides Museum Los Angeles San Jose 22

Museum 2.0

MAY 15, 2008

We have a show coming up right now about synthetic biology, where engineers are building life forms that are new to existence, new to the history of life. After listening to this clip a few times, I wondered: what if museums dropped the authoritative voice, the cultural voice, the friendly teacher voice, and adopted a novice voice?

Conversation 20

Conversation Arts Museum Voice 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 8, 2008

There is a difference between control and expertise. In these conversations, people often say, "don't expert voices matter?" It lets you be the only expert with a voice. Single voices represented on single labels is not scalable. Ideas participatory museum usercontent. and my emphatic response is YES. Every Web 2.0

Authoring 42

Authoring Platform Museum YouTube 42

Museum 2.0

MARCH 6, 2019

While I originally wrote this post to advocate for more participatory practice (i.e. There is a difference between control and expertise. In these conversations, people often say, "don't expert voices matter?" It lets you be the only expert with a voice. Single voices represented on single labels is not scalable.

Authoring 44

Authoring Share Museum YouTube 44

Connection Cafe

APRIL 9, 2015

Find ways to empower your supporters to be the voice of your cause. More than any other event in the history, this campaign gave food for thought to many who were critics of slacktivism and clicktivism. New power operates differently, like a current. It is open, participatory, and peer-driven. It is made by many.

Fundraising 20

Fundraising Offline Blackbaud Social Media 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 17, 2008

But there are other times when the message isn't simple, and in those cases, visitor voices can help strategically shape multi-dimensional exhibitions. It can be uncomfortable or downright limiting to declare yourself and your single voice the authority on a complex or multi-faceted topic. We also talked to historians on staff.

Interview 21

Interview Minnesota Museum History 21