Museum 2.0

JULY 6, 2016

This chapter, from the last section of the book, is very personal to me. FoodWhat's staff and teens have taught me a lot about what it really means to be relevant to people who are often overlooked or ignored. FoodWhat empowers teens to change their lives through farming and food justice. Kids with no food in the fridge.

Teen 25

Teen Arts Classroom Student 25

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

JANUARY 24, 2011

This post features an interview with Sarah Schultz, a museum staffer at one of the institutions Light profiled in the book (the Walker Art Center). It's easier to secure grants for community-based programming or exhibitions, but it's not easy to get funding for some of the core work that museums do. That's how we build trust.

Arts 46

Arts Interview Teen Artist 46

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

Very, very few museum visitors are in the "dog and baby" category. I assume they are just as changeable and complex as any person in that regard. An organization with an public engagement mission has very different needs than one with a mission that focuses on original research. They are human beings. They are complex.

People 54

People Articulate Culture Teen 54

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. We made a giant mobile for the center of the museum out of origami birds folded from visitor comments received in the past year.

Participatory 44

Participatory Museum History International 44

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

Last week marked four years for the Museum 2.0 People--especially young folks looking to break into the museum business--often ask me how I got here. Ed Rodley recently wrote a blog post about museum jobs entitled "Getting Hired: It's Who You Know and Who Knows You." hour at the Museum. I made $26/hour at NASA and $7.25/hour

Museum 52

Museum Boston Participatory Job 52

Museum 2.0

MARCH 28, 2008

Museums (and libraries) are trusted sources of information. In February 2001, AAM commissioned a study about the trustworthiness of museums and found that "Almost 9 out of 10 Americans (87%) find museums to be one of the most trustworthy or a trustworthy source of information among a wide range of choices.

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Teen Voice 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 7, 2008

For many museums, visitor research--how people use the museum, navigate exhibits, and understand content--may be an equally important arena in which to adopt groundswell listening techniques. I spent an hour this morning "brand listening" to what the online world says about one of my favorite museums, the Exploratorium.

Museum 20

Museum Teen Second Life Discussion 20

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 4, 2013

This August/September, I am "rerunning" popular Museum 2.0 Besides having the longest name on the planet, the Taylor Center is one of my greatest inspirations when it comes to an institution authentically and whole-heartedly making a difference in the lives of underserved community members. blog posts from the past.

St. Louis 45

St. Louis Museum Audience Teen 45

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 3, 2009

Last month, the Christian Science Monitor published an article entitled, "Museums' new mantra: Connect with community." It took me a couple weeks (and various museum blog responses ) to realize what bugs me about this article--it treats "connecting with community" as a marketing ploy, a "mantra" rather than a mission.

Community 22

Community Museum San Diego San Francisco 22

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JUNE 3, 2005

Some of the entries of what you can read on the Walker Blog, may appear at first glance to be mundane details of cube life , but then you remember that it is a museum blog and it makes the institution seem more human. We started blogging to give a online to a lot of different. audiences via the internet.

Artist 50

Artist Arts Process Remix 50

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 13, 2007

The essays in this section, on “Expressing and Co-Creating,” present projects in which visitors create exhibition content, contribute to its creation, or get a heavy done of meaning-making in their experience of museum content. Who controls the content in the museum? Who controls the museum experience? First, museum content.

Voice 20

Voice Create Museum Arts 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 24, 2007

This week, thoughts on Chapter 12 of Elaine Gurian’s book Civilizing the Museum , "Threshold Fear: Architecture program planning." In this essay, Elaine discusses the various barriers to entry for non-traditional visitors to museums, that is, the threshold fear that keeps such potential visitors from walking in our doors.

People 20

People Museum San Jose Chapter 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 20, 2019

I tell the story of the one-man band because I think many museum professionals feel like him. But, most importantly, few museum professionals have a free hand or moment. Museums rarely have the funding to replicate positions. If you have a teen program running, there are no second teen programs person out drumming up business.

Museum 29

Museum Accessibility Articulate Teen 29

Museum 2.0

JULY 4, 2007

On Tuesday, I reviewed Elaine Gurian’s essay, Choosing Among the Options , on museum archetypes and self-definition. Today, discussion with Elaine about ways museums choose their direction, how change is possible, and new museum types to be added to the list. What if you don’t want to be identified as one type of museum?

Museum 20

Museum Puerto Rico Change Boston 20

Museum 2.0

MAY 16, 2007

The recent flurry of restrictions that has sent teens fleeing? into the museum is the potential to encourage more positive in-museum interactions among strangers. I want in-person museum experiences to be more like experiences on social sites like Flickr, where strangers connect and form relationships around content.

Museum 20

Museum Myspace Facilitation Social Network 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 30, 2007

This week, we're looking at the first section, Talking Back and Talking Together , which features comment boards, talk-back walls, and discussion forums at a variety of museums. A bit of business before we get started: next Tuesday, we'll cover section 2, Contributing Personal Experience. I invite you to do the same in the comments.

Voice 20

Voice Museum Lesson Pledge 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

OCTOBER 19, 2006

This morning I attended the MacArthur Foundation Digital Learning briefing that was taking place at the Natural History Museum in NYC. "We are in a moment of time where 57% of teens produce and share media. Young people have access to computers in schools and libraries, but there is a difference in the quality of experience.

Digital 50

Digital Learning Media Avatar 50

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 7, 2007

Five stakeholders in different cities want to see the work that's been done so far. Where else can you find Pakistani bathroom signage or Mexican biker teens while researching a project? The scenic contractors need to know what a "degraded plaster" wall finish means to you. Your boss is in California picking out antique fountains.

Flickr 20

Flickr Work Photo Teen 20

Museum 2.0

JULY 28, 2010

Besides having the longest name on the planet, the Taylor Center is one of my greatest inspirations when it comes to an institution authentically and whole-heartedly making a difference in the lives of underserved community members. Most large American museums are reflections of white culture. YES students defy expectations.

St. Louis 53

St. Louis Audience Teen Museum 53

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. The best of the results were published on the papers online and included in the exhibition complete with first person labels, photographs, and artifacts.

Participatory 51

Participatory Museum Blackboard Game 51

Museum 2.0

APRIL 18, 2012

Last Friday, I witnessed something beautiful at my museum. A group in their late teens/early 20s were wandering through the museumwide exhibition on love. When I walked by the first time, the teens were collaging and Kyle and Stacey were talking. At museums, we mostly bond with the friends and family with whom we attend.

Community 42

Community Teen Build Social 42

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Maybe it's a live music concert, or a museum visit, or a play. This is a question I've been puzzling over now for a few months, both professionally and personally. Museums and other venues are offering special programs for teens, for hipsters, for people who want a more active or spiritual or participatory experience.

Arts 50

Arts Museum Music Calendar 50

Museum 2.0

APRIL 30, 2007

James Yasko is writing an article for an upcoming issue of Museum News on museums and Web 2.0. Here's the question: What advice do you have, as one who keeps up with technology as it relates to museums, to a group looking to incorporate Web 2.0 Has your tagging system increased overall google hits for the museum?

Museum 20

Museum Advice Interview Web 20

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 22, 2008

There are lots of things visitors can’t do in museums. But what about the things that museum professionals can’t (or feel they can’t) do? This week at the ASTC conference, Kathy McLean, Tom Rockwell, Eric Siegel and I presented a session called “You Can’t Do That in Museums!” And so my question is, why are we keeping them away?

Museum 20

Museum Professional Teen Map 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 18, 2008

In many museums, comment cards are currently the most "participatory" part of the visitor experience. These services could be a powerful, cheap alternative to comment cards--especially those that are focused towards making suggestions about the museum. Simple, understandable functionality. Focuses users on prioritizing ideas.

Comment 20

Comment Tools Museum Conversation 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

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I was talking this week with Mark Allen, the founder of Machine Project (an alternative arts space in LA), about different models for community engagement in cultural institutions. At one point, he commented that there's a difference between the "framework" and the "sensibility" for engagement.

Voice 42

Voice Los Angeles Denver Museum 42

Museum 2.0

MARCH 30, 2016

Our entire strategy at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History is rooted in community participation. We invite diverse locals to share their creative and cultural talents with our greater community at the museum. Teens advocating for all-gender bathrooms. We are doing something different than the big guys, for good reason.

Community 20

Community Museum Local Participatory 20

Bloomerang

APRIL 2, 2021

So I personally love the Internet of Things, but it’s definitely a trend that I think nonprofits need to jump on, especially Alexa, and I’ll tell you why. . Now, these exploded in popularity obviously in the last year because we couldn’t be together in person. We couldn’t do tours. Oh, no, I misscrolled it.

Social Media 76

Social Media Trend Video Marketing 76

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 27, 2013

All this delightful non-fiction makes me wonder: why aren't museums great at telling these same kinds of deep, intense stories? Yes, I know that every platform is different, and that the captive attention we afford to radio, TV, and written material doesn't map perfectly to a free-choice wander through an exhibition.

Museum 53

Museum Story Captivate Artist 53