Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 6, 2007

Last week, we looked at the first section of Visitor Voices , on Talk-backs, and came to the conclusion that comment boards and the like are functionally conversations, and that their design, therefore, should focus on encouraging positive, lively, thoughtful, engaged discussion. What better example of this distinction than the Love Tapes?

Voice 20

Voice Museum Vietnam Music 20

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.

Slides 22

Slides Museum Los Angeles San Jose 22

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

OCTOBER 7, 2009

Every time a colleague tells me her museum has just hired a "community person," a part of me cringes. The project was a chaotic experiment in several ways, and because things kept changing, the community had to keep relying on me as their sole source of information about how things would move forward.

Community 40

Community Management Museum Aggregator 40

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 14, 2008

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. Both are museum-run forums for visitors to post their own content and opinions.

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

MARCH 6, 2019

letting museum visitors contribute and collaborate in museums), I now see this as a crucial issue also for more democratic and inclusive practice (i.e. 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 44

Authoring Share Museum YouTube 44

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? This seems strange given that museums are organized around objects. When we experience intense depth, as in the Minnesota History Center's Open House , which explores the stories of residents of one St.

Museum 53

Museum Story Captivate Artist 53

Museum 2.0

JULY 17, 2008

Traditional exhibition design, in which the museum has a specific story or message to tell, doesn't easily accommodate visitor co-creation. But there are other times when the message isn't simple, and in those cases, visitor voices can help strategically shape multi-dimensional exhibitions. How did this project get started?

Interview 21

Interview Minnesota Museum History 21