Museum 2.0

MARCH 21, 2012

How do you help visitors know what they can and cannot do in your museum? Most museums have this figured out: they have signs, they have guards, they have cases over the objects. And this works pretty well in science museums, where designers talk about "hardening" exhibits to withstand the more aggressive touchers among us.

Museum 49

Museum Denver Artist Milwaukee 49

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 28, 2010

Every once in a while I come across a project I wish I could have included in The Participatory Museum. For one year, a group of twelve schoolchildren age 9-11 were invited to work with staff at the Wallace Collection to develop a family-focused exhibition using the museum's artifacts. it's a Secret! , What made Shh. it's a Secret!

Children 46

Children Museum Create Project 46

Museum 2.0

JULY 7, 2010

Most museums that offer interactive exhibits, media elements, or participatory activities offer them alongside traditional labels and interpretative tools. Two institutions I see making this "or" choice in exciting ways are the Brooklyn Museum and the Oakland Museum in California. You can't always do "and."

Audience 40

Audience Museum Oakland Participatory 40

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

James Leventhal facilitated a workshop in Portland last month along with Adam Rozan of the Oakland Museum of California and Stephanie Weaver of Experienceology. The Portland Arts and Culture Social Media Convening Workshop. Flickr Photo by James Leventhal. And, they all got copies of Networked Nonprofit (thank you James!)

Network 95

Network Japan San Antonio Portland 95

Museum 2.0

JUNE 17, 2010

This morning, I gave the keynote address for the Washington Museums Association annual conference. It features lots of museum-based examples. But in this post, I wanted to highlight a goofy little (non-museum) project that inspires me in its simplicity and openness to mass collaboration. It's called One Million Giraffes.

Collaboration 34

Collaboration Museum Minneapolis Oakland 34

Museum 2.0

APRIL 8, 2010

Many of the talks are related to The Participatory Museum and I will have books for sale on all of these forays. Here's the list for the next two months: April 14-17 - Denver for Museums and the Web conference. April 29 - I'm heading to the Oakland Museum for the preview of its reopening. Both are open to the public.

Los Angeles 22

Los Angeles Museum Participatory Minneapolis 22

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. Relevance only leads to deep meaning if it leads to something significant. Killer content. Substantive programming.

Museum 20

Museum Hawaii History America 20

Museum 2.0

JUNE 10, 2010

I spent last week working with staff at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) on ways to make this encyclopedic art museum more open to visitor participation across programs, exhibitions, and events. All artworks delivered to the museum during the submission period will be accepted and presented; no one is turned away.

Participatory 46

Participatory Museum Arts Artist 46

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Maybe it's a live music concert, or a museum visit, or a play. Museums and other venues are offering special programs for teens, for hipsters, for people who want a more active or spiritual or participatory experience. Some of the most successful museum programs I know of that draw people again and again happen on a regular schedule.

Arts 50

Arts Museum Music Calendar 50

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. In this case, a heck of a lot.

Slides 22

Slides Museum Los Angeles San Jose 22

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 6, 2007

Robert Garfinkle of the Science Museum of Minnesota commented at ASTC that the cacophony of voices from videos in the exhibition RACE make people feel more comfortable talking about the issues the exhibition raises, since they are in the environment of other people's words. It's nice to see visitors and museums switch roles like that.

Voice 20

Voice Museum Vietnam Music 20

Have Fun - Do Good

JANUARY 16, 2009

--Favianna Rodriguez Below is the edited transcript of a Big Vision Podcast interview from November 13, 2008 with Favianna Rodriguez, a political digital artist and printmaker based in Oakland, California. Many political poster artists gave me the power, and the confidence to know that I could paint, myself. I think that is really important.

Artist 40

Artist Digital Arts San Francisco 40

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. This realization--that a single museum voice was not the best way to tell a particular story--formed the basis for MN150 , the exhibition explored in this post.

Interview 21

Interview Minnesota Museum History 21