Museum 2.0

JUNE 29, 2009

By a strange and lucky coincidence, I was at the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum (EMPSFM) in Seattle for a two-day workshop. EMPSFM is one of a handful of museums worldwide for which the death of the King of Pop is a very big deal. Are museums only relevant when they can serve our most pressing needs?

Museum 34

Museum Teen Learning Music 34

Museum 2.0

MARCH 21, 2008

It's been awhile since I've shared the progress of The Tech Virtual , the web and Second Life-based virtual exhibit workshop that The Tech Museum of Innovation opened in December of 2007. Some of these people are professional artists or exhibit designers, but most are just talented folks with an interest in museums.

Museum 20

Museum Virtual Tech Second Life 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

FEBRUARY 5, 2010

I will also have an opportunity to lead two social media strategy workshops which features the Social Media Game. For example, when I did this workshop in Australia, I met Dr. Linda Kelley who had just finished an analysis of the technographics of Australian museum goers. Tags: india. My cards all have US data.

India 92

India Romania Australia NGO 92

Museum 2.0

APRIL 20, 2009

I just got home from the Museums and the Web conference in Indianapolis. I’d never attended before and was impressed by many very smart, international people doing radical projects to make museum collections and experiences accessible and participatory online. Instead, I found a standard art museum. Impersonal guards.

Participatory 35

Participatory Museum Web Indianapolis 35

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Despite a broken toe, I facilitated a workshop on Social Media for CEOs of nonprofits and foundation. The Portland Arts and Culture Social Media Convening Workshop. James Leventhal facilitated a workshop in Portland last month along with Adam Rozan of the Oakland Museum of California and Stephanie Weaver of Experienceology.

Network 95

Network Japan San Antonio Portland 95

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 4, 2010

He is Deputy Director for the Contemporary Jewish Museum , and an expert in using social media in a museum setting. The social media lab for arts organizations is a combination of face-to-face workshops, phone calls, and online support via a wiki and Twitter over several months. I said yes. Photo by James Leventhal.

Social Media 94

Social Media Reflection Learning Social 94

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

OCTOBER 26, 2010

Last week, I had the pleasure of facilitating a Networked Nonprofit and Social Media workshop at the Independent Sector Annual Conference “ Forging A Stronger Future Together &# in Atlanta. Silo Busting: Ironically, I had two people in the workshop who worked for the same organization, but had not met each other!

Blackbaud 93

Blackbaud Conference Reflection Atlanta 93

Museum 2.0

APRIL 23, 2007

and with it flocks of museum studies / education / exhibit planning graduate interns. I’m always curious when I meet these folks, who are about my age, choosing a different entry path into the museum world. The value proposition of museum grad programs is cloudy in my mind. Sure, it’s great to learn museum theory and history.

Museum 51

Museum Program Student Skills 51

Museum 2.0

JUNE 8, 2010

This guest post was written by Rebecca Lawrence, Museum Educator, Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center in Pennsylvania. You can join the conversation in the blog comments, or on the Museum 2.0 The Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center (SLHC) is a small museum located in Pennsburg, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Place 27

Place Museum Discussion Pennsylvania 27

Museum 2.0

MAY 11, 2009

I'm doing a workshop with the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History which includes a public lecture on "the multi-platform museum" on May 18 at 3pm ET (GMT -5). What is a multi-platform museum? Tags: professional development. Next week, I'm doing something way less cool and way more convenient.

Museum 22

Museum Platform North America Lecture 22

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 26, 2009

This guest post was written by Ruben Huele and describes the scenario-based strategic process used at the Dutch Natural History Museum, Naturalis , to innovate the redevelopment of their permanent collection. The new building of Naturalis, the Dutch National Natural History Museum, opened in 1998. It should not surprise the Museum 2.0

Museum 20

Museum Process Wiki Netherlands 20

Museum 2.0

DECEMBER 7, 2007

I got my copy of the fall issue of Museums and Social Issues this week. The theme is "Civic Dialogue," and the journal includes articles on the historical, cultural, media, and museum practice of getting people talking to each other (including one by me about such endeavors on the web). A place many museums are not.

Museum 22

Museum Lecture Denver San Francisco 22

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JUNE 14, 2010

On Friday, I facilitated the final face-to-face workshop for the Social Media Lab for 25 arts organizations inspired by Thomas Edison’s approach. The whole idea got started a year ago when James Leventhal who is Deputy Director for the Contemporary Jewish Museum asked me if I would design some trainings for the local arts community.

Social Media 99

Social Media Media San Jose Social 99

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

APRIL 23, 2008

I'm prepping for a workshop on Social Media and wanted do a round up of recent compelling examples of arts organizations using social media strategies and tools. The Museum solicited photographs from artists via an open call on their website, Facebook group, Flickr groups, and outreach to Brooklyn-based arts organizations.

Arts 74

Arts Social Media Examples Artist 74

Museum 2.0

MARCH 9, 2009

I once asked Eric Siegel, the Director of the New York Hall of Science, why museums are rarely innovative shining stars on the cutting edge of culture. He commented that as non-profits, museums are built to survive, not to succeed. Unlike startups and rock stars, museums aren't structured to shoot for the moon and burn up trying.

Model 55

Model Business Los Angeles Museum 55

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Offering free workshops open to the public on participatory museum practice in Wellington (Nov 26), Christchurch (Nov 27), and Auckland (Dec 14). Leading internal workshops with Te Papa (Nov 25), the Powerhouse Museum (Dec 8-9) the State Library of Queensland (Dec 10-11), and the Auckland War Memorial Museum (Dec 15).

New Zealand 22

New Zealand Australia Participatory Museum 22

Museum 2.0

JULY 26, 2010

Community science workshops. From a museum perspective, I think there's a lot to learn from these venues' business models, approach to collecting and exhibiting work, and connection with their audiences. In 2003, writer George Scheer inherited his grandmother's thrift store and decided to turn it into an artists' center and museum.

Culture 49

Culture Alternative St. Louis Los Angeles 49

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. I'm giving a workshop on design techniques for encouraging user participation (sorry, it's full). May 17 - NYC.

Los Angeles 22

Los Angeles Museum Participatory Minneapolis 22

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JUNE 8, 2009

Last year, I gave the keynote and a workshop, and this year they invited me back again. I'm going to be teaching two intermediate/advanced workshops, one on mapping metrics to social media strategy and the other on listening. (The Community Media Workshop: Chicago View more OpenOffice presentations from kanter.

Social Media 50

Social Media Open Media Chicago 50

Museum 2.0

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

For years, I've been fascinated and a bit perplexed by the Elsewhere Collaborative , a thrift store turned artists' studio/living museum in Greensboro, North Carolina. By calling ourselves a museum, we respond to those cultural institutions that have separated practice from production, exhibition from process, and work from play.

Collaboration 36

Collaboration North Carolina Museum Artist 36

Museum 2.0

OCTOBER 29, 2009

Last week, Jim Richardson and I hosted MuseumNext , a 24-hour workshop for museum professionals focused on bringing new, wild museum projects into the world. We also ended the entire event with one of my favorite exercises, the Exquisite Corpse game, in which participants co-created comics of their craziest museum dreams.

Facilitation 32

Facilitation Reflection Museum Participatory 32

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 3, 2009

Submitted by Nina Simon, publisher of Museum 2.0 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. That's why I asked.

Technique 50

Technique Question Design Develop 50

Museum 2.0

APRIL 23, 2009

Like many people who've worked in science centers and interactive experience museums, I've always been perplexed by the fact that hands-on workshop audiences top out around age 14. So why don't adult workshops succeed? They are more than just workshop spaces--they are member institutions, like museums.

Museum 24

Museum North Carolina San Francisco Structure 24

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. Between the giant squid brainstorming and experimentation, I gave a talk to the larger Smithsonian Institution about multi-platform museum experiences. The slides are also available for download.

Slides 20

Slides Process Video Open 20

Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

MAY 20, 2010

Marnie also introduced me to social booking and tagging way back in 2004 as the originator of the NpTech Tag. When possible, I get a list of attendees at workshops or conferences, and I visit their web sites and social media outposts. Examples: Wildlife Direct and Brooklyn Museum. Connecting With New Colleagues.

Social Media 115

Social Media Media Social San Jose 115

Museum 2.0

JULY 17, 2009

Museums site) asked me if I'd like to come to England this fall and put on some kind of camp with him, I was thrilled. We are using a hybrid unconference/workshop model in which participants work collaboratively to explore and brainstorm a few pre-selected "wild ideas" for future museum initiatives related to audience participation.

Museum 20

Museum Unconference Skills California 20

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. The most reliable question I'm using works in art museums. That's why I asked.

Technique 52

Technique Design Question Develop 52

Museum 2.0

APRIL 10, 2008

On Monday, David Klevan (from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum) and I spoke at the MAAM Creating Exhibitions conference about Web 2.0 and museums. framework, and David shared lessons learned from the huge range of projects the Holocaust Museum has initiated. I provided the Web 2.0 and sniff around.

Web 44

Web Time Museum Audio 44

Museum 2.0

MAY 3, 2010

Last week, I attended Structure Lab , a half-day workshop on legal and financial structures for ventures for social good. While I'm not sure I'd recommend the workshop (it was quite expensive for what I received), I definitely benefited from the format. The good news? The bad news? readers, who I see as potential co-conspirators).

Structure 31

Structure Model Social Profit 31

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

Museum 2.0

APRIL 6, 2007

I used to teach gadget workshops for kids in museums. And so I would start every workshop by saying, “if something starts to smoke, unplug your battery IMMEDIATELY.” And so I would start every workshop by saying, “if something starts to smoke, unplug your battery IMMEDIATELY.” Tags: game interactives.

Game 20

Game Museum Interaction Fun 20

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Exhibit labels in science centers ask more questions than any other kinds of museums, and yet the questions are often awful--teacherly, overly rhetorical, and totally meaningless. asked by a cop or mother, garners the full attention of asker and askee alike, museum questions like "what is nanotechnology?,"

Reflection 20

Reflection Research Question Museum 20

Museum 2.0

APRIL 8, 2010

In my experience, lobby feedback systems generate three kinds of responses: Effusive, generic platitudes: "Great Museum!" Even when the comments are good, museum staff processes are rarely set up to learn from them and adapt programming accordingly. Of course, people visit grocery stores much more frequently than they do museums.

Build 21

Build Museum Nebraska Comment 21

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 11, 2010

Dear Museum 2.0 The team will work on risky experiments and share what we learn with the field, through publications, workshops, and hopefully, some more contract work. Tags: Quick Hits. readers, I need your help. The cafe will also be an R&D innovation lab for the cultural sector.

Project 35

Project Help Badge Model 35

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 18, 2010

Yesterday, I did a workshop with some local teenage girls in an after school program. Needless to say, this led to an interesting workshop. Tags: Talking to Strangers. We were in a busy downtown area of Santa Cruz with lots of people strolling and hanging out outside on a gorgeous day--prime "talk to strangers" material.

Life 21

Life Teen Culture Attitude 21

Museum 2.0

FEBRUARY 16, 2009

Imagine workshops led by inspiring rock stars from gaming, festivals, and special effects. The focus is on bringing in outside influencers--folks from the Burning Man festival to World Without Oil --to help museum experience designers recharge, connect, and explore new ways to do creative work in teams. Sounds good?

Collaboration 20

Collaboration Registration Brain Participatory 20

Museum 2.0

AUGUST 8, 2010

Our programming director will arrive at 7pm on the dot from a six-hour rehearsal of a collaborative devised theater piece seven months in development and will leave early to go to an experimental movement workshop. Tags: guestpost Unusual Projects and Influences. The Underground Library isn’t just a community archive of things past.

Chicago 48

Chicago Library Public Culture 48