Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media

JULY 1, 2009

When I talk about designing participatory experiences, I often show the above graphic from Forrester Research. Museums see open-ended self-expression as the be-all of participatory experiences. Why aren’t more museums designing highly constrained participatory platforms in which visitors contribute to collaborative projects?

Participatory 50

Participatory Experiment Museum Teen 50

Museum 2.0

MARCH 4, 2015

This week marks five years since the book The Participatory Museum was first released. I thought the pinnacle of participatory practice was an exhibit that could inspire collective visitor action without facilitation. Since 2010 I have seen, again and again and again, how valuable human facilitation is to the participatory process.

Participatory 20

Participatory Museum Empowerment Facilitation 20

Museum 2.0

MARCH 16, 2009

When I talk about designing participatory experiences, I often show the above graphic from Forrester Research. Museums see open-ended self-expression as the be-all of participatory experiences. Why aren’t more museums designing highly constrained participatory platforms in which visitors contribute to collaborative projects?

Participatory 44

Participatory Experiment Museum Teen 44

Museum 2.0

APRIL 7, 2009

Which of these descriptions exemplifies participatory museum practice? But the difference between the two examples teases out a problem in differentiating "participatory design" from "design for participation." In the first case, you are making the design process participatory. In the second, you make the product participatory.

Participatory 27

Participatory Design Difference Museum 27

Museum 2.0

NOVEMBER 7, 2010

At the big one, I worked on a small project with teens to design science exhibits for community centers in their own neighborhoods. I promised to commit to stay through the opening if she'd let me take on this role, and I suggested that she could keep me at my (low) salary instead of hiring an expensive project coordinator.

Museum 52

Museum Boston Participatory Job 52

Museum 2.0

APRIL 18, 2012

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. I don't know what formed the bridge between the artists and the teens in this circumstance. Kyle had brought his baby with him.

Community 42

Community Teen Build Social 42

Museum 2.0

JULY 23, 2013

School programs fall within this landscape, and our goal is not to see them as completely separate from the other work we do with youth—Kid Happy Hour, family festivals, teen program—but on a continuum. How should we think about the role of onsite museum experiences in future educational partnerships?

Program 39

Program Museum Work History 39