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- The Future of Authority: Platform PowerOctober 8
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I have a lot of conversations with people that go like this:
One of the primary fears museum professionals (and all professionals) have about entering new relationships with audiences is the fear of losing control. For hundreds of years, we've owned the content and the message. While we may grudgingly acknowledge the fact that visitors create their own versions of the message around subsets of the content, we don't consciously empower visitors to redistribute their own substandard, non-authoritative messages. So when people like me start advocating for the creation of tools and opportunities by which visitors can share their stories, reaggregate the artifacts, even rate and review each others' creations, museum professionals of all stripes get concerned. If the museum isn't in control, how can it thrive?Other person: "So, you think that museums should let visitors control the museum experience?"
Me: "Sort of."
Other person: "But doesn't that erode museums' authority?"
Me: "No."
We have to change the framing of this conversation. There is a difference between control and expertise. In these conversations, people often say, - What Cross-Platform Gaming is Doing for Books... and Can Do for MuseumsOctober 6
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A few weeks ago, I learned about Scholastic Books' new series, The 39 Clues, which ties together a ten-book mystery with an online gaming environment. I've long been interested in the power of cross-platform experiences, so I was excited to see today's New York Times article about the evolving relationship between books and video games. But the Times missed the boat. Their article focuses on an "either-or" relationships, tackling the question of whether reading or gaming is more conducive to learning. It's an interesting discussion, but it's not what makes The 39 Clues and other projects like it worth studying. The point of these endeavors is that video games and books provide different kinds of experiences, and by putting them together, audiences can experience more varied, layered overall content.
Consider the problem that Scholastic is trying to solve with The 39 Clues. They have paid for ten books written by ten different authors, and the books are being released every few months over the next two years. How can Scholastic keep readers interested enough between releases to bring them back for each subsequent episode? - Intranets, Yammer, and Other Web 2.0 Tools for Staff CommunicationOctober 2
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What's the most immediately useful application of Web 2.0 tools to your museum? It probably isn't new forms of visitor engagement (no matter how much I write about those relationships). So many museums suffer from departmental siloing, deluges of all-staff emails, the painful jujitsu required to collate seven versions of the same document... the list goes on. And while defining new relationships with visitors may be a complex institutional process requiring buy-in on many levels, there's no reason not to move quickly and confidently to improve the ways that staff communicate inside your institution.
Here are seven frequent staff communication problems, and tools to address them. They all involve tearing down silos, removing gatekeepers, and making it easy to get the information you want when you want it. Oh, and they're mostly all free.
1. Is your staff directory perpetually out-of-date?
Create a shared Google spreadsheet that lives on the Web and can be updated by everyone. This way, each new staff person can enter her own name, email, phone, etc., and change things as needed. You can even create a handy form to send out so people don't have to edit the spreadsheet its - Passionate Experts and the Museums that Avoid ThemSeptember 30
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I'm not a fan of Olympic gymnastics; I don't really know enough about the sport to be blown away by the action. This summer, however, one little video clip changed that. I was surfing the NBC Olympics site when I stumbled on Bela Karolyi, watching Nastia Liukin's floor routine (unfortunately, this video is only available in the US). It's a 2 minute revelation.
For those of you who can't or choose not to watch the video, Bela was sitting in NBC's New York studio with Bob Costas, reacting energetically and effusively to Nastia's routine. He pounded his fist, clapped his hands and repeatedly exclaimed, "yes, yes!" and "she is an Olympic champion"--and I felt it. Watching him watch her didn't teach me more about gymnastics, but it exposed me to a world of passion about it. It taught me how to care about gymnastics. And that got me thinking about how bad museums are at doing the same thing--using passion to promote visitor engagement in new content.
Museums shy away from presenting passionate views. It's ironic that we expect visitors to fall in love with our artifacts and exhibitions without ever - Quick Hits: Funding, Facts, and FuturecastingSeptember 26
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First, I want to extend a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to the nascent Museum 2.0 Living Archive. I'll be adding a bunch of answers to your questions and some other ways to browse the archives this weekend, and then I'll link to it from the main blog site starting on Monday. We're still looking for your Museum 2.0-related questions, starting points, and guides to the blog--for this to truly be a living resource it has to keep growing. All you have to do to participate is write one question here. Please help make this a great resource for everyone.
Now, onto the links:- If you have a great idea for a participatory learning project that uses digital tools, the MacArthur Foundation wants to give you money. They are accepting submissions for this Digital Media and Learning Competition through October 15. The requirements for application are fairly broad and the application process doesn't look too onerous. Both individuals and institutions can apply, and there's a Young Innovators category for applicants 18-25.
- I'm currently doing a project in Canada, and in my hunt for international social media sta