trends
We’d like to share our thoughts on the latest trends impacting our clients. In this section, we give you access to the theory behind our work on visitor participation and interactive storytelling.
We’ve talked a lot about how useful Web 2.0 can be to museums in reaching new audiences, but connecting with visitors isn’t only about rethinking how you reach people, it’s also about rethinking what information is valuable and even desirable to share. Visitors are interested in the goings-on of a museum beyond its collections and current events, and institutions such as the National Museum of American History and the National Museum of American Jewish History have picked up on this curiosity, using blogs to showcase their current construction projects, keep the public updated on their upcoming exhibitions, and solicit donations.
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When a rebranding campaign leaves its audience with question marks, that’s typically not a good thing. But for The Franklin Institute’s rebranding campaign, launched this spring, that’s exactly the point.
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Washington, DC’s newest museum, the Newseum, brings visitors an array of compelling artifacts and activities centered around the news, presented through the newest technologies. Billed as “the world’s most interactive museum”, it employs a range of engaging activities, among them the interactive Ethics Table.
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John McCain has been catching flack lately for admitting his lack of computer skills: it has lead to some amusing news stories and an ad from the Obama campaign. But a recent New York Times Week in Review piece makes an excellent point about the issue; to paraphrase, computers are a cultural marker and proficiency with them suggests a basic familiarity with the day-to-day experience of most Americans. No matter which candidate you are rooting for, it’s a point that offers some food for thought about being relevant to the lives of your audience.
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Maurice Sendak celebrates his 80th year tonight at the 92nd Street Y in New York, so there’s been lots of reflections lately on his life and work - here’s ours:
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What makes Minnesota, Minnesota? This not is a question many of us from places beyond the North Star State ask ourselves (at least not regularly), but it did serve as the catalyst for MN150, an exhibit at the Minnesota Historical Society that presents 150 people, events, and inventions that have changed Minnesota. The exhibit is a fantastic example of how visitor-contributed content can successfully drive an exhibition – and how Web 2.0 can help make it all happen.
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Critical mass. It’s the existence of sufficient participation in something (an event, for example, or a campaign) for it to become self-sustaining. Political campaigns, new technologies, and product launches all depend on it to help build momentum and fuel growth. So why should museums with visitor-contributed projects think about critical mass?
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Google Maps may not immediately come to mind as a resource museums would necessarily find useful, but three very different projects reveal the power of interactive maps to bring a museum’s content (and mission) to life:
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Visitor participation is a key topic on this blog - why it’s important for museums, when it’s the right approach, and how it’s best implemented. But what about examples of engaging, dynamic projects that have successfully incorporated visitor contributed art?
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"Generation Curator." It’s a great term for thinking about What’s Next in the future of museums. I came across it in the Museum Marketing Blog’s excellent posting on how Web 2.0 is radically changing what visitors expect from their museum experience. Among the post’s key insights - museums are perfectly positioned to appeal to this generation:
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