Exploring Digital Community with AAM TIE
- By Janneken Smucker
- October 4, 2011
Along with receiving a Silver Muse award from the Media and Technology Committee of the American Association of Museums (AAM) for Monticello’s online community (a tremendous honor in and of itself), Night Kitchen and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation (TJF) were invited to share insights into the creation, function, and fruitful outcomes of Monticello.org’s social media features at the recent Technology, Interpretation, and Education online conference, sponsored by AAM and LearningTimes.
I partnered with Chad Wollerton, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s webmaster, to present “Exploring Digital Communities: Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello.” This was a great opportunity for us to assess how the community has been used during the past 10 months, think about next steps, and answer questions from museum professionals interested in making the most of their online audiences. Our key message was that developing a vibrant online community doesn’t happen overnight; it requires effective tools, committed staff, and a plan for setting the tone in order to encourage visitor participation.
We’re very pleased with the success of the growing Monticello digital community, which has attracted nearly 1,300 members, generating 1,600 tags, 1,200 favorited pages, and almost 700 comments to the blog and individual web pages. TJF staff members have written fascinating blog posts taking readers behind-the-scenes of Monticello’s historic gardens, archeological digs, and research projects. In addition, Monticello’s very active facebook community is fast approaching the 10,000 member mark. While some lively dialog occurs on Monticello.org, discussion about blog posts and upcoming exhibitions also appears on Monticello’s facebook wall. As we partner with TJF to produce upcoming online projects interpreting plantation slavery, we hope that community members will continue to engage in dialog about Jefferson’s life and legacy.
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