Museums and Web 2008 Conference

Comment by Lynda Kelly on April 11, 2008 at 7:08am

A review of Angelina and Seb's session, Planning Social Media, from one of the participants.

Comment by Lynda Kelly on April 11, 2008 at 7:10am

Suumary of blogging session (with links to papers)

Comment by Sophie Lieberman on April 12, 2008 at 7:58pm

HI LK

I just typed you and impassioned message about the papers on the conference site on your blog but a technical difficulty killed them before posting! Anyway - i am really enjoying the papers etc..and (as always) super inspired by all of the ideas that are out there.

Three things occured to me reading the papers from the conference- which when i think of it probably aren't news to you - nevertheless:
natural history museums and their audiences are a 'speical' case in many regards - our inheritance is one of authority and passivity (institution/visitor) that is less so in the case of the art gallery or science centre - no expectation of reaction/controversy

i keep thinking of pierre nora's comment in the mid 90's that the ability to record since the 19th c (he was taking about photos and books) has made "everyone his own historian". the paper on the open museum and others push the point somewhere new - and address the bind above, what are we doing to make this happen at AM - where is the ability to reflect/collect/participate and leave a record/trace? what would happen if we applied this possibility to outreach, especially MIAB

lastly equity-- how can we use these modes of cocreation to engage those who don't have ownership in our cultural 'authority'. i have visions of science morning teas on acid that i really look forward to talking to you about.

travel well. S

Comment by Lynda Kelly on April 13, 2008 at 2:14am

Thanks SL and sorry about those technical difficulties. The one thing I'm really impressed with here is the spirit of just doing it/getting on with it and asking for forgiveness later. Your first point about natural history museums is spot on i think - it has something to do with the way scientists are trained in Western science which means (in my view) they are naturally both more cautious and conservative, yet quite critical and i think these sit uncomfortably together. The work of the art galleries represented here is quite extraordinary - they are really thinking about and engaging with their audiences. That said tho, there are still many questions constantly beoing asked in almost every session about how to get staff to engage with these tools. They haven't heard of Russ's 20% different principle yet!

I think the tools of Web 2.0 have huge possibilities for both MIAB and your programs and i think is a great way to engage people with us who otherwise wouldn't be. Join Angelina's group on this ning (Engaging Social Media) and we can include you in the ARC grant project which means we get their expertise and can get going piloting some things. Best part is that the tools are already available and we don't have to wait for the new website.

Comment by Mia on April 19, 2008 at 1:51am

What a great conference! I'm slowly getting my notes from Museums and the Web 2008 online at http://openobjects.blogspot.com/search/label/MW2008

Does anyone know of research about resistance to 'letting go' and issues around authority by type of museum? It's something I'm really interested in.

Comment by Lynda Kelly on April 19, 2008 at 9:22am

I don't know of any research into resistance, altho there is plenty of it! I think that may be an area worth exploring in the grant we have...

Comment by Mia on April 19, 2008 at 10:48am

That's a great suggestion! Thanks Susan.

Comment by Susan Spero on April 19, 2008 at 5:33pm

Oh my, hit an 'X" and the comment entry just disappears. Wow. When did that feature show up?
I was thinking I would edit my comment, and now, I will just try to recreate it....

I mentioned to Mia that I was just finishing up reading Howard Gardener's Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds. (Harvard Business School Press). While Howard comes from the cognitive scientist's viewpoint, he weaves a good tale about abstract concepts. In this book he offers a complex set of interwoven ideas that impact how we can make change including reason, research, resonance, representational redescriptions, research and rewards, real world events, and even resistance itself. There is more as he situates these within various realms where changes of mind take place. To do justice to the book I should craft a real blog entry, but for now I am finding these ideas to be very helpful as I consider how we can transform museums. I think this is a good start for thinking how we can deal with our changing enviornment.

Comment by Lynda Kelly on April 19, 2008 at 11:31pm

Hi Susan, I'm still new to this myself but I too found out the hard way that x means delete! I think once you post a comment it gives you aorund 15 minutes to edit and that's it (but I could be wrong, as I said I'm still figuring this out myself).. Glad you re-posted this as a really important lead. After reading yours and Mia's posts have decided to do some research on this issue - will keep you posted.

Comment by Lynda Kelly on April 19, 2008 at 11:35pm

Wow - did a search on this book and found not only more info but lots of extracts - Howard Gardener's Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other P.... Seems I don't need to buy it now!!

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