Museum Techmuse

Scrolling through the Dead Sea Scrolls

I spent some time this morning scrolling through the new Digital Dead Sea Scrolls website by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. I have to say, I'm a total Joe Schmoe when it comes to the Dead Sea Scrolls -- I know they were important, were discovered in the last 50 years or so, and gave us some new books for, um, versions for, um...Well, they were important.

That said, the central feature of the scrolls for me: they scroll.  In fact, they scroll very nicely -- it's a satisfying and visually pleasing interface.  One thing I discovered -- they scroll from right to left, a big discovery for schmoes like me that emerges through interaction. Another nice feature: you can roll over sections for immediate translation into English.  And, a big feature: you can zoom in to a 1200 mega-pixel image of sections of the scroll. As I wrote in my blog entry on Google Art Project, this zoom leads to a much more personal (and sometimes idiosyncratic) connection to the work. In my case, I think I found a couple sections in the Great Isaiah Scroll where the scribe made a mistake -- wrote over a letter in heavier ink or had to insert text in the space between lines. I felt a human connection to whoever it was who held that pen or quill or whatever it was.

There are some interesting (and not too long) videos with an introduction from the curator for each of the scrolls -- I enjoyed picking up on his enthusiasm and it added to the sense of wonder for the images about to be revealed to me.  There is a comments section, notably with a "translate" button needed because of the worldwide interest in the work.  And a final note: some museums still ask the question: "Will we get fewer visitors to our museum if we put it online?"  We've moved beyond that question now...prior to viewing the website, I didn't even know where the Dead Sea Scrolls were housed.  Now the Israel Museum and actual scrolls are on my map of destinations to visit someday. Nicely done.

The rise of public programming in museums

Here's something I've been thinking about after my conversation with Beck Tench: the area for real action in museum learning may be in the "public programs" department rather than the "exhibits" department.  I grew up in the museum field at Boston Children's Museum in the exhibits department, and I've always assumed that's where the fulcrum is for museum learning.  I'm not so sure about that now...

My focus in museum exhibits has always been to use the exhibit (and visitors' stories in the exhibit) as the means for developing an extended relationship with the visitor.  So we send visitors' off into the world (and back home) with options for reconnecting.  But where does that reconnecting live?  Probably not the exhibits department.  Maybe public programs.  Or maybe social marketing.

One example: the Levine Museum of the New South (where I have an installation) has been doing a great job bringing community groups (and business groups) in through the exhibit for an extended program designed to encourage dialogue on diversity in the South.

What other examples are out there, where technology is used to encourage community participation through programs? Who is doing good work on this?...

Catching up with Beck Tench

At AAM, I had a chance to sit down with Beck Tench at the end of a conference day -- I’ve been looking forward to catching up with her for a year or so since I first heard her talk about her role as Director for Innovation and Digital Engagement at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC.

Here’s what’s she’s doing that is so fascinating and relevant/revolutionary to our work with museums and learning: she's led the development of "Experimonth," a series of month-long explorations of experiential topics such as raw foods, haiku, and mood (the current topic).  For thirty days, Web based participants explore the topic via a project blog. Fascinating stuff. I wanted to jump right in and participate when I heard the topics (though Beck says raw foods was a tough one).

A key moment while we talked: Beck pointed out that she's in the "programs" department, not the "exhibits" department. I let that sink in a bit. When I was a staff member at Boston Children's Museum a decade ago, exhibits was always where the action was.  I was never that aware of programs.  But changes are afoot -- if we’re truly going to impact visitors' lives, it’s going to take more than a museum visit a few times a year.  It’s going to take regular programming.  And month-long commitments. On the horizon: programs rise in importance in museums, especially cutting edge ones that engage visitors/participants over an extended time.

 

iPad apps at Children's Museum of Houston

Enjoyed visiting the Children's Museum of Houston at AAM/ACM and seeing what Keith Ostfeld and team are up to with iPad apps. Here's the scoop: rather than creating their own iPad apps for exhibits, something many museums are grappling with, they are scouting out and using existing free and low cost apps on the exhibit floor with staff.

The key: they are focusing on staff-facilitated models to make this work.  Keith showed an app they are using demonstrating air flow over user-designed surfaces. Staff use this app with visitors in the Invention Convention workshop exhibit, at the section where visitors are designing their own real-world structures to test in wind tubes. In a sense, it's not different than having interpretive staff pull out an illustrative photo to explain concepts to visitors, just that this photo happens to be an app.

The museum is also in the process of testing iPad usage among families in exhibits. With a multiple year grant from IMLS to explore this, will be good to keep an eye on what they're learning.

 

Museums and the Web Day 2

Here I sit, end of day 2 of Museums and the Web. I could just say "my brain is fried" and crawl into bed, which would be very satisfying. But here I am, my favorite conference for expanding thinking about our work, and want to at least capture a few phrases and images before they slip away. So, looking through my notes:

• "Ecosystem":  the title of the demo from the team at Museum Victoria (congrats on their award) was "the iOS Ecosystem", and it struck me we really are talking increasingly about an ecosystem of media in our work.  Not just a web page, not just a Facebook page, but the ways they relate to each other. (Or don't relate -- as Seb Chan noted, Facebook tends to be a "walled garden" and people tend not to click out on links)
• "Organizational change": any session having to do with organizational change was filled -- it's not just the technology, but the organization. There's a natural tension here. Social media tends to be developed and fostered by people who are in a category that is new to the traditional hierarchy in museums (and "hierarchy" is a loaded word).
• "Radical trust": this phrase that I first heart at the AASLH conference emerges again as institutions grapple with the uncontrolled voices of their visitors.
• Marketing: Or, as Allegra Burnette from MOMA put it, "getting the word out," if marketing feels a bit tainted as a word.  When I started in the field in the late 80's there was absolutely no connection between exhibits and marketing during the development of the exhibit. Marketing came after, by some other department. No longer the case.  At all.
• "Explode the old model" as Peter Samis put it -- things that used to be produced out of house are now being produce in a new case by case way with combination inhouse/out of house. A natural result of the development of social media tools which are best used inhouse.

OK. What did I miss? Fried and crawling into bed now.

Quick Spin on Google Art Project

Just took a spin around a few museums using Google Art Project, including the Rijksmuseum and MOMA.  At first it seemed like the same old concept: "virtual tours" of galleries. Pan around the room, zoom in on particular paintings. Ok, we've seen that sort of thing a few times before. Never really felt like it had much energy.

But, when Google decides to do something as a platform for museums, good to pay attention.  I stayed with it another ten minutes and really started to like it.  It uses the familiar (for many people) Street View technology, so it presents a standardized interface across museums.  It allows a pretty amazing zoom into selected works (I think I discovered a hair in the moon of van Gough's Starry Night). You can play media created by the museum alongside the painting.

At the Rijksmuseum I noticed they included the gift shop in the tour. Interesting.  I wondered if I could also see the cafe.  Would it look like a nice place to eat?  What's on the menu?  I didn't find these, but these thoughts did whet the appetite for a real experience, a real visit, to the museum. I wonder if I would be able to find a hair in the moon of The Starry Night at MOMA?  Or if they would let me get close enough to see.

The future and museums: webcast notes

Enjoyed the webcast sponsored by Emerging Museum Professionals at the NEMA conference (and beyond). Futurist Garry Golden presented a range of ideas impacting museums in the hour and half online session. Highlights from my notes include:

• the social media model has broad impact on museum communications distinct from past broadcast models. (In my mind, the issue becomes: "how do we plant the seeds that people want to communicate about?")
• Web 3.0: linked smart data, cloud computing, learning systems. (An online participant commented that the online Salesforce program might be a model)
• demographics in the next 15-20 years highlight the central role that multi-generational learning and family learning will play
• "Lifelong learning" becomes the new model, distinct from past models apprenticeship learning and teacher based learning
• museums can leverage the power of "third places," finding ways to bring museums to places like coffee shops
• museum experience may include modeling based on "gaming mechanisms" -- structured programs with goals, challenges, and resources such as Weight Watchers. (In my mind, connects with Elaine Gurian's concept of the "essential museum" in which the museum becomes a resource/tool for visitors' goals)
• a challenge: build smart devices for museum learning environments

Very interesting stuff.  I'm reminded of the way children's museums have been focusing for decades on multi-generational family learning and think there is much for the museum community as a whole to learn from children's museums.

AASLH: the view from the exhibit hall

What are the overarching themes emerging from the AASLH (state and local history) conference?  When I was a museum staff member, I would go to sessions to pick up on them.  Now that I'm here in the exhibit hall, tied to my booth, I glean them from conversations with people who stop by. (And find it very helpful to follow AASLH on twitter -- search for hash tag #aaslh10 -- and on the conference blog).

A couple themes that pop out:

1) Serving families in history museums. The new book edited by Lynn McRainey and John Rusick points in that direction, as well as the related conference sessions. Families are such a major audience for museums - how can historical museums tap into that?

2) "Radical trust."  This seems the hotbed issue here this year -- how much do museums trust the process allowing visitors to create content (and relinquish museum control)?  As user-created content continues to evolve this question will only grow, as Jackie Barton notes in the AASLH blog).

What else? Any other themes emerging?

AAM10 Notes: Visitor Stories in the L.A. Zone

Enjoyed stopping in the California Science Center Monday night, and especially enjoyed seeing stories left by visitors on the story kiosk in the L.A. Zone exhibit, part of the Ecosystems exhibit. (I have to admit bias: it's one of our installations designed to encourage visitor storytelling). The station asks visitors questions like "Where have you seen wildlife in L.A.?", "What do you think of L.A.'s smog?", and "What kinds of things are you doing to improve the environment?"

My favorite is the question about wildlife observations in L.A.  There's the story of the woman who left her kitchen windows open and walked in to discover three raccoons in her kitchen eating cat food.  And the man who raises pigeons and trains them to flip in midair while flying. (Seriously -- and apparently training pigeons to flip is something of a sport where he grew up in Birmingham.  Who would have known?)

This all points to the potential for rich, unanticipated content that is possible when visitors have the opportunity to participate (a special word this year) in the exhibit process.  As well, visitors are building their own connections to the exhibit topic, verbalizing their experience and making it personally meaningful. And fascinating.

ACM Interactivity Notes: Children's Exhibits and Risk

Enjoyed participating in the pecha kucha presentation tonight. I spoke on the experiment I've been doing with haiku and twitter, but the theme that really emerged tonight: the role of risk (or perceived risk) in children's museum exhibits, and the need for children to be able to take more risks to expand their boundaries in play and exhibits.

Deborah Gilpin at the Children's Museum of Phoenix illustrated the point with images of their new climbing sculpture, a structure that will encourage playing with the boundaries of risk taking. The theme was echoed by Becky Lindsay, Greg Belew, and Dan Spock, each speaking on an aspect of the need for risk taking in exhibits. Paul Orselli and Peter Exley both hosted and presented, and Clifford Wagner presented and provided Lithuanian fiddle music during the beer break (yes, it's an informal event).

Implications for media design: we need to recognize that children's lives lack many of the physical challenges and opportunities for risk taking that many of us grew up with. It's not clear that media by itself can provide answers. As Paul pointed out, a proliferation of screens may end up detracting from physical experience. Good to be aware of this context when designing media experiences for families.