The Museums are TRASH TALKIN'

So, I was waiting to post this but MUSEUMS FROM THE YEAR 2000, just released a post so I can't wait to appear to be a John come late.

So there have been a few articles and posts that have gone back and forth this past week. The institutions have maintained their decorum but still there have been some intelectual body blows made by either side. It’s like battle of the museum nerds and I love it. Lots of good sparing over the importance of visitor engagement real vs. virtual and the old fight over objects or not objects.
For my two cents this industry is overly dominated by curators and object people. ( Did I mention I may not always be in museums?)
I don't think anybody wants a museum to be not about stuff. We just want everybody to have access to it and be able to engage in a social context. This is where collections care and visitor experience clash because it is a natural tension.
People should relax. It’s about listening and achieving balance. Both sides need to acknowledge a need to provide more equality of thought and control in museums development and identity. It’s bad when families fight. That’s when the bad guys take advantage or gain the upper hand (think shopping malls and water parks, oh and the federal government.)
I am heartened that the conversation is heated but respectful. Most corporate bodies can't even muster talking to themselves. Keep up the trash talk. It’s all in good fun!

In this Corner weighing in at 98 pounds : Nina Simon

In this Corner weighing in with an impressive institutional history of over 120 years: The MIA

In this Corner (the unfortunately named) Prerogative of Harlots Blog

In this Corner the money loving(kidding!) Museum Audience Insight Blog

Learning to Play

This week I received my new membership card from The Strong National Museum of Play. This is one of my favorite spots to spend with my kids. I could and perhaps will, do an entire post about what they are doing right in their membership department. I always come away feeling valued, and the value in membership is always made up three fold as I take my membership from there to Boston, to Philadelphia, to Binghamton. But again this is not a post about membership, it’s about exhibit design.
We go to The Strong A LOT. We drive 4 hours, stay at our favorite hotel and play play play. My kids go back time and time again, not repeating the same activities, but diversifying and going deeper into the exhibits each time. They test their world. As children in a certain age group they are concrete thinkers. So manipulating the physical universe through play is providing them endless opportunities for self-discovery and learning. My Friend Paul Orselli in recent months bemoaned the obligatory “Grocery store Exhibit” and I tend to agree with him, but my kids love to cook in the deli, and ring up the other children who come through the line, and they know everyone has a job. They interact with children they have never met before, but it is intuitive play that almost always goes well.
So are you pickin up what I’m layin down. Awwww Yeahhhhh. Big people museums! What is our play? What would drive us to return and return again? I love Edward Hopper. I could stare at his work endlessly. It is art that reaches into me and speaks to who I am. This is awesome and a great museum activity, but I don’t drive to New York City to see his work 6 times a year. I don’t have memberships at museums designed for staring at stuff.
Humans love to learn. Not in the formal school kinda way but in the authentic designed and exploratory ways that museums all too often are not. The Museum I work at, I visit with my family almost every weekend for the same reason I go to The Strong. The local Art Museum a scant 30 minutes away with an amazing collection of modern art, I never have gone to with my family or outside of work. Exhibit designers must think about play. They must think about learning through play. In a time where learning has been relegated to a certain agreed upon facts that are tested in standardized formats, museums represent hope to a nation that is being under challenged. The question is are we up to meeting it?

What are the Museums Saying?

So in museums we do a lot of talking. Our panels, signs and websites are chock full of language. I always wonder who writes it and why does it sound so similar no matter where or what museum I am in?
We believe in words almost as much as we believe in the objects they are used to describe, but I often question if we are using the right words, or if our words hold any meaning to visitors.
I randomly picked intro text either from the home page or one click into the visit page of some major museums around the country.


Take a look. Is the langauge advancing what the institution wants? These are all from the visit me or home pages. Are there words and phrases that are more or less meaningful than others? Do these paragraphs convince us in our nano attention spans to decide to stop surfing and go to these museums?
I want to know what you think of museum web site language!




The Wild Center has live exhibits.You can hike and explore the Museum's 31- acre campus with naturalist guides or on your own. There are theaters with high definition films, plenty of hands-on nature, and hundreds of live animals from rare native trout, to river otters, to turtles the size of walnuts and many other often hard-to-see residents of the woods and waters. Learn more about the indoor and outdoor exhibits.

Overlooking one of the nation's most culturally vibrant cities, the Philadelphia Museum of Art welcomes nearly a million visitors each year, encouraging them to embark upon a walk through time that extends across two millennia and six continents.

Discuss with your children what they think they might see at a museum of modern and contemporary art. There aren't any dinosaurs here; rather, we have sculptures, paintings, photographs, drawings, and even design objects like a helicopter and cars.

Location
1601 N. Clark St.Chicago, IL 60614312.642.4600
> Get directions
Parking
Our parking lot is located at the corner of Stockton and LaSalle.
> Learn more
Admission
The Museum offers several ticket options.
> Get ticket information
Museum Hours
Monday–Saturday
9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Sunday
12:00 noon–5:00 p.m.
Dining at the Museum
Enjoy breakfast, lunch, coffee or a snack in the new North & Clark Café.

Andrew Jackson always welcomed visitors to his home. Since The Hermitage opened as a museum in 1889 over 15 million people have crossed its threshold. We invite you to become part of that tradition. Plan your family, group, or school visit to The Hermitage today

I Don't Know Anything About Museums

I never thought I'd work in a museum but I am.
I have been writing about museums, education, and social media for a while now. I have had various blogs over time and have always been challenged to keep them going. I think with my use of twitter I have finally found a true outlet for my thoughts and ideas and interests. It has been a place where I have stayed mostly professional, sought to share things that I believed others with similar career interests to mine would enjoy, and I almost never use it as a platform to kick my dog. (Metaphorical dog. No mail please!)
But Twitter is too brief. It’s the kind of thing that helps me keep up with the latest’s news in social media, education, non-profit world stuff and even local entertainment for families. So I thought I could take my blog the twitter route. There are plenty of times I want to write an extended post about a great exhibit I've seen, or talk about an innovative practice in management, or just crow about a cool web site or ad campaign. Before I was limiting myself to topics concerning social media or education. But the truth is I am a middle manager who used to be a school teacher. I knew nothing about museums but was made Associate Director of Education and placed over a plethora of projects. The main reason for the success is meeting audience needs, establishing relationships, and empowering those who you work with to be leaders.
So these are the kinds of things I am interested in and will be writing about. I don't have all the experience in the world but I do have opinions. I do aggregate data. And best of all I am funny. So hope you will follow me on my journey of learning about how to do my job.