What I Do
Museum 2.0 is a design consultancy focused on creating participatory, dynamic, audience-centered museum spaces.
I work with museums to design exhibitions, programs, and online experiences that engage visitors as co-creators and community members, not just consumers.
I believe that every museum can grow its audience as long as it is willing to grow with that audience by taking risks, trying new things, and communicating openly. I help museums both internally with staff development and externally with innovative visitor-facing exhibits and programs.
Projects
Currently:
> Providing workshops in design for participation for museum, library, and cultural professionals throughout New Zealand and Australia (Nov-Dec 09)
> Working with the Monterey Bay Aquarium to design an online community for aquarium professionals about communicating climate change to visitors (since Oct 09)
> Working with the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum to develop ways to deepen and broaden relationships with teens (since May 09)
> Working with the Balboa Park Online Collaborative to develop an alternate reality game around several Balboa Park cultural sites (since July 09)
> Serving as an advisor to the Statens Museum for Kunst in Denmark in support of their SMK.dk digital initiatives (since Oct 09)
> Writing a book on participatory design for museums
> Leading interpretative design for The Mint Project as part of their development of a San Francisco city history museum (since Sept 08)
Recent Past:
> Designing a 6-day urban science adventure camp for 8th grade girls with the Girls Math and Science Partnership (April - Aug 09)
> Running a workshop to help the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History explore social participation in future galleries (May 09)
> Serving on the IMLS task force on 21st Century Skills, which resulted in this report and institutional assessment instrument (July 08 - Aug 09)
> Teaching a course on Social Technology at the University of Washington graduate Museology program (April - June 09)
> Running a workshop to help Historic New Harmony reenvision audience engagement with their visitor center (March 09)
> Running a workshop to help the Denver Art Museum develop multi-platform, participatory techniques in adult programming (March 09)
> Running a workshop on participatory design techniques for American history exhibition with the Chicago History Museum (Feb 09)
> Working with White Oak Associates on the strategic plan for a new Canada Science and Technology Museum (Nov 08 - ongoing)
> Helping the Boston Children’s Museum develop an online/onsite game experience to encourage green behaviors (Nov 08 - Jan 09)
> Designing participatory experiments (like this) for the Oakland Museum as part of their redesign of the Natural Sciences gallery into a visitor co-created space (Nov-Dec 08)
> Strategic consulting with TELUS World of Science - Calgary on social technology integration into their new science centre (Sept 08)
> Design and implementation of a media exhibit design institute for teens at the Chabot Space & Science Center (July - Aug 08)
> Exhibit development support for the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s 2010 exhibition on climate change (July 08 - Feb 09)
> Leadership, design, and project management for multi-platform exhibit development of The Tech Virtual Test Zone at The Tech Museum of Innovation (Sept 07 - June 08)
> Creative narrative game design for the CSI:NY virtual experience with The Electric Sheep Company (June - Sept 07)
> Experience design for Operation Spy at the International Spy Museum (Aug 05 - June 07)
Publications and Blog
You can find hundreds of weekly essays on the Museum 2.0 blog. Surf the Museum 2.0 Living Archive to find posts most relevant to you.
Here are other recent papers for download:
Going Analog: Translating Virtual Learnings into Real Institutional Change, published in Museums and the Web Proceedings, 2009.
Discourse in the Blogosphere: What Museums Can Learn from Web 2.0, published in Museums and Social Issues, Volume 2, Number 2, Fall 2007.
Beyond Hands On: Web 2.0 and New Models for Engagement, published in Hand to Hand, Winter 2007, Volume 21, Number 4. Reprinted with permission from the Association of Children’s Museums, Washington, DC.
I also write a syndicated column for the American Association of Museums magazine, Museum, based on Museum 2.0 blog posts.
Presentations and Conferences
Upcoming:
October 31-November 3, 2009 - “Designing Questions,” “Bridging Online/Onsite Experiences,” and “IMLS Report on 21st Century Skills” - Association of Science and Technology Centers annual meeting in Fort Worth, TX
November 7, 2009 - panelist at The Museum Strikes Back seminar in Santa Cruz, CA
November 23-24, 2009 - keynote speaker National Digital Forum in Wellington, New Zealand
March 4-5, 2010 - director’s luncheon speaker and panelist at the California Association of Museums conference in San Jose, CA
March 17, 2010 - keynote speaker at the Texas Association of Museums conference in College Station, TX
Past:
October 22-23, 2009 - keynote speaker/instigator at MuseumNext in Newcastle, UK (slides)
October 1, 2009 - running participatory workshop at Women in Business Leadership Forum in Santa Cruz, CA
May 31-June 2, 2009 - Creativity and Collaboration NAME retreat in Monterey, CA
May 18, 2009 -“Everyone’s Smithsonian” lecture at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History (slides and video)
April 30-May 4, 2009 - “Eye on Design” (slides) and “Co-Creating Visitor Experiences” (presentation) - American Association of Museums annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA
April 14-18, 2009 - “Going Analog” (presentation and paper) - Museums and the Web conference in Indianapolis, IA
April 1, 2009 - “Beyond the Hype: Strategic Approaches to Social Media” - Wallace Foundation Arts Grantees conference in Philadelphia, PA
March 30, 2009 - “Becoming Generous Thieves” (presentation) - keynote speaker at Museums in Conversation conference in Tarrytown, NY
March 27-29, 2009 - FooEast in Cambridge, MA
February 25-27, 2009 - “Making Web 2.0 Work for Your Institution (For Free)” and “Online Communities and the Institution” - IMLS WebWise conference in Washington DC
December 11-12, 2008 - Future of the Tropenmuseum symposium in Amsterdam, NL, organized by the Tropenmuseum
November 14, 2008 - “Ten Tips for Museums in Thinking about Social Technology” (slides) - keynote at Kom je Ook? symposium in Amsterdam, NL, organized by Mediamatic
Oct 18-21, 2008 - “You Can’t Do That in Museums!” (slides) and “Web 2.0 - What’s Next?” - Association of Science and Technology Centers annual meeting in Philadelphia, PA
June 15-18, 2008 - “Small-Scale Innovation” (slides) - Science Center World Congress in Toronto
April 27-30, 2008 - “Eye on Design” (slides) and “Charting New Territory in Virtual Worlds” (slides) - American Associations of Museums annual meeting in Denver, CO
April 5-7, 2008 - “Creating Exhibitions with Web 2.0” (slides) and “Free Tech Tools for Exhibit Design” (slides) - Creating Exhibitions conference in Philadelphia, PA
