Museum as Platform:Envisioning Visitors asCreators & Contributors

Matthew FisherPresident, Night Kitchen Interactive

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skepticalvoice sounds complicated… #aam09 Less than a second ago

Museum as Platform

Online exhibits that showcase creative

responses to collections and encourage

visitors to participate in the dialog.

Continuum of Voice and Authority

Museum as Platform: A Hybrid Model

Conventional online exhibits

Authoritative Voice

curiousattendee hmm… Not sure I get it. Like to see examples. #aam09 Less than a second ago

Visitor-as-Curator

Crowdsourced

Museum-Curated

Multiplicity of viewpoints

Visitors create and contribute

Delaware Art Museum: Art of Storytelling, Curated Original Stories

Curated Original Stories

“Picture a Story” Educational Activity

Picture a Story educational

activity

Submit Stories to Art of Storytelling’s online collection

Submit Stories to online collection

Experience stories in the online collection

online collection of Visitor Stories

Smithsonian Photography Initiative: click! photography changes everything

Smithsonian’s Click!

Photography Changes

Everything

Creating a collaborative view of photography

Expert narratives create a

collaborative view of

photography

Inviting visitors to submit their own stories

Invites visitors to submit stories

Visitor stories appear alongside curated stories

Visitor stories appear alongside

curated stories

Smithsonian National Museum of American History:Star-spangled banner online exhibit

Smithsonian Museum of American

History

A blend of traditional and curatorial narratives

Blend of traditional curatorial

narrative…

Oh Say Can You Sing? Youtube national anthem singing contest

And visitor content: YouTube

singing contest

Flag mosaic of visitor stories from Flickr

Flag mosaic of visitor stories

from flickr

Rosenbach Museum and Library:21st Century Abe

Rosenbach Museum and Library’s 21st Century Abe

Combining traditional and historical narratives

Combines traditional historical

narratives…

Presenting creative responses by an artist, musician and comedy troupe

… with creative responses by an

artist, rock musician and

comedy troupe

Visitors can submit their own examples of “Found Abe”

Invites the visitor to submit

“Found Abe” sightings

Creative activities include a poster-making contest

And creative activities: poster-making contest

University of Michigan Museum of Art:Dialogtable

UMMA dialogtable interactive installation

Visitors can explore creative responses to collectionsVisitors explore

creative responses to collections

Movies were inspired and created by artists and community members

From Dancers to artists, facebook-style profiles and art making demos

Visitors can submit new movie ideas on the Dialogtable’s website

Visitors submit new movie ideas

via a website

SFMOMA:Country Dog Gentlemen Travel to Extraordinary Worlds

SFMOMA touch screen

kiosk and website

Animated stories about modern artworks

Animated stories about modern

artworks

Educational activities let visitors make creative responsesEducational activities for

visitors to create responses to

works…

Creative responses can be submitted to the SFMOMA Website

… and submit their creative

responses to the SFMOMA website

skepticalvoice STILL sounds complicated – why bother? #aam09 Less than a second ago

Museum as Platform

Online exhibits that showcase creative

responses to collections and encourage

visitors to participate in the dialog.

Challenges

Trust, Effort Audience

CONCLUSION 1. Libraries and museums evoke consistent, extraordinary public trust among diverse adult users.

Internet Use related to in-person visits

… internet use is positively related to in-person visits to museums and libraries…

Effort

• Collaboration is messy

• New processes, guidelines and management

• More time to produce

• Requires moderation

skepticalvoice sounds like it could be a major headache… #aam09 Less than a second ago

Audience

Data from Forrester Research Technographics® surveys, 2008. For further details on the Social Technographics profile, see groundswell.forrester.com.

Addressing the Challenges

Trust Effort Audience

Addressing Trust IssuesTo what extent do you trust the following forms of advertising? (% responding “trust completely” or “trust somewhat”)

%

Word of mouth 78

Newspapers 63

Consumer opinions posted online 61Brand websites 60

TV 56

Magazines 56

Radio 54

Brand sponsorships 49

Email (I signed up for) 49

Ads before movies 38

Search engine ads 34

Online banner ads 26

Text ads on mobile phones 18

Average Trust Response 49Source: Neilsen Trust in Advertising Report, October 2007

execdirect can u compare a van gogh wall label to a shampoo ad? #aam09 Less than a second ago

Addressing Trust Issues

open, inclusive, trustworthy experience by

balancing authoritative museum narratives

and visitor-contributed voices

Addressing Effort

• Collaboration does take time

• Tools make it infinitely more feasible

• Museums can produce something beyond typical limits

• A richer array of responses to collections

learnedPhd Who says visitor voices are richer than my expert voice? #aam09 Less than a second ago

Addressing Audience: 18-24

Data from Forrester Research Technographics® surveys, 2008. For further details on the Social Technographics profile, see groundswell.forrester.com.

youngandhip embrace our creative input and we’ll built it ourselves! #aam09 Less than a second ago

Addressing Audience: 12-17

64% of online teens ages 12-17 have

participated in one or more among a wide

range of content-creating activities on the

internet.

- The Pew Internet & American Life Project December 2007

exhibitcurator but what about exhibits for the general public? #aam09 Less than a second ago

Conventional Online Exhibit versus…

CONVENTIONALONLINE EXHIBIT

SPECTATORS

Online Exhibit Encouraging Social Participation

SPECTATE

JOIN

COLLECT

CRITIQUE

CREATE

THE BOTTOM LINEexecdirect well, that’s cool. But what about bringing folks in the door? #aam09 Less than a second ago

Philadelphia Cultural Engagement Index

Creative Personal Practice Audience-Based Attendance

- Philadelphia Cultural Engagement Index, Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance, March 2009

• Dancing/Singing

• Taking Artistic Photos

• Curating photos

• Museums

• Cultural Institutions

• Live Performances

Philadelphia Cultural Engagement Index

More Creative Practice = More Attendance

obviousplant awesome presentation, dude! #aam09 Less than a second ago

Encouraging creative participation

in visitors online will also lead to

greater visitation onsite