The Museum as Agora

Presentation to the 2009 Webwise Conference, Washington DCNancy Proctor, Smithsonian American Art Museum

ProctorN@si.edu2 26 February 2009

Identity and collaboration in the 21st century museum

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What is collaborationin the Museum 2.0?

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What is the Museumin this Web 2.0 world of information on demand?

• Whatever • Whenever• Wherever

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Save Outdoor Sculpture!

http://maps.google.com/ User-created content: Save Outdoor Sculpture!

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Artful Abe

http://AmericanArt.si.edu/ArtfulAbe

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Fill the Gap

http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/sets/

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1934 and Picturing the 1930s

http://www.flickr.com/groups/1934

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Wikipedia Loves Art

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Loves_Art

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The Handheld Wiki

http://MuseumMobile.info/wiki

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The Museum in Dialogue

http://SmartHistory.org

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Curators in Conversation

http://AmericanArt.si.edu/Podcasts

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Learning through Teaching

http://americanart.si.edu/education/activities/podcasts/

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The Museum in Play

http://GhostsofaChance.com/

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Happiness

1. Time spent with people we like

2. The chance to be a part of something bigger

3. Satisfying work to do

4. The experience of being good at something– JANE MCGONIGAL, PhD

Institute for the Future Hosted by the AAM Center for the Future of Museums,

December 2, 2008, at the Newseum, Washington, DChttp://www.slideshare.net/avantgame/gaming-the-future-of-museums-a-

lecture-by-jane-mcgonigal-presentation?nocache=4592

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What is collaboration?

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Collaboration means:

1. Communities & sharing2. Dialogue & storytelling3. Integration & relevance4. Trust & working interactively5. Fun & happiness

1. Not being stingy! 2. Rethinking resource allocation3. Managing IP rights & brands4. Being willing to take risks & fail5. Re-evaluating quality vs quantity

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What is the Museum?

http://Smithsonian20.si.edu

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The American Art Museum

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The Museums…

The Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

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The Museum has become a Distributed Network

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Photo by Mike Lee, 2007; from SAAM Flickr Group

Our audiences now access American Art through a wide range of platforms

beyond the museum’s walls and website

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The Museum is transforming from Acropolis…

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… into Agora

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Nancy Proctor, ProctorN@si.edu 9 December 2008 24

1.1. Collaboration with other institutionsCollaboration with other institutions2.2. Collaboration with third partiesCollaboration with third parties3.3. Collaboration with our audiencesCollaboration with our audiences

The Museum as Agora is an The Museum as Agora is an inherently collaborative space:inherently collaborative space:

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“Where obstacles become opportunities to play!” Colleen Macklin, PETLab, Parsons School of Design

Luce Foundation Center, SAAM

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Nancy Proctor, PhDHead of New MediaSmithsonian American Art Museum ProctorN@si.edu

AmericanArt.si.edu