A presentation on social participation in art museums, first presented on 25 January 2010 at the Art Gallery of Ontario. By Nina Simon, Museum 2.0.

1. the participatory museum
nina simon, museum 2.0
nina@museumtwo.com
@ninaksimon on twitter

2. where i live

3. what i do
balboa park online collaborative
boston children’s museum
calgary science center
chabot space science center
chicago history museum
denver art museum
experience music project
girls math and science partnership
international spy museum
monterey bay aquarium
oakland museum of california
ontario science centre
SFMOMA
smithsonian museum of natural history
statens museum for kunst
tech museum of innovation

4. why i’m here

5. what i advocate
the participatory museum
is a place where visitors can
create, share, and connect
with each other around
content.

6. in cultural institutions, that can mean...
Cantor Art Center upper: SFMOMA Denver Community Museum
lower: Science Museum of Minnesota

7. and it requires some changes
traditional institution participatory institution
Authority is content provider Authority is platform provider

8. why would you want to do this?
participation does five things best:
deliver personal relevance
celebrate and network
diverse voices
deliver dynamic content
encourage interpersonal
dialogue
support collaborative +
creative practice

9. why would you want to do this?
to deliver personal relevance
London Science Museum

10. why would you want to do this?
to celebrate and network diverse visitors’ voices
Minnesota History Center

11. why would you want to do this?
to deliver dynamic content and experiences
Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum

12. why would you want to do this?
to encourage interpersonal dialogue
University of Washington

13. why would you want to do this?
to support collaborative, creative practice
Victoria and Albert Museum

14. why would you want to do this?
participation does five things best:
deliver personal relevance
celebrate and network
diverse voices
deliver dynamic content
encourage interpersonal
dialogue
support collaborative +
creative practice

15. how can you do it well?
what are
MUSEUM you about?
what will these
relationships look
like?
what do they
need?
visitors

16. five techniques for
participatory engagement
1. be personal / i like museums + heroes
2. scaffold the experience / side trip + art of participation
3. design for thoughtful response / on the road
4. offer multiple engagement points / youtube
5. connect to known frameworks / human library

17. five techniques for
participatory engagement
1. be personal / i like museums + heroes
2. scaffold the experience / side trip + art of participation
3. design for thoughtful response / on the road
4. offer multiple engagement points / youtube
5. connect to known frameworks / human library

18. ilikemuseums.com

20. five techniques for
participatory engagement
1. be personal / i like museums + heroes
2. scaffold the experience / side trip + art of participation
3. design for thoughtful response / on the road
4. offer multiple engagement points / youtube
5. connect to known frameworks / human library

21. 90,000 visitors, 37,000 posters made Denver Art Museum
average time poster-making: 25 minutes

22. this is not enough to promote social engagement
GoMA

23. giving good instructions
SFMOMA

24. SFMOMA

29. five techniques for
participatory engagement
1. be personal / i like museums + heroes
2. scaffold the experience / side trip + art of participation
3. design for thoughtful response / on the road
4. offer multiple engagement points / youtube
5. connect to known frameworks / human library

31. Lowell National Historical Park

32. five techniques for
participatory engagement
1. be personal / i like museums + heroes
2. scaffold the experience / side trip + art of participation
3. design for thoughtful response / on the road
4. offer multiple engagement points / youtube
5. connect to known frameworks / human library

33. don’t focus solely on creators...
the vast majority of social media users are not creators

34. what makes YouTube different?

36. participation can be for everyone
Auckland Museum Minnesota History Museum

37. five techniques for
participatory engagement
1. be personal / i like museums + heroes
2. scaffold the experience / side trip + art of participation
3. design for thoughtful response / on the road
4. offer multiple engagement points / youtube
5. connect to known frameworks / human library

38. I’ve never had a gay friend. It was unbelievably
exciting to find myself facing him with his body,
opinions and identity. It seems he was not very
different from me and especially he was not an
alien. From now on, I will not disrupt my
communication with the gays, I will enhance it.
- Reader in Istanbul, 2007

40. what’s your idea?

41. contact me anytime
nina@museumtwo.com
http://www.museumtwo.com