Museum Education 2018 Trend Forecast
Last month, I put a call out on Twitter for museum professionals to share their predictions for 2018. Before we get into the trends, it is useful to share the respondents’ collective vision of museums and the field. What is a museum? I invited participants to share their definition of a museum in 140 words …
5 Ways that UX Designers Practice can Improve Museum Work
User Experience Design is the set of practices employed to create products that center the user. These designers focus on people to make products better. Their working practices also center people to foster collaboration and support. So, what can museum workers learn from UX Designers: Problem: You are working on a big project …
Continue reading “5 Ways that UX Designers Practice can Improve Museum Work”
How Best to Use Visuals
Visuals are incredibly powerful tools for teaching. But, you need to think about visuals alongside the text. Don’t make one element subsidiary to the other. Figure out what you need to get across and then develop a strategy for that idea. If you have ever written a label, you might have struggled on how to …
Instagram and the Evolution of Museums (Blog/ Graphic)
Museums might be said to be on the higher-end of the leisure world. They have cache. If not, imagine the situation associated with the phrase, “We are at the museum today.” Now imagine being in the situation to be able to say, “we are at an amusement park right now.” Both are perfectly enjoyable, no doubt. …
Continue reading “Instagram and the Evolution of Museums (Blog/ Graphic)”
The Interpretation Ecosystem
Interpretation can be defined in many ways for museums, but the term is most often associated with labels. In actuality, interpretation should be everything that is information about your collection. Ideally, you are thinking about a whole ecosystem of ideas from information without an intercessor, like a label, to information disseminated by people, like a …
When Content is Global : Digital Interpretation
At the core, museums offer the interpretation to offer people connections to collections. Lonnie Bunch, the museum’s director, says, “What we really want to do is humanize history.” The delivery method matters on one key level. Technology allows for vast off-site interpretation. But, even when visitors are not in the museum, as Karen Franscona, Boston Museum …
Continue reading “When Content is Global : Digital Interpretation”
Museums are not Neutral — Nothing is #MuseumsarenotNeutral
As a “first year” in college, I sat in a bright room that belied the imposing gothic facades that populated campus. My professor asked us to raise our hands if we were rational beings. We all raised our hands. He asked us to keep our hands up if we were not biased. He then asked …
Continue reading “Museums are not Neutral — Nothing is #MuseumsarenotNeutral”
Visual Literacy and Importance of Imagery in Interpretation (Graphics/ Data/ Blog)
Early man likely shared stories orally. These stories would eventually become text. But, images probably came before written text. While the exact purpose of these visuals remains unclear, certainly one can assume that the original audience was able to garner meaning from looking at the images. This is not surprising if you think of life. …
Engaging Interpretation (Blog/ Graphic)
Truly inclusive museums center visitors in their practice. In order to do this, they make sure that the idea that they offer through interpretation balance the desires and needs of museums and visitors. Ideally, they include elements of the collection object and its history in ways that are relevant to the visitor. The graphic, however, …
Interpretation, Content, and the Use of Text in Museums
Interpretation is a word used in the museum situation to denote the function of creating information about collections. Most often this sector deals with text read on walls, like labels and panels. The term for me isn’t quite right. It sounds like you are translating between audiences, implying the need for an intercessor. I do …
Continue reading “Interpretation, Content, and the Use of Text in Museums”