Presentation within the session 'Outside-In: Engaging Diversity with User-Generated Content' at the New England Museum Association 2011 Conference.

1. New
Modes
of
Interaction
User-­‐Generated
Content,
Community,
and
Museums
Lauren
Valone
lauren.valone@gmail.com
New
England
Museum
Association
Annual
Conference,
Hartford,
CT
November
18,
2011

2. User
Generated
Content
Who?...What?...Why?...How?
Visual
Text/Language
• Curatorial
projects
• Tagging
• Exhibition
• Exhibition
development
development
• User-­‐generated
• Multiple
levels
and
metadata
depths
of
participation
• Wikis

3. User
Generated
Content
Who?...What?...Why?...How?
Visual
• Curatorial
projects
• Exhibition
development
• Multiple
levels
and
depths
of
participation
Art
Gallery
of
Ontario’s
In
Your
Face:
The
People’s
Portrait
Project

4. User-­‐Generated
Content
What
do
you
think
of?
http://conference.archimuse.com/image/tallon_l_and_i_froes_going_mobile_insights_into_the_13
Text/Language
• Tagging,
wikis
• Exhibition
development
• Dialogue
with
collection
• Relevancy

5. User-­‐Generated
Content
How
can
you
make
it
work
for
your
museum?
Visual
Text/Language
• Curatorial
projects
• Tagging
• Exhibition
• Exhibition
development
development
• User-­‐generated
• Multiple
levels
and
metadata
depths
of
participation
• Wikis

6. Initial
Considerations
• Theme
or
big
idea
• Clear
Goals
• Clear
Audience
• Acknowledgement
• Planning
for
Response

7. Click!
:
The
Brooklyn
Museum
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click/
The
Basics
• Used
the
idea
of
crowd-­‐sourcing
to
form
an
exhibit-­‐building
program
• Theme
of
“The
Changing
Faces
of
Brooklyn”
• The
public
was
invited
to
participate
in
a
3-­‐month
evaluation
period
where
they
could
rate
pictures
• The
most
popular
pictures
were
displayed
at
the
Museum,
with
the
ratings
determining
their
size

8. Click!
Statistics
• 389
photo
submissions
• 3,346
evaluators
• 410,089
evaluations
Successful
because:
• Broad,
applicable
theme
• Clear
objects
• Multiple
paths
of
entry
• Competition
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click/top_discussed.php
• Acknowledgement

9. Click!
The
Technology
• Used
a
specific
algorithm
for
voting
system
• Asked
people
for
their
knowledge
level
and
location
• Technology
that
facilitated
an
in
person
experience
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/click/comparison.php

10. Folksonomy
&
Tagging
Folksonomy
• Socially
constructed
classification
system
• Users
describe
what
they
are
seeing
• Use
terms
that
make
sense
to
them
www.steve.museum
Tagging
• Non-­‐hierarchical
search
term
by
viewer
or
owner
• Low
barrier
for
participation
• Directly
involvement
with
collection
• Vernacular
language
• Fill
contextual
gaps
within
http://www.imamuseum.org/blog/2010/03/12/discover-­‐the-­‐ima-­‐using-­‐tags/
collections

11. “…the
everyday
stories
of
individual
people
actually
resonates
with
museum
visitors
more
than
the
customary
dispassionate
third
person
thesis.”
-­‐ Daniel
Spock
Minnesota
History
Center
Exhibitionist
2009

12. Next
Steps
with
Tagging
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/tag_game/

13. Next
Steps
with
Tagging
http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/freeze_tag/

14. Tagging
&
Community
:
The
Virtual
Museum
of
the
Pacific
http://australianmuseum.com/image/Virtual-­‐Museum-­‐comb-­‐detail/
For
more
information,
check
out
the
project’s
YouTube
page:
http://www.youtube.com/VirtualMuseumPacific;
http://australianmuseum.com/BlogPost/Science-­‐Bytes/Virtual-­‐Museum-­‐of-­‐the-­‐Pacific

15. Communication
Combinations:
Object
Stories
http://www.objectstories.org
The
Basics
• Object
Stories
is
a
new
audio
and
photo
installation
project
from
the
Portland
Art
Museum
(Oregon)
• Lead
to
extended
interactions
• Storytellers
are
given
acknowledgement
• These
videos
are
then
published
on
an
onsite
and
online
gallery
http://www.objectstories.org

16. Communication
Combinations:
Object
Stories
http://objectstories.pam.org/stories/
http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-­‐do-­‐you-­‐capture-­‐compelling-­‐visitor.html

17. Communication
Combinations:
The
Commons
to
Common
Ground
• Created
in
2008
with
the
Library
of
Congress
• Currently
over
50
institutions
worldwide
participating
The
Commons
has
2
main
objectives:
1. To
increase
access
to
publicly-­‐
held
photography
collections
2. To
provide
a
way
for
the
general
public
to
contribute
information
and
knowledge.
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2008/papers/oates/oates.html

18. Communication
Combinations:
The
Commons
to
Common
Ground

19. Communication
Combinations:
The
Commons
to
Astronomy
Photographer
of
the
Year
• Used
Flickr
for
it’s
reach,
flexibility,
and
appropriateness
• Over
2,000
members
in
their
Flickr
group
• Made
a
contest
administration
application
tool
with
the
Flickr
API
(Application
Programming
Interface)
• Monitored
participant
usage
through
Flickr’s
tracking
tools
• In
2011
almost
800
people
from
over
30
countries
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/astrophoto;
http://www.flickr.com/groups/astrophoto;
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2010/papers/romeo/romeo.html

20. Communication
Combinations:
The
Commons
to
Common
Ground
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2010/papers/bray/bray.html
• An
extension
of
the
partnership
between
institutions
involved
in
The
Commons
and
Flickr
• 10
institutions
and
their
respective
constituents
virtually
met
up
in
October
2009

21. Communication
Combinations:
The
Commons
to
Common
Ground
An
example
of
bridging
online
interactions
into
face-­‐to-­‐face
experiences
Powerhouse
Museum,
Australia
Brooklyn
Museum,
NYC
http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum_photography/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooklyn_museum/3978346173/
3949752901/sizes/m/in/photostream/
sizes/m/in/set-­‐72157622482438604/

22. Communication
Combinations:
Cooking:
The
Exhibition
Chefs
http://cookingexhibitchefs.ning.com
The
Basics
• Cooking
has
opened
the
traditional
exhibition
development
process
to
the
general
public
• Was
created
by
the
Exhibitions
team
• Combines
visual
and
verbal
communications
• Has
a
broad
theme
• Multiple
paths
for
involvement
• Acknowledgement

23. Communication
Combinations:
Cooking:
The
Exhibition
Chefs
Ning
• Customizable
software
platform
• Functions
like
a
cross
between
Facebook
and
a
blogging
program
• Social
networking
and
interaction
management
platform
• Facilitated
the
involvement
of
hundreds
of
people
Staff
Can
• Post
documents
• Share
design
plans
on
the
site
• Organize
call-­‐in
meetings
http://cookingexhibitchefs.ning.com/
• Organize
virtual
events
• Make
an
iphone
application

24. Communication
Combinations:
Cooking:
The
Exhibition
Chefs
http://cookingexhibitchefs.ning.com/photo/albums/cooking-­‐team-­‐dinner-­‐1292009

25. Communication
Combinations:
Cooking:
The
Exhibition
Chefs
Members
Can
• Have
profiles
• Post
pictures
• Communicate
with
others
• Comment
on
posts
• Post
messages
and
photos
http://cookingexhibitchefs.ning.com/photo/albums/maine-­‐shrimp-­‐from-­‐sea-­‐to-­‐table

26. User
Generated
Content:
Why
Bother?
• Helps
form
community
– Local/physical
and
global/virtual
• Incorporation
of
new
perspectives
• Increase
diverse
involvement
• Democratize
museum
experience
lauren.valone@gmail.com