February 2012
4 posts
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Scholarly Authority in a Wikified World →
An insightful and promising article from the president of the American Historical Association, William Cronin.
All one needs is to open oneself to the possibilities and give up the comfort of credentialed expertise to contribute to the greatest encyclopedia the world has ever known.
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Wikipedia & the history field
Trevor Owens and his “History in the Digital Age” students have a fantastic discussion going over on dighist.org. I have a bit of a reaction to this so I’m going to blog instead of “merely” leave a comment. :)
Read the post, “Wikipedia and Its Place in the Field of History.”
There are a million directions I can go with this and I don’t really know...
January 2012
16 posts
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Wikipedians in Residence- 2 Years of Open Culture →
My guest blog post for the Open Knowledge Foundation & Open GLAM, where I summarize the Wikipedian in Residence concept and share some updates about how far the idea has come.
“Projects that are open to participation—where the audience is invited to comment...”
– Beryl Graham and Sarah Cook in Rethinking Curating: Art After New Media (2010)
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Wikimedia's Executive Director, after the Blackout →
Sue Gardner on the Wikimedia Foundation Blog:
…We’ve made history together, all of us. And I think it’s important we understand what’s happened here, because the ground has just shifted under our feet…
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Now that Wikipedia is perfect... →
Please read the above link prior to reading my admittedly defensive reply below : ).
——————
So, as someone who is at once an emerging museum professional (and technologist) and a Wikipedian…
While I absolutely agree with all of Jasper’s points, (in fact they have me very excited!) I do have to make the very obvious observation that Wikipedia...
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Wikipedia: The Neutrality Paradox?
Yesterday, in the height of excitement preparing for the Wikipedia Blackout, I had the opportunity to simply be proud about being a part of something bigger. But today, now that the Blackout has (of course) attracted attention, it has turned into a defense of Wikipedia’s principles.
I’m going to specifically address the points brought up by Nick Poole, CEO of the UK-based Collections...
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barackobama:
“While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”
- The White House, responding this morning to a petition on SOPA and online piracy
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An intellectual ah-ha moment
This may not make any sense but I’d like to just quickly write it down while it’s fresh in my mind.
A survey I’m taking on the misconceptions of museums & social media just re-framed a question that I think about often in my research, and presented it in such a way that it made it immediately clear how my current work in museums and social engagement relates to my former...
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Defining Open Authority in Museums →
In which I attempt to distill my thesis into less than 600 words. Please do share your thoughts in the comments section (on the NMC blog itself.) I’d love to hear them!
From “Defining Open Authority in Museums” via the New Media Consortium:
As part of my museum studies MA, I have been researching the potential of Wikipedia as a platform for museums to encourage accessibility...
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The Great Digitization or the Great Betrayal? →
I’m glad I took my time getting to this article, because Nick Poole’s most recent comment (at the bottom) is by far the most worthwhile part. Just a snippet:
So, when you ask which actor I mean, I mean that we are all complicit in this situation. Copyright evangelists and ‘open’ lobbyists need to stop being so naive about the fundamental realities of running an...
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Museum-y Blog Best Bets
In the spirit of the new year, I thought I’d offer up an annotated list of the blogs that have proved the most consistently inspiring for me over the past year. Of my ~60 subscriptions, these blogs are the fuel that keep my creative juices flowing (in a manageable way - which is key!)
Please let me know if you have any other suggestions!
Know Your Own Bone, Colleen Dilenschneider: Colleen...
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6 Infographics Dating Back To 1912 →
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Entire town of Monmouth to adopt QRpedia →
It’s great to see the BBC covering this extraordinary implementation of QRpedia across an entire Welsh town. The project will involve contributions of articles and photographs of notable people, places, artifacts, and other aspects related to Monmouth, Wales. These will be linked to via QRpedia codes that direct users to the articles in their own language.
December 2011
17 posts
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“Long before Wikipedia…museums were wrestling with the benefits and...”
– Introduction, Letting Go? Sharing Historical Authority in a User-Generated World. 2011. Bill Adair, Benjamin Filene, and Laura Kolowski, ed.
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Wikipedia & open authority (new abstract &...
So remember that huge research paper I’m supposed to be writing? Well, I have been. Slowly but surely. I also realized a few weeks ago that I was writing two papers, instead of one. (This is an important thing to realize.) So here is my latest abstract (still very very much a draft) and my outline, which I’ve spent a rather long time thinking through. (There is writing going on too....
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My top 10 firsts of 2011
It’s the time of year where we all begin to reflect on the past 12 months. Typically, thanks to being in the midst of parenthood & grad school, I would forego such reflection. But this year has been quite the doozey, if I do say so, especially in regards to my career. I’d like to take a moment to remember and be thankful for all of my recent opportunities, which I’m deeming...
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QRpedia case study: The Children's Museum of... →
Everything you’d want to know (and maybe somethings you don’t) about the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’ implementation of QRpedia codes in our exhibits.
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Seriously Amazing: The Smithsonian's new brand →
I’d be interested to know how much weight the Smithsonian gave to the Historically Hardcore fake-Smithsonian ad campaign controversy. That was some fabulous free market research for them in what was then quite obviously the middle of their re-brand (though they did NOT mention that they were mid-re-brand at that point.)
I appreciate the sentiment, “<The Smithsonian aims to be> a...
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An interview with Roger Bamkin
This is the full interview conducted with Roger Bamkin; a shortened version appears on the New Media Consortium’s MIDEA blog.
Roger is not only the Chairman of the board of Wikimedia UK, but has also emerged as a leader in the GLAM-Wiki community over the past year. He has coordinated a number of projects at Derby Museum and Art Gallery, including a multi-lingual challenge, which aimed to...
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How SOPA will hurt the free web and Wikipedia →
I’ll be doing my small part today to encourage Congressional opposition to SOPA. I hope that others won’t turn a blind eye to the threat that this poses to the open web.
In short, though there have been some improvements with the new version, SOPA remains far from acceptable. Its definitions remain too loose, and its structural approach is flawed to the core. It hurts the...
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"The Virtuous Museum" via @NickPoole1
Below is a small portion of Nick Poole’s extensive summary of a meeting for the “Museum Ethics Network”. (As Nick described it, the Museum Ethics Network is “Funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and [is] led by the School of Museum Studies at Leicester. The purpose of the network is to examine the current ethical framework governing museums, to test it and...
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IUPUI Student to Lead Growth of U.S. Wikimedia... →
I can’t go without sharing this little bit from IUPUI’s press release about my US Cultural Partnerships position at Wikimedia:
“Without the Children’s Museum’s support, I would not have had the opportunity to prove what I knew to be true: that Wikipedia is and will remain an important platform for sharing cultural heritage on a global scale,” Phillips said. “I’m thankful to have had...
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Wikimedia blog: US Cultural Partnerships... →
My new gig. Very excited to continue in Liam Wyatt’s shoes, with a fresh focus on US GLAM-Wiki collaborations.
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#MCN2011 Recap Roundup
I’m going to use my thesis as an excuse for not yet writing my own Museum Computer Network recap. But I’ll make up for it by providing you a running list of others who have been organized enough to write MCN recaps:
Initial Takeaways from MCN2011 Suse Cairns
Contemplating the Future of Museums Maren Dougherty
History Museums are Not Art Museums Sheila Brennan
What museum...
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Personal Branding for Museum Directors →
Over on her amazing blog Know Your Own Bone, Colleen Dilenschneider made my day by including me in a list of cultural professionals who have a clear online brand and use it to advocate personally for their institutions. This is within the framework of Nina Simon and Max Anderson as museum directors who understand personal branding and how to use that to move their museum’s forward. I admire...
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Introducing the New Walker Website →
I’m so proud of Nate Solas and the entire Walker Art Center team for stepping out and making (with the risk of sounding indulgent), the museum website of the future. Truly though.
In the recent discussion surrounding “What’s the point of the museum website?” I always end up coming back to “Why will people come to a museum website? What’s the point?” You...
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Why Wikipedia needs marketers →
Or — an appeal for marketers and Wikipedians to end the war and work together in a mutually beneficial way. The PR-Conflict of Interest dilemma is something I deal with in museums often and I’m really interested in helping there be ways to streamline the process so that it works for everyone. So, I really appreciate this post. <3
November 2011
34 posts
Watchrealcleverscience:
climateadaptation:
How’s about a good laugh right about now??
This is terrific! =D
We voted this as best museum commercial in my Museum Communications class last year. Lovely to see it again!
Nova Scotian Museo: Deaccessions and "Stuff" vs.... →
museumuse:
jgorehampenney:
Was having a browse through the RSS feed this morning and I came across a great post from the Uncataloged Museum, which brought me to something cool from the BBC. Here they both are for your reading pleasure:
The Uncataloged Museum: Do You Need Every Single Thing? “Often when conversations…
I think the question of “who decides what we collect” is an intriguing...
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5 Reasons to Donate to Wikipedia →
Free knowledge
Wikipedia is ad free
You use Wikipedia
Wikipedia is bringing up-to-the-minute knowledge to us in a way that we have never seen before
Wikipedia is a global collaboration
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The new museum collection
On her blog The Uncataloged Museum, Linda Norris recently wrote the post, “Do You Need Every Single Thing?” in which she shares an incredible case study about the McLean County (Illinois) Historical Society’s efforts to be “more targeted in their contemporary collecting efforts.”
This post was extremely timely, as I just responded to the Center for the Future of...
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2011 Horizon Report: Museum Edition
Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I’m able to settle in and read up on what has become my favorite annual report: The New Media Consortium’s Horizon Report: Museum Edition (See the 2011 Museum Edition Short List, which is publicly viewable). The Horizon Report was released last week at the Museum Computer Network in Atlanta, and so I had the opportunity to hear the key technology...
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Wiki Loves Monument images to be used by the... →
Alex Hinojo, friend and Wikipedian in Residence in Barcelona, shares how 4,000 images from the recent Europe-wide Wiki Loves Monument photo contest are being shared with the Official Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Catalonia:
It is an example of new models of collaboration between government and citizens, in which new technologies and open licenses allow citizens to take an active role in...
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Twine : Listen to your world, talk to the Internet →
via loganabbott:
Want to hook up things to the Web? Maybe you want to get a tweet when your laundry’s done, or get an email when the basement floods while you’re on vacation. Even if you’re good with electronics and programming, these are involved projects. Instead of worrying about wiring or networking code, you can focus on your idea.
Twine is the simplest possible way to get the objects...
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Quietly, Google Puts History Online →
I’m exasperated by this. Google isn’t necessarily “the bad guy” (as they so clearly attempt to defend in this article) and I commend them for reaching out to museums to increase access to these resources. However, they should and easily could make greater efforts to remain more open in the reuse of the materials that they’re putting into the digital sphere. This...
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#MCN2011: History Museums are not Art Museums →
I appreciate this summary from the History Museums are not Art Museums discussion which took place at the same time as my session (which I, of course, could not attend). We’re definitely moving in the right direction in regards to visitor interpretation — slowly but surely!
This blog post is chock full of useful links for additional resources on the state of history museums in regards...
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Forecasting the Future of Accessibility →
via @futureofmuseums, AAM’s Center for the Future of Museums.
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Initial takeaways from MCN2011 →
Suse Cairns (@shineslike) gives a great summary of the key themes from Museum Computer Network’s 2011 conference: “Hacking the Museum: Innovation, Agility, and Collaboration”
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Wikipedia Fellow brings GLAM to Qatar →