#MuseumWeek
March 23-29 2015
7 days of 7 daily Hashtags – But what do each of them mean?

Monday – #secretsMW
Tuesday – #souvenirsMW
Wednesday – #architectureMW
Thursday – #inspirationMW
Friday – #FamilyMW
Saturday – #FavMW
Sunday – #PoseMW

Friday – #FamilyMW

‘View the museum through young people’s eyes.’

This hashtag is to showcase all the brilliant work being done by museums, educators, homeschoolers, etc in addition to providing a platform for families of all sizes to share their favourites related to museums/galleries visits.

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Prelude:
I started planning this event, well last year, but really in the past 3 months. I still worry no one will take part at first or get bored. Than closer to the event, I get all giddy with excitement like it’s Christmas!

This year is no different.

But here I am, technically the eve before and we have 41 countries and 634 museums signed up. I’ve been interviewed in 6 different languages (Wired.com article).  The sign up sheet continues to grow… [by end of play, 721 museums in 43 countries!]

Stats
I’m often asked why I do it as I don’t get paid.  The stats from LaMagnetica are why:

47,546 Tweets
13,000 DIFFERENT users

That is a HUGE community we have built together. How could I not do it? I’m seriously blown away by those numbers. These numbers represent the thirst from the #AskACurator Community for access to behind the scenes at museums/galleries.  The thirst for learning. The passion for our cultural sector. And most importantly, the yearning to share.

Please Note: LaMagnetica will be sharing the report and I”ll update this page when it’s done.

UPDATE:  I’ve a Feedback form and would love to hear your opinion Read the rest of this entry »

Straight after MuseumNext, I had to fly to Lisbon for a project.  By the time I got home from travelling for 10 days, all the Takeway and items I was going to talk about have been covered (and much more eloquently than I would have done!):

• Oonagh Murphy Museum Next 2013
• Claire Ross Museum Next
• Tony Butler A few reflections on social and tech innovation #museumnext 2013
• Andrew Lewis Ideas from Museumnext 2013
• Museumnext Collaborative document
• MuseumNext Tumblr of slides and more

So I went back to the MuseumNext program book to have another look to see if something different might jump out that hasn’t been covered… and there in the Welcome was the key.

If you’re like me, you probably missed the Welcome note from Jim.  In it, he describes the challenges he faced from his first MuseumNext 5 years ago.  Even with having a heavy hitter like Nina Simon the interest wasn’t there.  But soon it went International with the first brave delegate from the Netherlands.

And it has grown and grown ever since.

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My last post mentioned outreach in the community which led to discussions on Twitter from community groups themselves, and the cultural sector, including an insightful comment by Ian Jenkinson.

This also led to discussions on advocacy and the role advocates play in today’s word-of-mouth marketing.  This is not a new ethos, but with the use of social media advocates can provide a quicker more positive approach to bring in a wider range of diverse people

With this in mind, I thought it would be good to share a few suggestions on where to start:

Like all relationships, these things take time.  Some advocates already exist (Friends, Volunteers) while other relationships need to be built up.

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**Click here for Survey**

Last August 2011, I ran a simple survey called Does Social media work for Cultural Sector. At the time, I had no idea that Cultural 24 was working on their large scale research Let’s Get Real. Nor did I know what difference it was going to make (if any).

The results were intriguing and I mentioned I might run it again in a year.  Fast forward a year and a kind reminder by Ann that it was again time for the survey.

RT @ann_les: @MarDixon, hi! Have you carried out the same survey (http://www.mardixon.com/wordpress/2011/08/does-social-media-work-for-cultural-sector-survey/) this year?

Although I recognize that much has changed in the past year, I decided to leave all the questions the same as 2011.  I *really* want to ask more prying questions but realize that would skew results if we are to honestly compare the data from 2011 to 2012.

Like last year, it shouldn’t take much time to answer the questions and I’ll share all the results. There are 8 questions from 2011 with the option to add a comment in this years survey.

Please share this survey with everyone.

Does Social Media Work for the Cultural Sector 2012

Just back from an amazing week in Barcelona where not only did I get to do a bunch of museum visits and culture things, I managed to attend the 2-day MuseumNext conference.

MuseumNext was held at CCCB and MACBA and had 2-3 session going at any given time.  The advantage was you could tailor your conference to suit your needs.  The disadvantage was you knew you were missing some pretty brilliant talks.

However, luckily, most attendees tweeted (this *is* a digital conference after all!).  With help from Gary Green and Jonathan Tyzack below is an archive of the tweets.

*Please note: These are really raw and not formatted as I wanted to get them up ASAP.  I will work on them again tonight.

Huge huge thanks to Jim and Claire Richardson, the whole Sumo Team, and all the kind sponsors*  for again putting on a fantastic conference.  Once again, I walked away with valuable knowledge and great friends.

• MuseumNext May 24
• MuseumNext  May 25
• MuseumNext 2012 xls
• MuseumNext text
• MuseumNext Text II

Bring on MuseumNext 2013 – Amsterdam!

*Thanks to sponsor MailChimp for the free drinks! 🙂 Check them out!

Updated:

Blogs:

• MuseumLines blog
• Thought Den Blog
• If looks could kill – Can digital images be less immortal?
• A Mobile Thing at #MuseumNext 2012

My photos (on Facebook)

• Barcelona Pre-Conference
• MuseumNext Day One
• MuseumNext Day Two
• Barcelona Museum Day (After Conference) 

I recently took part in the Guardian’s Culture Professional end of year Chat: a good or bad year for culture and heritage.

While I tend to stick to the more traditional cultural aspects (museums, art galleries, heritage venues) the chat brought up some other aspects such as contemporary performances, ballets, opera, etc.

One of the points I made was I felt 2011 was the Year of Collaboration.  To my surprise, this seemed to have caused a discussion on whether it really was or not.   Since the Arts council cuts were announced earlier in the year, it was clear to me that the only route for the smaller venues to survive had to be collaboration.

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On Thursday, 20^th of October I traveled to London for a packed Cultural-filled day which started at the Natural History Museum, moved to V&A, British Museum, Convent Garden and finally Royal Society of Artists.

The day started with meeting Laura Porter, London Travel Guide (@AboutLondon) and very good friend who I was taking as a guest to the Natural History Museums Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year preview event. Simon Quicke (@Insidebooks) met us at the event.

The exhibition is the top selection of International wildlife photographers from amateurs to professional.  The preview gave us an opportunity to see all the fabulous photographs before it opened to the public, and also discuss the works with some of the photographers.

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Anyone who has read my website knows how passionate I am about  Wolverhampton Art Gallery (see examples here and here) so having an opportunity to interview the curators was a real treat for me.  Wolverhampton has the second biggest pop collection outside of London but also embraces local and social history in addition to Georgian and Victorian art.  It’s a delicate balance to combine all of these under one roof but they have never disappointed.

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If you never been to the Ikon Gallery, you’re missing a real treat.  The building itself is a piece of art that never fails to fascinate.  Originally built in 1878 for an infant school, it has had a few other responsibilities before its current (and hopefully permanent) position as home of the gallery.  The artist journey begins as you walk in and see this very prominent but non-busy sign:

I met Director and Jonathan Watkins, a busy man who’s passion for Ikon was evident from the start along with Kate Self who is the essentially their Educational Officer (although it’s technically Ikon Youth Programme (IYP)).

After explaining the many hats and angles this interview was going to take (blog, AskACurator.com, Kids in Museums), I quickly got into the questions as I knew time was precious for both.

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