CultureGeek Conference is run by Sumo – the same people who run MuseumNext conference.  The emphasis is on digital media in the cultural sector and their one-day line included:

Jiajia Fie – Associate Director Digital Marketing – Guggenheim
Sarah Ellis – Head of Digital Development – Sarah Ellis
Rob Gethen Smith – CIO – Southbank Centre
Conrad Bodman – Head of International Relationships – British Film Institute
Stella Eisdom – Digital Curator – British Library
Alice Rawsthorn – Design critic and author
Chris Michaels – Head of Digital and Publishing – British Museum

The conference started the evening before with DrinksThing at Southbank hosting a Behind the Scenes Tour.  For those that managed to attend, I’m sure they’ll agree that Neil the tour guide was a gem in bringing the story of the building alive.  And those on my tour all fell in love with Ivan (see periscope/YouTube for that story)

I’ve storied my tweets here if you want the bite-size version. Read the rest of this entry »

First – a huge thank you to Jim Richadson and his team for pulling off another amazing MuseumNext conference. Every year I say it’s the best and while I know it has to grow I worry that it’ll lose that special je ne sais quoi. Not a worry at all. Jim brought in Kala Preston as new Director of MuseumNext and between them they managed to create a very large-scale international museum conference with a familiar and home-y feel about it. THANK YOU! (And bring on MuseumNext USA at Indianapolis Museum of Art this September!)

I have to mention the people. From registration to closing talks – so many familiar AND new faces this year but what was brilliant to see was the connections. Yes the regulars talked to each other but ‘newbies’ we’re encouraged and folded into the conversation. I don’t recall seeing anyone stand by themselves for too long unless they wanted to. You don’t get that at any other conference the way MuseumNext manages to do it. It’s wonderful to watch from the side-lines and see so many new connections and relationship start at MuseumNext. The key is to keep the conversations going! Read the rest of this entry »

I usually have a theme or reason to update my site – usually around a recent campaign. This one is going to be a bit different.  Currently, I’m in Indianapolis (thanks to the IMA!) after being in Chicago talking to some great new/old friends. I’ve also been following a few discussions online and having some interesting conversations. 

Language

A huge issue that has been surfacing again is language. I don’t mean French vs English but terminology and the lack of clear definitions to some words / actions. It’s not a bad thing but I’ve seen and heard many conversations lately where terminology is used so loosely without the person defining their meaning and assuming the listener was on the same page. We need to make ourselves very clear in conversations.

Action
Ok, we all know museum time is different than normal time but in fairness, they are trying to get better. Hm, I’m not sure I believe that myself but I have to try believing. Regardless – changes have been made and the timeframe from start talking about to start doing is getting smaller. Read the rest of this entry »

This post is a combination of a ‘year in review’ and a ‘brain dump of thoughts’.  It’s a good and positive – well that’s how I see it, I’m sure one or two might find a fault or two and that’ ok!

#MuseumSelfie & Other World Trending Things
Yes, I realize the irony of this but who knew it was going to be so popular?  It’s been requested that I run it again so mark your calendar for January 21 2015! There was A LOT of press about going viral.  And recently had a shoutout in this New York Times article.  Follow @CultureThemes and @MuseumSelfieDay

On the same page, see #AskACurator, #MuseumWeek & #LoveTheatre which also went world trending and will be repeated again in 2015.  Never under-estimate the importance of social media in this fast pace digital/tech world. Read the rest of this entry »

As many of you know I’ve been a Google Explorer since December 2013.  My original focus was to see how Google Glass could work within the cultural sector.

For months I used projects I was working on to share Glass – to instigate dialogue and consider how people would use Glass should they own a pair.  As time went on my focus shifted from the cultural sector in general to, more specifically, accessibility. It became apparent the more I experienced the use of Glass with others just how many of those experiences that Glass provided generated examples of how this new technology could impact on people’s lives for the better.

It was during MuseumNext that my research came full circle back to Glass in museums.  There was a lot of discussion on innovation and technology at MuseumNext, but I challenged the discussion by suggesting that the word innovation is being used to loosely and freely, is what many Museums doing innovate? Is an App still ‘innovative work’ just because it’s….an App?  This initiated another discussion from a few follow up posts which lead to me mentioning that I’ve had Glass for a while now, making it very public and offering it for research or experimentation to the Museum sector however at that point NO museum had taken me up on the offer.

From that initial discussion a few museums contacted me, one of which was Joseph Padfield from the National Gallery.  Joseph was interested in Glass and its possibilities within the National Gallery from the museum aspect but also conservation. We decided on a visit the National Gallery and we would run a two-day research project to see if Glass really did have potential there.

Initially we arranged for a brief ‘consultation’.  I came in, demonstrated Google Glass and let a few of the staff members have a go, albeit briefly.  We covered in this initial meeting;

• What Google Glass looks like
• How it works (physically)
• How to operate it
• Some of examples of accessibility that it could be used with.

Read the rest of this entry »