museumsandtheweb.com - Comments for "there's no such thing as 'museum content'"

museums are OF the internet, not 'overshadowed' by it

jtrant — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 18:01:16 +0000

Melissa,

i think the difference in our approach is that i see the network – the internet, the Web, the interWeb – as a place that museums [and libraries and archives] should naturally be. it's not a question of being "overshadowed by the Internet". it's a question of playing an active and vibrant role in a changing information environment.

jennifer

j. trant archives & museum informatics www.archimuse.com

tags reveal new perspectives

jtrant — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:02:36 +0000

i totally agree. one of the things that is clear from the steve.museum work -- where 80% + of the tags are new -- is that there are a great many more ways to approach museum content than museum people are going to be able to anticipate.

we want our stuff to have meaning to people -- so lets enable them to create it for themselves, in small ways that are personally relevant.

/jt

j. trant archives & museum informatics www.archimuse.com

User tags

arkrausehardie — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:59:31 +0000

One of the great benefits of allowing users to tag content is that they help us think about our content in new ways and with new words. It takes us out of our ivory towers and helps us find common ground for communicating. I think thats pretty neat and powerful.

Rebecca K-H

not really 'novel' i agree

jtrant — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:52:36 +0000

i agree frankie -- it's been the case since museums put content on the web. but we forget about it, and often focus on designing destinations. even when we talk about searching, it's in the context of searching a museum catalogue, not searching the web.

bruce wyman just tweeted that "exhibit designers have known this for years. and it's less of a prob at museums that traffic in ideas rather than objects". i think i agree with him to a point, in terms of thinking in themes. but in terms of the focus on a single destination, exhibits are still are all about the museum as a defining space.

the web2.0 rhetoric reinforces the sense that museums don't own the information consuming experience -- or the information seeking space.

when museum content is mashed up, re-used, re-presented it's the context of a user's interests that's at the forefront.

/jt

Hasn't this been the case

frankieroberto — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:15:49 +0000