At a museum conference session participants became defensive about adopting technology in museum galleries.  It got me thinking, “is there a “Spectrum of Innovation in Museums ?”".  “Are some types of museum more innovative than others?”

“Spectrum of Innovation in Museums” (for the purpose of the spectrum including Science Centers, Zoos, Living History and Aquariums). Such a spectrum is an insight into the culture of different institutions.

The question I asked myself, “how likely would the museum be to adopt a new technology? (not based on budget)”

Of course this is a generalization, would love to hear feedback.

- Mark

“Across the online environment, there is growing engagement with user-generated content which impacts on designers as they move from sole author and producer to facilitators of the design process. User-driven and open innovation models of collaboration are impacting on the design and development of services and while there is a growing body of theory exploring the basis of this innovation, there are few models for the way in which designers will practice within this environment.

We are currently witnessing transformations in the ways in which clients engage designers and the ways in which designers participate in the development of products, services and experiences. These transformations in design practice are closely aligned to changing audience expectation and a growing demand for user participation in the design process. This is in keeping with a shift from the development of a service to an experience economy. (Gilmore & Pine 1999, Rivkin 2000)

The notion of experience enterprises has been coined in response to the experience economy. It encompasses those enterprises, both commercial and publicly funded, which have at their heart, the mandate to attract new audiences/ consumers/ producers through the development of integrated, multiplatform experiences. For example, both Nike, with its hugely successful Nike + social networking campaign which facilitates the development of communities of runners worldwide and Flickr Commons, the photo-sharing facility developed for cultural organisations to share archival imagery focus on adding value to existing services by creating and sharing in memorable experiences.

In the museum environment, it is sometimes suggested that audiences/creators and producers are willing to pay more for products and services if these are provided in an atmosphere that generates ‘memorable’ experiences. If this is the case and designers have yet to explore the impact of the user/creator on their practice, what will it mean for the development of future museum communication programs?

This posting is a starting point for problematising a broader shift in consumption and production, recognising the profound impacts that these shifts will have on future design practices and in turn, the ways in which they will affect museum programs.

Some of the questions it seeks to explore include:
How will social networking affect design as an enterprise?
What will this mean to organisations which engage designers?
Will services and experiences converge?
Who will drive new models of design innovation?
How will innovation drive new audiences/clients?”

Today, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Manila, an excellent Museum.  The Museum makes use of Tactile Graphics in their painting gallery.  Tactile graphics are images that are designed to be touched rather than looked at. The content of the graphic is represented by a set of symbols selected to be easily read and understood.

Links regarding Tactile Graphics:

RNIB National Centre for Tactile Diagrams

Tactile Graphics, by Polly K. Edman

American Foundation for the Blind

American Foundation for the Blind, Resource List

Tactile Graphics Website

Texas School for the Blind, Tactile Graphics Page

Producers:

Touch Graphics

Zychem ltd

http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/List_of_Hacker_Spaces

Hackerspaces are communites of people that gather for “Do it yourself projects” or Maker Movement projects.

Most science centers lose visitors at age 12, Hackerspaces is a great way to extend participation for teenagers and adults.

Read Museum 2.0 article for more information

Machine Project Loves Me from Jeremy Quinn on Vimeo.

Machine Project

1200 D North Alvarado
Los Angeles, CA 90026
213-483-8761
http://machineproject.com

from website

“Machine Project exists to encourage heroic experiments of the gracefully over-ambitious. We provide educational resources to people working with technology, we collaborate with artists to produce site-specific works, and we promote conversations between scientists, poets, technicians, performers, and the community of Los Angeles as a whole.”

Click Image for video

The Exploratorium
3601 Lyon Street
San Francisco, CA 94123
(415) 563-7337

June 19, 2009-September 20, 2009, Daniel Rozin at the Seeing Gallery of the Exploratorium

“The Seeing Gallery is part of the Seeing collection on display at the Exploratorium. The gallery showcases exhibits exploring artists’ perspectives on seeing and perception.

This summer’s Reflections exhibition features the interactive artworks of Daniel Rozin, whose mechanical and software mirrors and sculptures respond to your presence and provide intriguing new perspectives on your image. You’ll be absorbed by Self-Centered Mirror, lose yourself in Self-Excluding Mirror, reinvent yourself as a snowstorm at Snow Mirror, strike a painterly pose for Mirror No. 10 (Sketch Mirror), and more.

Daniel Rozin is Associate Arts Professor at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU and is an artist and developer working with interactive digital art. All Rozin’s artworks appear courtesy of bitforms gallery and ITP-New York University.”

From Exploratorium Website

There are several conferences where emerging technologies for museums is exhibited:
Association of Science and Technologies
Siggraph
InfoComm
Maker Faire