Linda’s defense, social media and the impact on museum image

Linda’s dissertation has been the third at TEC-CH to explore the use of social media in cultural heritage communication. Before Linda, Joao Paulo analyzed the impact of social networking on the growth of cultural knowledge, taking music as example of a cultural product and the specific case of Brazilian music on the web. Olga looked upon the potential of web 2.0 for communicating Italian cultural heritage and leaned on a case for adopting web 2.0 by a small museum in Italy.

Linda’s approach was an analytical one, focused on the way social media impacts on museum image and on the perceived benefits and disadvantages of its use in museum communication, from the perspective of museum decision-makers. Her hypothesis is that social media have changed the museum communication landscape and will consequently induce museums to change their communication strategy. Starting from the observation that there is an unequal integration of social media services in museum communication in the city of Geneva, Linda has tried to understand the reasons behind this, focusing on four museums in Geneva: The Musée d’art moderne et contemporain (MAMCO) and the Centre d’art contemporain (CAC); Musées d’art et d’histoire (MAHs) and the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève (MEG). The results point to the fact that museums look at social media as a means to attract an audience that would not have been otherwise touched by typical museum communication. Though the results point at the openness and interest towards using web 2.0, they also highlight the limited amount of information that decision-makers have on the variety of tools and services now available (the decision-makers interviewed knew Facebook, and while two of them also used Facebook, none of the interviewees knew about Twitter). Regarding the content production strategy, it appears that the museums in her study which used social media tend to re-use existing content rather than creating it for scratch for publishing on a specific platform. The overall conclusion of her study is that the museums studied are aware of the benefits of using social media and of the positive impact they might have on their image, but are either reluctant to use them, or would use them in a very limited part of their potential, due to lack of human and financial resources, and especially due to lack of personnel specialized in communication through social media.

Insoliti musei: Explore Italy's unusual museums

This is a new initiative under the brand Think small (and original): the project Insoliti musei (Unusual museums) has been launched to draw attention to Italy's small and quite unusual museums: the museum of gladiators, museum of the witches, museum of the serial killer (auch!), of pasta, ... The project team is made of four people working in the area of arts, culture, technology and design (one of their projects is musei-it.net)

See website

Hopes/Dreams/Fears

The @Platea art collective is once again presenting a public art project that all are invited to participate, from all places across the world. The new project is titled "Hopes/Dreams/Fears", in which participants contribute their sentiments in the form of status updates, to be broadcasted on physical sites as well as social media networks. 

The purpose of H/D/F is to heighten our sense of "ambient awareness", such as the times when we read about our acquaintances' facebook updates and learning about their personalities, lifestyles and habits at the same time. We notice them as insignificant noise in our daily lives, yet it makes a difference as to how we perceive others. By gathering hundreds or even thousands of hopes, dreams, and fears from people across the globe, @Platea hopes to unite strangers and disparate communities, to paint a picture of our colourful world of diversity, and to push for our understanding about people who are different from ourselves. By collecting thoughts on both paper and over the internet, the project hopes to cross the digital divide and bring viewers together regardless of whether they are connected to online social networks or not.

The project was officially launched on June 12th at FIGMENT NYC, an annual participatory art and culture festival on Governors Island in New York. It runs until the end of July, and it is fairly simple to get involved:

1. Fill out the form at http://tinyurl.com/kj75lc

2. Join the hopes/dreams/fears Facebook group at http://tr.im/n6KP

3. Wait to see yours and others' hopes, dreams and fears broadcast over the next month and a half in your Facebook feed.

To learn more about @Platea and hopes/dreams/fears, you can check out their website on http://plateastweets.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you there!

Galleria Doppia V

Borse di studio Governo italiano

Il Governo italiano, per favorire la diffusione della conoscenza della lingua e della cultura italiana, ha previsto di mettere a disposizione alcune Borse di studio quale contributo per effettuare studi e ricerche in Italia.

La conoscenza della lingua italiana costituisce titolo imprescindibile e il candidato può chiedere una borsa per:
Corsi brevi di lingua;
Corsi universitari singoli;
Corsi di laurea;
Attività di ricerca;
Corsi post-universitari (dottorati, master, specializzazioni)

Il termine per l’inoltro della candidatura è il 20 giugno 2009.

Tutte le informazioni relative alle tipologie delle borse e alle modalità di candidatura sono disponibili al sito:
www.esteri.it/MAE/doc_borse_studio/BorseDiStudioAnnoAccademico2009_2010.doc.

Chi avesse ulteriori domande è invitato a contattare direttamente l’Ambasciata d’Italia a Berna, tel. 031 3500777, e-mail stampa.ambberna@esteri.it.

The Museum of online museums

This website puts together a selection of outstanding museum exhibits, updated regularly. You will find ranked reputed museums websites and online applications such as MoMa, SFMoMA, the MET Timeline of Art History, etc., but also unexpected listings, such as Comprehensive Gallery of Airline Meals or Gallery of Improvised Prison Escape Tools.
The parameters of selection might be overtly subjective, fitting the overall writing style of the website, but overall I find it an interesting resource.
Personally, I appreciate the fact that anyone can become a director of the MoOM, hence the long list of board directors, downsizing any pretence of social hierarchy :)

Enjoy browsing: The Museum of online museums

And thanks Mauricio for sending this in!

The @Platea Project

Ever wonder how a street performance would look like when it is moved to the Internet? This was a question that artist An Xiao asked, and you will get to see and experience first-hand how that would be like, soon within the next few days!

After a first "tw"erformance called "The Great Yawn", An is launching yet another public performance for all to participate, this time by the name of "Co-Modify". It is going to take place between May 3 to 9, on all social media networks for all those who want to take part. The project addresses the ubiquity of Internet advertising, and the extent of commodification that are happening in our lives. During the week, participants will endorse a brand or multinational company of their choice, and use their creativity to sponsor the products on their social media networks. If you'd like to participate, find out more on the @Platea blog and follow it on Twitter. Sign-up deadline is approaching!

To learn more about the artist, I have also previously mentioned another project of hers in conjunction with the brooklyn museum. Hope to see you during Co-Modify!!