Learning in Museums 2008 Closing remarks

Some closing (opening) thoughts: Learning in Museums 2008 Peter Samis Associate Curator, Interpretation San Francisco Museum of Modern Art AAM-LiM Minneapolis 21 June 2008

1. The Importance of Interpretation Tate Modern’s Principles

Interpretation is at the heart of the gallery's mission.

2. Works of art do not have self-evident meanings.

3. We believe that works of art have a capacity for multiple readings and that interpretation should make visitors aware of the subjectivity of any interpretive text.

4. Interpretation embraces a willingness to experiment with new ideas.

5. We recognise the validity of diverse audience responses to works of art.

6. Interpretation should incorporate a wide spectrum of voices and opinions from inside and outside the institution.

7. Visitors are encouraged to link unfamiliar artworks with their everyday experience.

– Gillian Wilson, “Multimedia Tour Programme at Tate Modern,” in Bearman, David and Jennifer Trant (Eds.), Papers, Museums and the Web 2004 . Online at http://www. archimuse .com/mw2004/papers/ wilson / wilson .html

The fact that museums never have time to interpret their own collections is one of the best-kept secrets of the profession. “ Content is not content.” -Sarah Schulz

And yet, do interpretive resources make a difference? (Statistics courtesy Randi Korn & Associates)

The more interpretive resources visitors used, the more they appreciated the art—regardless of whether they had any prior familiarity with Barney and his work.

Building in-House capacity

Permission / forgiveness

You have to feel personally committed because you’re the owner , proponent, & advocate within the institution.

Does your museum have a culture of innovation?

And besides, nothing succeeds like success.

Subject matter expertise (curatorial/historical)

Visitor Studies

Communications Theory

Cognitive Psychology

(concepts of load and flow)

Statistics & Data analysis

Education

Engineering…

Technology: hardware

Technology: software

Design: Interface

Design: Graphic

Design: Interactive

Information Architecture

Cultural heritage multimedia thrives at the confluence of multiple fields:

Ethnographic observation

Storytelling: linear

Storytelling: non-linear

Game Theory

Writing

Journalism/Interviewing

Photography

Sound design

Videography / filmmaking

Experience planning

… and this list is by no means exhaustive!

But don’t feel overwhelmed…

2. Revolution / Evolution

Capability - Maturity Model

Initial phase: “heroic”

Managed phase: “1-deep”

Defined phase: Processes in place

Quantitatively managed: metrics

Optimizing: metrics fed back into system

Don’t skip the steps. Just set your sights on the step you’re at, and the next.

“ I’m gonna learn about Technology and he’s gonna learn about Education .” The Two Jasons

Tools with low barriers to entry

Blogs

Wikis

Podcasts

Pachyderm

www.pachyforge.org

“ Many iterations to take us to where we want to go.” —Mike Mouw, MHS

Experimentation

Failure

Experimentation

Evaluation

Presentation

Re-tooling

… (It’s a wheel)

Build this capacity into the plan.

3. Web 2.0 and visitor engagement Olafur Eliasson

“ Objecthood doesn’t have a place in the world if there’s not an individual person making use of that object.” A Radical Stance: i.e., The Museum’s reality does not trump the visitor’s perspective.

How we represent How visitors take ourselves officially us into their own lives

…to the point of re-inventing ourselves for various audiences: or letting them do it for us!

“Learn how to use the technologies people are using.” “ Then you’ll find out why they’re using them.” —Sarah Schultz

Quotations from Chairman Chris