A presentation given to Intro. to Museum Studies graduate students at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis in October 2014, including two in-class activities.

1. Intro. to Museum Studies | Prof. Modupe Labode | October 2014
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
The Digital Museum
Lori Byrd Phillips
@LoriLeeByrd
Digital Marketing Coordinator
The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

2. Suggested Reading
● The Temple and the Bazaar: Wikipedia as a Platform for Open Authority in Museums
● Dark Matter, CODE|WORDS, Michael P. Edson, 2014 https://medium.com/code-words-technology-and-theory-in-the-museum/dark-matter-a6c7430d84d1
● Defining "Digital," MuseumNext Keynote Part 1, Koven Smith, 2014 http://kovenjsmith.com/archives/1446
● The Museum as Skeuomorph, MuseumNext Keynote Part 2, Koven Smith, 2014 http://kovenjsmith.com/archives/1452
● The Real Reason Some NonProfits Stink at Digital, Know Your Own Bone, Colleen Dilenschneider, 2014 http:
//colleendilen.com/2014/07/02/the-real-reason-some-nonprofits-stink-at-digital-and-why-it-is-getting-worse/
● Digital Touch (or What Museums Can Learn from Online Dating) [VIDEO] Colleen Dilenschneider, 2013 http:
//colleendilen.com/2013/12/17/what-museums-can-learn-from-online-dating-hint-touch-really-matters-video/

3. ➔ Mind Map
➔ The Digital Museum: IRL
➔ Big Trends
➔ The Future
➔ Open Authority: Next Steps

4. What is the digital museum?
Mind mapping time!
➔ What phrases come to mind when you hear
“digital in museums?”

5. The Digital Museum: IRL
Group Activity
➔ Break into groups of 4
➔ Each group is a different Children’s Museum
Department.
➔ Brainstorm how or what your department will
contribute digitally to the upcoming exhibit.
➔ Reconvene to share ideas.

6. Children’s Museum Departments
● Collections
● Exhibits
● Marketing
● Design
● Public Relations (PR)
● Social Media
● Creative Media & IT

7. Opening January 31, 2015
And the exhibit is...

8. About WB TV
Goal
Create an immersive exhibit environment in the style of the Warner Bros. Studio lot
that showcases real and iconic costumes, props and memorabilia from popular
Warner Bros. television series, and that includes compelling interactives to encourage
family interaction in the form of making new memories together and
intergenerational memory sharing.
Big Idea
Television creators produce shows that entertain us by reflecting and dramatizing
everyday life with scripts, sets, costumes, props, special effects, and other production
techniques.

9. Did we hit on these areas?
● Web
● Mobile
● Email
● Digital Ads
● Digital Interactives (Online
and in exhibit)
● Social Media
● Content / Blogs
● Online PR
● Online Access / Participation
● Open Content

10. Big Trends
● Museum leadership is beginning to understand the
importance of digital.
● A seamless, consistent digital experience.
● Content creation takes a lot of time and money.
● Digital Strategy is necessary.
● Backlash against having a “digital” department.
● Visitors have high expectations of social media.

11. Social Media Best Practices
● Be Authentic & Transparent
● Be Relevant
● Be Consistent
● Be Gracious & Giving

12. The Future of Digital in Museums
● Mass-Institutional Collaborations.
● In-Sourcing. Staff contributions, in their own voices.
● Opening up to community voices. Open Authority.

13. Open Authority: Next Steps
● A Spectrum of Open Authority
● Elements of Open Authority
● Examples

14. A Spectrum of Open Authority

15. Elements of Open Authority
● Access to expertise
● Community participation
● A platform
● Content to engage with
● Shared control & dialogue
● A focus on process, not product
● Evidence of collaboration

16. Examples
● (Contributory) SuperPOWered Showdown
○ Bracket-style voting for top superpowers.
● (Collaborative) 100 Toys that Define Childhood
○ A story-collecting Digital Engagement Project.
● (Towards Co-Creative) Community Blogging & Dino Birthday
○ Local bloggers empowered to blog for the museum.
○ “If I Threw a Dino a Birthday Party” kid-submitted ideas
that we implemented.

17. Question Time!
Don’t be a stranger. . .
@LoriLeeByrd
loribyrdphillips.com