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On the hard work of building the future
Currently I’m watching the birth of two movements in our field. #MuseumsRespondtoFerguson and #MuseumWorkersSpeak are both grappling with issues of what museums can do, should do, and should be expected to do in response to issues of … -
Toward Lean Collections with Greater Impact
In around 2000, the Accreditation Commission took a long, hard look at their tabling decisions—this is when they pause their review to give a museum time to take corrective action. They were troubled to find that over a quarter of these … -
Monday Musing: On Failure
I was a dinner a couple months ago, when people started dissing buzzwords. One that came in for a hit was “failure.” “I hate it when people start touting the importance of failure” one diner declared (I’m paraphrasing here). The … -
Futurist Friday: My Mind to Your Mind
While we are not ready for the Vulcan Mind Meld (yet), researchers are already making great leaps in brain-to-computer interfaces. Now scientists are beginning to play with brain-to-brain communications. Recent experiments include: fitting … -
Throwback Thursday: the Coming Dementia Epidemic
This past Tuesday, Lisa Eriksen blogged about museum programs for people with dementia and how staff address the thorny challenge shifting focus from impact to engagement, and assessing programs that explicitly do not expect to impart new … -
Older Adults and Programming for People with Dementia
I’ve been planning a workshop for the Alliance’s Accreditation Commission, helping them explore evaluation programs that focus on impact, and how that may translate to our field. Bill Gates’ blithely sets numeric goals for eliminating … -
Monday Musing: Up Periscope
The week before last I took a tour of the British Museum’s “Defining Beauty” exhibit, hosted by historian Dan Snow (who has a gorgeously plummy accent. Bonus). I did this while pacing the corridors of AAM, channeling Dan … -
Futurist Friday: A Plug for Reading Science Fiction
Rather meta–today’s Futurist Friday is about why you should read (good) science fiction for a glimpse of realistic futures. This 8 minute video from PBS Digital Studios includes clips and quotes from many of the greats, notably … -
Museums and Social Justice: Supporting Self-Assessment
In a guest post here on the blog earlier this week, Nina Pelaez and Alyssa Greenberg reported on the self-organized convening of Museum Workers Speak at the AAM annual meeting in Atlanta a few weeks ago, where attendees addressed issues of … -
The Future of Museums
“I believe that a desirable future depends on our deliberately choosing a life of action, over a life of consumption. Rather than maintaining a lifestyle which only allows to produce and consume–a style of life which is merely a way …
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