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  • Lost Pleasures

    “If you resolve to give up smoking, drinking and loving, you don’t actually live longer; it just seems longer.” –Clement Freud There was an interesting bit of math tucked into the calorie count regulations released by the FDA late …
  • On Cuba

    While I spend a lot of my time reporting to you about trends—things that change quickly or slowly over time, in a traceable direction—disruptive events are equally important drivers of change. Disruptive events come to our attention as …
  • 2015–a Year for Reflection and Renewal

    The theme across the museum blog-o-sphere this month is reflection and renewal. Jeff Inscho’s intentions for the coming year include making more things with his hands and “valuing tactile media and relationships over their virtual/digital …
  • Holidays with Class(es): St. Entropy Gets Schooled

    This is #25 in a series that, I’m happy to say, looks like it won’t end anytime soon. Enjoy a holiday break, and I look forward blogging with and for you in the new year.‘Twas the night before Christmas, but I was not …
  • Your 2014 CFM Guide to “Trendy” Gifts

    As the year wraps up, here are a few suggestions for last-minute items to round out your trends-related gifting. This selection illustrates a number of the issues I’ve explored via the blog in the past year, with a range of price tags that …
  • In Memoriam: Tracy Hicks, 1946 – 2014

    Tracy Hicks, Helix, AAM Annual Meeting 2011photo by Susan Breitkopf One of the blessings of this job is the wonderful, brilliant, generous people I have met in the course of my work for CFM. Tracy Hicks was all these things, and more. You …
  • Let’s Talk Money: How much do you make?

    You’d probably feel massively uncomfortable if someone asked you that question at a dinner party. After all, money is one of the things (along with politics, sex and religion) that are simply not discussed in polite company.  But that …
  • Monday Musing: Making it Personal with Telepresence

    This video caught my attention this morning: a crowdfunding pitch for what is billed as “the world’s first social innovation telepresence experience.” This system, Omnipresenz, is designed to let you control a human …
  • Reinventing the Historic House Museum: MJT meets the Civil War

    Here is another brief brain jotting as I take a break from writing TrendsWatch 2015. I’ve been vastly enjoying blog postsand tweets from Frank Vagnone, author of the Anarchist Guide to Historic House Museums. I love the way he …
  • Futurist Friday: The Encrypted Archive

    Here’s a challenge for GLAMS (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums): how can we guarantee the privacy of donors who want certain records to be kept from the public until a certain date? This article in The Economist kicks off …

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