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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 … -
On Philanthropy and Paternalism
I’m immersed in writing TrendsWatch 2015 for the rest of the month, which leaves limited bandwidth for blogging. For the next few weeks, I’m going to be sharing brief thoughts, the kind of “here’s a 15 minute essay on why I think this … -
Futurist Friday: Alt History & Alt Futures
Ever wonder how the present would be different, if some some key event in our past had torqued just enough to propel us into a different sector of the Cone of Plausibility? Exploring such scenarios is the realm of “alternative … -
Recommendations
If you aren’t exploring Medium yet, you should. This blog publishing platform is turning into my go-to place for browsing and expanding my horizons. The recommendations by Medium itself seem rather random (no, guys, I really am not … -
Futurist Friday: Siri on Steroids?
Yesterday Amazon launched Echo, a digital assistant that sounds a lot like a female version of Hal (from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Or better, Majel Barrett channeling the brain of the starship Enterprise. “Far-field voice … -
Digging Deeper than Dinosaurs and Pasta
Recently, the Field Museum commissioned research from Slover Linett Audience Research, exploring why people visit a natural history museum. Staff at the museum are using the results to figure out how different kinds of people do or don’t … -
Futurist Friday: A Graphic Look at Big Data and Privacy
Sometimes, in this job, I get dang tired of reading. That’s one reason I so often feature videos in Friday’s periodic glimpse of the future. Next best thing to video? Pictures. So I was tickled to stumble across “Terms of … -
Thursday Thought: Getting Personal
Read this email I received yesterday: Hello Elizabeth! My name is Andrea, and I’m a librarian with The Seattle Public Library’s Reader Services department. Thanks for using Your Next Five Books, our online service for readers. I’ve created … -
Po-tay-to Po-taa-to: On Unpaid Internships
Finally, ok, I’m weighing in. I hesitated for a long time because it wasn’t clear what I could add to an already robust conversation. But this topic is a logical extension of the series of posts in which I’m trying to untangle the … -
Where do museums fit in the new landscape of science engagement?
Early on in our acquaintance, founding CFM Council member Peter Linett detonated a “brain grenade” with a question he has also posed on his firm’s blog: why aren’t museums more often “heartfelt, honest, gripping, funny and…deeply moving”? …
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