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Monday Musing: Mapping Quiet Spaces
These musings started as my self assigned “15 minute to comment on a story in the news.” I’ve been blowing my time limit, lately, so today I’m setting my stopwatch and sticking to my original intent: briefly … -
Coming Soon: Your Robotic Chariot
What will be the first robot to be a part of your everyday life? OK, it may already be the Roomba–the little autonomous vacuum cleaner (80% of which are given names by their owners.) But I don’t think Roombas will radically … -
A Geyser of Information: Tapping the big data oil boom
While the human race is rapidly depleting or degrading natural resources—oil, water, minerals, biodiversity—one resource is growing at an exponential pace. Every two days people create as much information as we did from the dawn of … -
Robots! Are Rosie, Voltron, Bender and their kin finally coming into their own?
For decades (if not centuries), futurists, writers and inventors have promised that robotic help—mechanized beings ready to serve as soldiers, maids, chauffeurs—is just on the horizon. In 1988 pundits predicted “convenience robots” would … -
The Coming Dementia Epidemic
Demographics are among the most stable of trends. Absent a change in immigration laws or a fatal pandemic, we can forecast the composition of the US population with a pretty high degree of accuracy. Working out the consequences of those … -
Synesthesia: Multisensory experiences for a multisensory world
Remember when you looked at a painting, listened to music, tasted your food, smelled perfume and touched a (real, physical) object? The rich messiness of the five human senses has always been hard to record in tangible media, but now, … -
Privacy in a Watchful World: What have you got to hide?
In a world where companies and governments can, and increasingly do, track vast amounts of personal information about our habits, preferences, behavior, communications and even our thoughts, where will we draw the line? People evidently … -
What’s Mine Is Yours: The economy of collaborative consumption
Nature abhors a vacuum, and both environmentalists and capitalists hate waste. That empty room in your house—why not rent it out? You only drive your car on weekends—why leave it sitting at the curb the rest of the week? You have a couple … -
For Profit for Good: The rise of the social entrepreneurs
For years, well-meaning critics have been telling nonprofits to act more like businesses: to do a better job marketing, to innovate, to develop a strong brand identity. It’s ven been suggested that nonprofits sometimes use their … -
Hot, New Trends Deliberated in Wine Country
I hope you’ve had a chance to delve into TrendsWatch 2014 (now available as a free app, with embedded videos!) and are using the report to fuel discussions inside and outside your organization. This week’s blog post is by …
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Latest Stories from AAM
Announcing the AAM 2027 Theme
The 2027 AAM Annual Meeting & MuseumExpo, the museum field’s largest convening, …
A Letter from the Frontlines of the AI-pocalypse
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Center for the Future of Museums Blog
This is the second in a series of posts I hope will help readers navigate the perils and …
AAM and 9 Museum Associations Issue Joint Public Comments on Proposed OMB Rule
Arlington, VA–Today, the American Alliance of Museums submitted a public comment in …