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Fostering Innovation Part 2: Who are the Museum Innovators?
You can read part one of this series here. Lately, I’m taking inspiration from a researcher in the ‘60’s: Everett Rogers, and his book “Diffusion of Innovations.” (Hat tip to Richard Evans of EmcArtsfor bringing Rogers to my attention.) … -
Reflections on a MOOC: One Museum Educator’s Journey in the Unknown
From the moment I read that MoMA was launching the first museum MOOC, I wanted to cover it on the Blog. And not just because “MoMA MOOC” is so fun to say—these huge, virtual courses are a hotbed of experimentation, with some hailing the … -
Futurist Friday: Artifacts of the Future
What artifacts will history museums of the future collect, and how will we interpret them? Scenarios—fictional stories of potential futures—can help us imagine how we would adapt to alternative outcomes. Often scenarios can be found in … -
Fostering Innovation: Part 1
One of CFM’s assignments is to encourage museums to innovate, the logic being that if the future is going to be significantly different from the present, museums are going to have to adopt new ways of operating. It’s particularly important … -
Four Ways of Seeing the Future
Last July, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop Per Child project and co-founder of MIT Media Lab, keynoted at the WorldFuture 2013 conference. In the ten minute extract of his talk embedded below, he offers four ways of looking … -
Futurist Friday: Parking Pedals
Today’s Futurist Friday is about bicycles. Specifically, where to put them. DC’s “Sustainable DC” plan calls for bikes and walking to account for 25% of commuting by 2033. Right now that figure is about 16%, … -
Blogging about Blogging
I’ve encouraged folk seeking to start or advance their museum careers to jump in and do interesting work, with or without institutional support. Even as the internet has undermined the economic models for traditional avenues of … -
TrendsWatch Update: The Internet of Things
One of the trends we featured in TrendsWatch 2013 was “When Things Talk Back: the rise of networked objects and attentive spaces.” What could happen in a future where the “stuff” that surrounds you collects and shares information about … -
Go East, Young Woman
Many people, giving advice to people aiming at museum careers, have pointed out that you have to be willing to relocate. (See, for example, Robert Connolly’s recent Thoughts on How to Get a Museum Job). Today’s post raises the question—how … -
Museum Jobs That Didn’t Exist in 2003
(& what that says about the evolution of our field.) A couple weeks ago, I read a post on Coexist called “Eight New Jobs People will have in 2025,” projecting openings for Digital Death Managers, Un-Schooling Counselors, Digital Detox …
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Center for the Future of Museums Blog
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Advocacy Alert
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AAM Statement on the Independence of the Smithsonian and America’s Museums
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Press Release
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