• Futurist Friday: Internet Fail

    Futurist Friday is a series of occasional posts featuring recommending reading, viewing or listening resources to expand your thinking and fuel your  forecasting. When I teach forecasting workshops, I lead participants through the process …
  • Some Notes on the Future of History Museums: Part II

    This is the second installment of Phil Katz’s report from the recent joint meeting of the Organization of American Historians (OAH) and National Council on Public History (NCPH). You can catch up on part one here. While I was at the …
  • Futurist Friday: Short Glimpses

    Two very brief videos to fuel your futures-thinking. Project Glass presents a first-person view of a future in which locality-aware data is continually streamed into your line of sight—from the time you wake up for your morning coffee …
  • Introducing TrendsWatch: Your Digest of the Future

    At a recent conference I was challenged to come up with an image representing my role in the universe. I had a sudden image of myself as a Whale Shark trawling the vast digital sea of information and filtering out bits that museums will …
  • Future Babble by Dan Gardner

    Today’s recommended reading is contributed by Rob Waller, president of the Protect Heritage Corporation. Prior to PHC, Rob spent thirty-three years at the Canadian Museum of Nature, including periods as chief of the Conservation Section …
  • Prodding Sacred Cows: The Mission Statement

    When I was pulling together the book National Standards & Best Practices for U.S. Museums, I found myself increasingly uneasy with the way that the standards use mission statement as the ultimate touchstone for determining what a given …
  • Futurist Friday: Uglies, Pretties, Specials and Extras

    “The function of science fiction is not always to predict the future but sometimes to prevent it.”—Frank HerbertThis week’s guest post is by Kat Burkhart, executive director and curator of the Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County. Kat is a …
  • Navigating Conservation Futures

    I’m often bemused when I compare the answers to two questions I frequently ask museums: One of the key functions identified in your mission is preserving collections. What’s your goal? How long do you want them to be around? What timeframe …
  • Tailor your Twitterverse to the Future

    Thanksgiving 2011 marked a CFM milestone—we topped 10,000 followers on Twitter. I was thankful about that—I like to think it means we are sharing information people find useful and informative. And maybe a little fun. I know some folks …
  • Can Disasters Help Us Build a Better Future?

    The best that can be said of a disaster is that sometimes we can learn something, if we are wise and attentive, that will make for a better outcome in the future. I just finished reading a great essay, Lost and Found in Japan, on the World …

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