Social Media Matters: An Interview with Jamie Glavic

Jamie Glavic is a museum professional and enthusiast. She serves on the board of the Ohio Museums Association, is a proud graduate of Developing History Leaders @SHA, Class of 2011, Chair of the SHA Alumni Committee, and a founding member, and current President, of the Emerging Museum Professionals Columbus Chapter. Jamie also blogs on current issues and trends affecting the museum field and history organizations at museumminute.wordpress.com and tweets at @MuseumMinute. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Cincinnati with a degree in history and has a particular affinity for dinosaurs and strategic planning literature. 



What’s your educational background?
I have a BA in History from the University of Cincinnati (GO BEARCATS!). While I don’t have a graduate degree (gasp, I know, I know), it is on my list of things to do – after I finish paying off my “first round” of student loan debt (I’m trying to be fiscally responsible – and have a life where I can order pizza from time to time).

I also have a certificate in Museum Leadership & Management from Developing History Leaders @SHA. What’s SHA you ask? SHA, or the Seminar for Historical Administration, is a program that combines depth (three weeks of engagement in deep discussion about issues facing our field) with breadth (discussions led by nationally recognized leaders in the history/museum field). It brings together current and future leaders in the public history field to learn in an intimate, collegial atmosphere. In short, it is awesome and I think is one of the best professional development experiences offered in the field.



What got you interested in Museums?
Dinosaurs. I’m convinced that dinosaurs are the gateway drug to all things awesome, especially science and history-based museum-ey things. The first time I saw a dinosaur, at the Anniston Museum of Natural History in Anniston, Alabama, it changed my life. I didn’t know what to do or how to do it exactly – but I knew I wanted to hang out in museums. I actually get goose bumps thinking about that moment. I did not study paleontology or attend a field school for a dig (because I’m just not that into dirt), but knowing I could always find dinosaurs in museums helped stoke an interest in both things, and my love of dinosaurs continues to this day; it’s exciting for me to see that same kind of appreciation from my nephews who are five, seven, and eight – they think dinosaurs are the coolest. That makes this history geek aunt, who drags them to museums every chance she gets, smile.



How does using social media inform your museum work?
Social media is a fabulous tool and has been a great catalyst in my museum career. I use social media to ask questions (and sometimes I find answers), make connections, join conversations, and share information that I find interesting or that is beneficial for the work that I do. Social media has allowed me to become a part of a much larger museum community and I look for ways to expand its use in my work every chance I get.



Tell us a little bit about how your “non-museum” skills/activities inform your museum work?
Before I entered the museum field I was a history student – and I will be one of the first people to tell you I am thankful for my humanities education. I do not regret my decision to study history (or pursue a career in humanities) because it has given me an edge when it comes to research and writing. I don’t write exhibit labels but I do enjoy writing pithy blog posts and using other creative outlets for connecting with our museum audiences. I do a lot of online reading – blogs, articles, twitter, Facebook – and at the end of the day I have to unplug with a good book. However, as a recovering history major –I don’t read nearly as much now as I did as an undergrad.



What are some of your favorite online (or offline!) resources for people interested in finding out more about the use of social media and museums?
As a social media enthusiast, I work hard to keep up with the latest information on its use in the museum field and am always finding new and interesting sources.  Some of my current favorite go-tos include:

Digital Engagement Framework
The NMC Horizon Report: Museum Edition
Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project
Mashable
Museums and the Web
Museum Computer Network



What advice would you have for fellow museum professionals, especially those from smaller museums, in thinking about the best ways to leverage social media in their work?
The reality is that social media matters whether you want it to or not. It can no longer be a matter of “if” you do it – it’s become a matter of “how” you do it – and being sure that you make time for social media, because it has become necessary.  So, for the uninitiated, timid or overwhelmed, I would say start small. Pick one, maybe two  platforms to experiment with and inform this decision based on who your current audience is and who you would like for your audience to include/be in the (hopefully near) future (check out Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project if you need help defining audiences online). Give yourself at least six months. These tools take time. Your museum wasn’t built in a day. Be patient. Be genuine. Ask questions. And be flexible.

Also, and so important, play nice. Social media, and digital strategy, is a team sport. Content is generated from each department across any organization: education, programming, archives, etc. Their thoughts and feedback matter. Your colleagues are your champions/partners/allies. Don’t pretend to know everything, be a good listener, and be a team player.  



What do you think is the “next frontier” for museums?
The next frontier for museums is two-fold: one, I believe every museum will have a digital experience director on their exec team. This person will advocate that digital isn’t something additional that we do – rather, it’s embedded in our structure and has become a part of everything that we do. In the same vein, this person’s great responsibility will be to protect digital assets from become bastardized – i.e. using technology for technology sake, instead of integrating it strategically, so as to have the greatest impact possible for the organization  – strategy is key. We serve communities, and technology serves us.

The second big change will need to take place in the workplace structure itself. Cubicles will be a thing of the past. These silos everyone complains about between finance, marketing, programs, education and collections will become a faint memory when we all have to look at each other every day. We can’t have open and effective communication with the public without having open communication internally – building a team environment (a successful one) means tearing down walls, literally and physically, and getting your curators out of the collections facility.



What are some of your favorite museums or exhibitions?

Some of my favorite museums are:

Natural History Museum of Utah
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The National WWII Museum


Some of my favorite exhibitions are:

Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland

I was lucky and saw the first showing of this exhibition in the U.S. at MFAH. It was so beautiful. I was completely engrossed in the paintings.



Wedded Perfection: Two Centuries of Wedding Gowns

My husband and I toured this exhibition a few days after we got married in Cincinnati. Wedded Perfection will always hold a special place in my heart.



Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade 1940-1950

I love Rothko.



Your Body: The Inside Story

I toured this exhibition while in Baltimore for AAM. It was fun. I laughed. I played. And yes, I played a “symphony” of digestion noises.



The Star Spangled Banner

It’s so big! I saw this when my husband and I were last in D.C. I was a little overwhelmed when I walked into the space – I’ll never forget that moment of, “whoa…”



Can you talk a little about some of your current projects?
In my role as the Strategic Projects Coordinator I get thrown into a lot of projects – and gladly. I love the variety! My job requires me to constantly think outside of the box. I get to work with a phenomenal team of content specialists and general experts (library, archives, archaeology, civil war, photography, material culture, etc.). How they know what they know – and how MUCH they know – never ceases to astound me.

Also, I'm always adding to my "Meet a Museum Blogger" series on my Museum Minute blog !



If money were no object, what would your “dream” museum project be?
My dream museum project would be to host a museum-focused Travel Channel-type show, with my best friend and fellow museum professional, Dina Bailey. I imagine it being part Dirty Jobs, part How It’s Made, part Mysteries at the Museum. The show would highlight off the beaten path, interesting destinations/hidden gems around the world/the untold stories behind collections. The show could be titled, "It Belongs in a Museum!" It could also highlight the many museum jobs that exist outside the realm of curator, docent, and director. Hmmm...maybe "You Belong in a Museum" would be better. I'll let the execs at Travel Channel decide - they're reading this, right?



Thanks Jamie!   You can find out more about Jamie and her work at museumminute.wordpress.com or by following her on Twitter at @MuseumMinute.




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Kickstart This: LUMO

We've posted before about those cool Canadians from PO-MO Inc. 

PO-MO makes interactive displays involving projection technologies for corporate and museum clients, but now they've launched a Kickstarter campaign for a new consumer-oriented project called LUMO.  (As you can see in the video at the top of this post.)

LUMO is billed as the "world's first interactive projector for kids" but I'd say any maker or museum exhibit person who is interested in playing around with whole body motion control technology should check out the Kickstarter and PO-MO's website to find out more!

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Unpacking the Objects and their Stories. Takeaways from the 2013 AAM Conference.

I'm still buzzing a bit from the interplay of people and ideas (and crabcakes!) that I found in Baltimore during the 2013 American Alliance of Museums (AAM) Annual Meeting.

Normally I ignore the theme of most museum conferences, but this year's AAM theme, The Power of Story, resonated with me because of two particular sessions that bookended my experiences at the conference, and that have continued to make me think deeply about those two essential elements that great museum experiences provide: stories and stuff.

The first session, "Is it real? Who cares?" delved into the interplay between whether an object is perceived as "real" or "fake" and whether that notion has any impact whatsoever on whether a visitor's experience(s) with that object are successful or not.

During the session, different objects were described and projected onto a large screen at the front of the room.  Examples of objects included things like "Sue" the T Rex, the historic ship U.S.S. Constitution, or a recreation of a historic synagogue ceiling. 

At the same time, members of the audience were given smaller images of the same objects mounted on foamcore and were asked to weigh in on whether the object/story was more toward the "Fake" or "Real" end of the spectrum, and more toward the "Works" or "Doesn't Work" end of the spectrum, in terms of visitor engagement.  After each person holding an image weighed in on their impressions of the Fake/Real and Works/Doesn't Work continuum at the microphone, they went to stand at the front of the room and serve as a data point in a big 3D matrix.  (The front wall of the room was the Fake/Real axis, while the side walls were the Works/Doesn't Work axis.)

It was Uber Museum Geeky, but also lots of fun, especially once everyone was standing at the front holding their images and people from the audience could comment and move the human "data points" around to refine the big 3D matrix of stories and stuff.  (See image from the session at the top of this post --- that's me holding the U.S.S. Constitution firmly in the Real/Works quadrant.)

One thing that struck me was that at the beginning of filling in the matrix things were really clumped up toward the Fake/Doesn't Work part of the matrix, but after continued discussion, things spread more evenly between Fake and Real, and much more toward the Works for visitors end of the spectrum.

It really made me think how often in the museum world that we fetishize objects and their "authenticity" while sacrificing the primary visitor experience(s). 

The organizers of this session created a "Is it real? Who cares?" Tumblr site that they used while preparing their session, but which they have also opened up to continued conversation amongst colleagues on the topics that came out in the session discussion.

The other session that really stood out for me (and that connected in so many ways to the Is it real? session) was a dialogue between Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums, and Rob Walker, one of the creators of the Significant Objects Project.  The session was entitled (unsurprisingly) "Significant Objects."

Walker started with a brief presentation about the idea behind Significant Objects, which I would summarize as a way to test the theory that an object (of fairly limited "value" like something you could buy at a garage sale) could be invested with significance by attaching a fictitious story to it.

Some of the stories for the first 100 Significant Objects were written by famous authors (like Jonathan Lethem and Bruce Sterling) while other "object stories" were written by less famous writers.  In the end, all of the objects + stories were put up for sale on EBay to determine whether people would pay more for these objects coupled to clearly fictional stories than they would for the objects by themselves.  It turns out that people did pay more for the objects with stories, but really you should check out the entire Significant Objects website to get a better sense of the entire scope of the project.

In the same way I usually don't pay attention to conference themes, I've rarely purchased recordings of conference sessions, but in this case I'm making an exception just because I found the conversations and references presented (especially by Merritt and Walker) so valuable and meaty.  Two in particular related to this thread of narrative and object include the book "Taking Things Seriously" written by Significant Objects co-creator Joshua Glenn, and the Museum of Broken Relationships.

You can go to this section of the AAM website to purchase recordings of conference sessions, including this "Significant Objects" session which happened at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday, May 22nd.

As I departed Baltimore, I was left with the overwhelming feeling of the importance of objects in museums and visitor experiences, but only when coupled with strong narrative contexts, not as ends unto themselves. And that's really The Power of Story.



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Exhibit Design Inspiration: MaKey MaKey

Woohoo! I just received a cool red cardboard box filled with near infinite possibilities in the mail.

I was a Kickstarter backer of a neat project called MaKey MaKey.  In exchange for backing the MaKey MaKey guys (two MIT Media Lab students) I received a set of stuff like that pictured below (a MaKey MaKey board, a USB connector, and a set of alligator clips) to connect my computer to the real world with real objects (like bananas, PlayDoh, coins, or anything else that is at least a little bit conductive.)

Basically you can make a physical object act like a computer key (hence MaKey MaKey) to cause other things to happen. Watching the video at the top of this post (you can also watch it on YouTube) gives you some fun examples like an electronic piano using bananas as keys.

This is all great news for exhibit designers who don't want to become computer geeks or code monkeys.  (Even though the MaKey MaKey board is built using Arduino, an open-source way of connecting computers with the physical world.)  The idea of using physical objects as HCI (Human Computer Interfaces) isn't new, but MaKey MaKey makes it much easier and cheaper than before.  In addition,  MaKey MaKey boards are a great tool for prototyping exhibit ideas that involve electronics, computers, or other digital media.

You can find out more about any of the groups or things mentioned in this post by clicking on any of the links above, but for now I'm off to start playing with my MaKey MaKey!  (I'll show off some of my own MaKey MaKey projects in future ExhibiTricks posts, or feel free to email me if you're doing cool stuff with MaKey MaKey that you'd like to share as well!)

P.S. Even if you weren't a Kickstarter backer of MaKey Makey, you can pre-order a basic kit for just $39.99 via their website.


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Designer's Toolkit: Gear Ties

Gear Ties are one of those forehead-slapping inventions that makes you wonder "why didn't I think of that?"  Basically, Gear Ties are reusable rubber twist ties that come in a variety of lengths, thicknesses, and colors.  While one of the primary purposes of Gear Ties is to wrap around things like computer or electrical cords, you can also make simple hooks or hangers from them, or temporarily bind things together as well.

The body of each Gear Tie is striated with parallel incised ridges, so they stay in place.

While all these attributes are great to keep any museum workshop or designer's space in order, I couldn't help playing around with the Gear Ties as toys and seeing the possibilities to use them as exhibit pieces (either for building or creative spaces) or to use during the exhibit prototyping process by holding pieces together or for changing configurations rapidly.

You can see the range of Gear Ties yourself over at Amazon.  Let me know how you end up using them!

(A special tip of the ExhibiTricks hat to Peggy Monahan for showing me Gear Ties in the first place.)

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ReWind: Sugru is great stuff!

Sugru is a great addition to the toolkit of any hacker/fixer/maker/artist.

I've been working on a few projects recently to stick exhibit-y things together or to make small replacement parts that need to be flexible and strong, and Sugru really does the trick.  So I thought I'd ReWind this posting. Enjoy!

In fact, "Hacking Things Better" seems to be the company motto!

Plus Sugru has a great story --- creative young woman works with two materials scientists to develop a better (silicone-based) material to fix and improve things.

As you can see on the Sugru website there are lots of clever ways to repair and/or improve even everyday items. 

What's your favorite museum/exhibit/design "fixit" material?  Tell us about it in the "Comments" section below!

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Designer Toolkit: Taylor Ergonomic Luggage Scale

The Taylor Ergonomic Luggage Scale is a handy, and relatively inexpensive, digital scale.  As you can see by the image above,  the scale works by hanging things from the handle (that also serves to hold the digital read-out.)

A digital luggage scale is handy for weighing items before you go on a trip (duh!) to avoid excess baggage fees, but this particular unit is also durable enough to be used in interactive exhibits or museum lab spaces as a simple yet effective digital scale.

Last but not least, this is also the perfect type of device to substitute for cheap(er) spring scales in free-fall and "zero gravity" experiments and demonstrations.

The Taylor Ergonomic Luggage Scale is available at Amazon and the other online "usual suspects" for under $20.00 (USD).

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Exhibit Design Inspiration: The Dyson Air Multiplier

A classic science center exhibit involves a lightweight ball or balloon trapped in a fast-flowing stream of air to demonstrate (ostensibly) the Bernoulli effect. 

However most fans or blowers are loud, and involve blades that don't respond well to pencils, visitor's fingers, and other foreign objects.

Enter Sir James Dyson's latest invention, The Air Multiplier --- which basically is a "bladeless" fan that sends out a smooth continuous stream of air as opposed to traditional "bladed" fans that send out choppy bursts of air.  (Sir James explains it all in this video.)

While the Dyson Air Multiplier looks to be a little pricey (when it becomes available!) at $329.00 for the 12" model, and $299.00 for the 10" model, I still can't wait to get my hands on one to experiment with ways to create new airflow exhibits for visitors!

Are there some other types of new technology on the horizon that you think might work well for exhibits?  Let us know in the comments section below.

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Exhibit Design Inspiration: Hand from Above

Now here's a screen-based project to love! Artist Chris O'Shea inserted some clever computerized wizardry into very large public video screens (called, aptly enough, Big Screens) sponsored by the BBC and placed around various cities in the UK.

In O'Shea's piece, a giant cartoony hand (looking like something out of Monty Python) tickles, flicks, squashes, or removes images of pedestrians on the screen. As you can see from the embedded video at the top of this posting, rather than merely gawking at the jumbo TV, the people in the square are laughing, talking with each other (and even playfully shaking their booties!) as they interact with Hand from Above.

You can find out more about Chris O'Shea and his work by visiting his website.

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Designer's Toolkit: IdeaPaint

Who hasn't had the occasional urge to write a great idea or comment on the walls of your house or a museum?

IdeaPaint can turn virtually anything you can paint into a high-performance dry-erase surface.

As you can see on the IdeaPaint website there are a variety of colors available to create dry-erase areas,  as well as two paint formulations: an "industrial" solvent-based version called PRO that is backed by a 10-year warranty, and a "consumer" version called CRE-8 that comes as a water-based material.

IdeaPaint seems like a great way to loosen up meeting spaces and kids' rooms.  I'm just waiting for a museum to paint their entire building (inside and out!) with the stuff to collect visitor feedback on everything from the doorknobs to the exhibits inside!

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Exhibit Design Toolbox: Evernote

Have you ever been working on an exhibit project and wished you could readily keep track of all your relevant websites, notes, or digital camera images, and then be able to access these inspirations easily from your computer, the Web, or your other digital devices?

If so, check out Evernote.

The folks at Evernote bill their product as your "external brain." They offer free versions of their software that work with Windows or Mac computers, in addition to web browsers and cell phones. Best of all, Evernote can effortlessly sync information between all of these devices. Evernote even interfaces with popular programs like Skitch and Jott.

I've just started using Evernote to keep track of all my various projects' paraphernalia, and I think I may have finally found a better solution than unmanageable web-browser bookmark files or overstuffed folders filled with scraps of paper, printouts, and torn-out magazine pages!

One feature that I really like is Evernote's ability to search for words that are part of images that were not originally entered as text --- a label from an exhibit, or a bottle of wine at a restaurant that you want to remember --- just snap a picture to put it into an Evernote folder.

The folks at Evernote just announced a successful round of funding that will allow them to add even more features like expanded sharing and collaboration. These enhancements promise to make Evernote an even better tool for exhibit and project development!

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Exhibit Design Inspiration: The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art

Intrepid ExhibiTricks reader Andrea Thies pointed out The Museum of Scientifically Accurate Fabric Brain Art, which is billed as "the world's largest extant collection of anatomically correct fabric brain art." (You can see an example, by developmental psychologist Marjorie Taylor, pictured above.)

As described in an article from Science Magazine, the structures of the human brain have inspired developmental psychologist Marjorie Taylor and psychiatrist Karen Norberg to produce their scientifically accurate fabric art.

The "curator" behind the MSAFBA website is Bill Harbaugh, a Professor of Economics from the University of Oregon. Professor Harbaugh also maintains a sister site, the Gallery of Wooden Brain Art. Who would have known that this all has a tangential relationship to neuroeconomics research?

"Building a brain with yarn and knitting needles turns out to follow many of the same pathways as actual brain development," says Norberg, who has a knitted brain on display at the Boston Museum of Science.

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Museum Design Toolbox: Picnik

Picnik is a great free on-line photo editing tool. See my quick (and geeky) neon filter effect above.

Picnik is perfect for museums on a budget, or for volunteers or staff that can't afford a software program like Photoshop on their home computers.

Check out the Picnik website to give the tools a spin, and jazz up your next label or newsletter.

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Free Exhibit Idea: 61 Trees Per Person

NPR recently did a story on the research of Professor Nalini Nadkarni of The Evergreen State College in Washington.

Basically, using satellite data from NASA, Professor Nadkarni was able to calculate that in 2005, there were 400,246,300,201 (more or less) trees on our globe! (You can read about the technical details on the NPR website.)

So how many trees per person are there? Nadkarni looked up the world's human population as of Dec. 31 and found that on that day, we numbered 6,456,789,877 (again, very more or less). Punching the figures into her calculator, she figured that the world supports 61 trees per person.

I think this story and the details about how the NASA data was crunched would make a great exhibit. If someone provides the venue, I'd be happy to work on it with them!

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Exhibit Design Inspiration: The Glue Society

The Glue Society is a group of writers, directors, and designers based in Sydney and New York.

As you can see from the example of their work entitled "Chair Arch" in the video above, and the image of the melted ice cream truck entitled "Hot with the Chance of Late Storm" they really know how to put creative twists on familiar materials and environments.



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Good Experience: Uncle Mark Gift Guide and Almanac

I'm not sure when I first came across the "Uncle Mark Gift Guide and Almanac" put together by Mark Hurst, but I've found it a great resource, and something to look forward to as another year draws to a close.

In addition to the other creative ideas Mark puts forth to the public under the "Good Experience" umbrella, I'm also a fan of his "Good Experience Games" site that keeps a running list of fun internet-based games, and I hope to attend the "Good Experience Live" or GEL Conference (especially since it happens in NYC) one day.

Thinking about "Good Experience" --- whether it is customer experience, user experience, or any other type of human experience is essential whether you work in the for-profit or non-profit spheres. But more about that in a future post!

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Exhibit Design Inspiration: Interactive Mirror

Exhibit Design Toolbox: Cast Bird Feet

I've been working with the fine folks at The North Museum of Natural History in Lancaster, PA on a fun project involving evolution (directly) and birds (indirectly.)

As part of gathering together materials, Sarah Clarke from The North showed me these great cast bird feet made of pewter and armature wire. The cast feet are sold by a company called Fur and Feathers Woodcarving, and are primarily used by woodcarvers and decoy makers.

That being said, the cast feet are really cool (and cheap!) and could well be utilized for a number of exhibit purposes, especially in the natural history or nature center realms.

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Our First Contest!

In our recent interview with Harry White ("Science Centre Consultant" at TechniQuest Science Center in Cardiff, Wales) we discussed his card deck of Exhibit Aphorisms.

Harry started collecting these quotations, jokes, and provocations about exhibits and exhibit development to use in a university course in Science Communication based in a Science Centre.

Here are two random examples:

"If they had to read the label the exhibit designer blew it."

"Bad exhibit ideas get more complex, good exhibit ideas get simpler."

I found out at the recent ASTC Conference in Philadelphia that Harry has officially "published" a full deck of 54 cards (52 + 2 Jokers) each with a pithy insight into the exhibit development process on the face.

And now two lucky ExhibiTricks readers will each win one of these limited "first edition" decks. (See picture above.)

Here's how to win: between now and the end of October, simply enter into the "Comments Section" below your favorite quote (either "original" or "borrowed") about the exhibit development process OR become an email subscriber to the ExhibiTricks blog (just use the handy box along the right side of the blog to sign up.) We'll choose one person from the commenters, and one from the new email subscribers, and we'll notify the two winners in the first week of November.

Get started, have fun, and good luck!

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Giant Newton's Cradle

I'll be at Booth #140 during the upcoming ASTC Conference in Philadelphia showing off my latest incarnation of the Giant Newton's Cradle.

Check out the YouTube video above to see the GNC in action!

If you have any questions, or better yet, want to purchase a shiny new model for your museum contact me at paul@orselli.net or via the POW! website.

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