The Participatory MuseumVisitor participation is a hot topic in the contemporary world of museums, art galleries, science centers, libraries and cultural organizations. How can your institution do it and do it well? The Participatory Museum is a practical guide to working with community members and visitors to make cultural institutions more dynamic, relevant, essential places. Museum consultant and exhibit designer Nina Simon weaves together innovative design techniques and case studies to make a powerful case for participatory practice. "Nina Simon's new book is essential for museum directors interested in experimenting with audience participation on the one hand and cautious about upending the tradition museum model on the other. In concentrating on the practical, this book makes implementation possible in most museums. More importantly, in describing the philosophy and rationale behind participatory activity, it makes clear that action does not always require new technology or machinery. Museums need to change, are changing, and will change further in the future. This book is a helpful and thoughtful road map for speeding such transformation." -Elaine Heumann Gurian, international museum consultant and author of Civilizing the Museum "This book is an extraordinary resource. Nina has assembled the collective wisdom of the field, and has given it her own brilliant spin. She shows us all how to walk the talk. Her book will make you want to go right out and start experimenting with participatory projects." -Kathleen McLean, participatory museum designer and author of Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions "I predict that in the future this book will be a classic work of museology." --Elizabeth Merritt, founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums |
Common terms and phrases
activities Art Museum artifacts artists audience audio blog blog post Brooklyn Museum cards challenge citizen science co-creation co-creative community managers community members connect contributions contributory projects create creative cultural institutions curators dialogue display diverse educational encourage visitors engage evaluation example Exploratorium feature feel Flickr focused gallery goals hosted Human Library ideas images impact individual interactive interests invite visitors kiosk labels learning LibraryThing LinkedIn Music Genome Project Netflix Nina Simon offer Ontario Science Centre other’s outcomes overall participatory projects photographs platform postcards PostSecret profiles programs promote punch card questions relationships responses Science Buzz science center share skills social experiences social media social network social Web specific staff members stage sticky notes stories talk techniques teens tion tour users videos visi visitor experience Wi-Fi Wing Luke YouTube