Feels like this is the year that it’s all coming together — that a new model for how family-oriented museums relate with their visitors is emerging.  It crystalized for me at the Association of Children’s Museums “reImagining” workshop.  The rise of “maker spaces” — where visitors are given tools and materials for creating cool things — in children’s museums is one of the major means a...(more)

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So now, after a visit to a leading museum based on Reggio, a keynote by the leading researcher of Reggio in the U.S., and a few trips over to Wikipedia, I think I’m coming to grips with what the Reggio Emilia approach is, and how it might effect museums.  (And even have a few thoughts about appropriate technology with Reggio). What is the Reggio Emilia approach?  Here’s what I know: it’s drawn from a city in Italy (Reggio Emil...(more)

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After the extraordinary pre-conference “reImagining children’s museums” workshop, keynote speaker John Seely Brown (aka “JSB”) confirmed what is becoming apparent: children’s museums are leading the way toward a new relationship with our visitors/participants — a way that integrates our capacities to know, to make, and to play.  He loved this video of the Opal School, a school integrated into the Portl...(more)

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Children’s museums are up to something pretty extraordinary, and the day long “reImagining” session before the Association of Children’s Museums annual conference is a sign of how impactful this re-imagining might be.  There’s a theme emerging, that museums are becoming more “pervasive, everywhere, all the time” though a combination of community relationships and technology. This is a theme we’ve s...(more)

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In the ReImagining session, we’re projecting 10-20 years down the road.  Right now we can imagine technology in the next three years(social/mobile, augmented reality). The next five years is hazy (artificial intelligence?), 10 years is total science fiction. And 20 years?? Here are some trends I’m aware of: –Programs vs. exhibits. The real work of children’s museums will be in programs rather than exhibits.  We see signs...(more)

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It’s a few days after the Minneapolis conference now, and my notes have been distilling.  Looking back, the general summary: now is the time to go mobile on media development for museums. A major factor, as Layla Masri at Bean Creative pointed out in her session, projections are that in 2013, or maybe even later this year, more people will be accessing the Web on mobile devices than on desktop computers. That about says it — what mor...(more)

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