Sometimes you have to travel far to find the things that are most obvious and most relevant to you. This last week, I traveled to Bardufoss Norway, north of the Arctic Circle, to consult with Midt-Troms Museum, which includes a coalition of a dozen or so local history museums and a new children’s museum — the first children’s museum in Norway in fact. And in those travels, I found the Museum and its director Lisa Bostwick...

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In our community storytelling work, here’s a central question: how do we best tap into the stories in a community? How do we draw out stories that can live long after the event? Sometimes the stories just start flowing, especially within communities that are motivated and enthusiastic. And that describes the community of educators attending the annual Scratch Conference at MIT this summer. In the course of two days, we gathered nearly...

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This week I’ve been doing community storytelling popup exhibits with Whim Museum during their annual “Come Home to St. Croix” celebration of culture, history, and family.  Special programs included events nearly every night — an exhibit opening, poetry readings, live music and more. Culturally rich stuff — and quite a transformation from what was once a sugar plantation. In the early 18th century, Estate Whim was...

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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...

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I spent some time this morning scrolling through the new Digital Dead Sea Scrolls website by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. I have to say, I'm a total Joe Schmoe when it comes to the Dead Sea Scrolls — I know they were important, were discovered in the last 50 years or so, and gave us some new books for, um, versions for, um…Well, they were important. That said, the central feature of the scrolls for me: they scroll.  In fact,...

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I’ve been logging in remotely to our Storykiosk installation in New Zealand — (sadly I didn’t get to travel in person). But I’m primed about the installation: it’s on the road, traveling in a truck around the country gathering rugby stories, part of the Oranges at Halftime exhibit and REAL New Zealand Festival. We put this together in a pretty short period of time using our ready-to-go rental platform after being...

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