MW2010 Notes: Children/Family programs in the U.K.
I was struck this year at Museums and the Web by the quality (and quantity) of technology-facilitated programs for family audiences at museums in the U.K. Having grown as a staffer in the children's museum community here in the U.S., I've often wondered what we can learn from examples over the ocean. Now we have some nice models.
Shelley Mannion and Lorna O'Brien presented work they are doing at the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum respectively. I didn't have a chance to explore the V&A's programming, but saw some of the extraordinary work Shelley and team are doing at the British Museum. Family workshops in the new Samsung Digital Discovery Centre mix images of objects in their collection with digital creativity tools. (I enjoyed seeing, for example, how the McKelvie family inserted themselves into Egyptian hieroglyphics. Bonus: families have an enjoyable experience building connections to other cultures).
I didn't catch Coula Charitonos' presentation on her research on the Tate Kids website, but did enjoy browsing the site. And also was interested to see the work that Culture24 has been doing aggregating museum content for children at www.show.me.uk and in their new prototype moderated community site for kids, Caboodle. An abundance of models to learn from…