Bloggling: Can Museums Help Tech?

Museums are beginning to engage with 21st Century technology in the same way they failed to embrace the 20th Century. Naturally this leap is causing some problems. What do we do with social media?

As befits one of the world's great museums of the world the Smithsonian has been leading the way. They are fortunate in that they can have a Head of Mobile Strategy. At the other end of the scale we have a member of staff who knows what a smart phone is. So we need to learn from the big boys.

The Smithsonian's offering is mind bloggling (my new word for mind-boggling blogging) mobile & crowdsourcing apps, but also visual recognition and augmented reality systems.

What can be done on a fraction of the budget and yet still be up with the times? Cloudy thinking is needed.

Museums traditionally over time have redefined themselves to reflect the world around them. A pro active museum in the 21st Century should redefine the world to match the museums world. The world for most museums = no staff, no money. So get a grip of new technology by redefining what it is.

New museum definitions for social media

1. Facebook = a book with picture of the author on the front
2. Twitter = pre-pubescent conversation

3. Mobile app or application = using a caravan
4. Crowdsourcing = get the public to your work for you
5. Visual recognition = not ignoring people you know
6. Augmented reality = just make it bigger

Having redefined the digital world its time to put into practice the new museum digital agenda. Here is the alternative manifesto for the digital world for museums with no money.

1. Write a guide to the museum, but instead of a glossy publication do a cheap photocopy with a picture of you on the front, fold it carefully and sit on it. The boss comes and says we should be on Facebook you can legitimately say 'I'm on top of it sir/madam/you cretin'* (*delete as appropriate for the set of values inherent in your organisation)
2. Record the next school group that comes through your door and put it on a sound loop and play it regularly. The boss comes in and says we should be tweeting (see 1 for appropriate response).
3. Tell your boss you need to be given time to work on a mobile app then hire a caravan and go on holiday to the seaside.
4. Before leaving ask the next customer to mind the desk for you while you pop out (its up to you whether you mention the seaside trip). If the cash till is empty and the customer gone by the time you return you can write a report on the problems of community engagement and blame the boss.
5. Say good morning to the boss for the first time and actually use his/her real name (look it up and practice it beforehand).
6. Advertise the new augmented reality exhibition and charge visitors for magnifying glasses.


You are now offering the same facilities as the Smithsonian (make sure that goes into the marketing leaflet) at a fraction of the cost for a fraction of the audience.