About Us

Since 1999, Ideum has been developing media-rich experiences for museum and Web visitors across the country and around the world. We develop electronic exhibits and interactive websites for museums, nonprofit organizations, and socially responsible companies.

To date, we've worked on over forty interactive media projects covering a variety of topics in the fields of art, history, music, science, and technology. The goal is to create experiences that are seamlessly integrated: a balance of compelling design, intuitive navigation and usability, and dynamic content.

We believe it's important to be on the cutting edge of technological innovation, but we don't use technology for its own sake - we use it when it's the best way to convey the exhibit's message or extend the user experience. We work collaboratively with our clients, and along with our design and programming expertise, we also conduct research and help develop content.

We've collaborated with top museums and cultural institutions, bringing attention to detail and a strong commitment to developing exciting visitor experiences to every project we take on.

Our work has been honored by the American Association of Museums' MUSE Awards, the Webby Awards, the Pirelli International Multimedia Awards, the Museums and the Web Conference "Best of the Web," and other industry awards.

Clients

  • Adobe Systems Inc.
  • Adventure Science Center
  • The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA)
  • Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC)
  • Astronomical Society of the Pacific
  • California Science Center
  • Chabot Space & Science Center
  • Computer History Museum
  • David Rumsey Historic Map Collection
  • The Exploratorium
  • Liberty Science Center
  • Maxwell Museum of Anthropology
  • Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD)
  • NASA
  • National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
  • The National Park Service
  • National Science Foundation
  • New Mexico Museum of Natural History
  • Royal British Columbia Museum
  • The Tech Museum of Innovation
  • UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory
 

Mailing List

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Partners

Ideum works with a number of exhibit design companies and consultants. We've collaborated with Ralph Applebaum Associates, Big Think Studios, Global Imagination, Redmond-Jones and Associates, and S2 Associates, among others.

Memberships

Association of Science-Technology Centers Member Museum Computer Network Member

Jim Spadaccini

Jim is the director and founder of Ideum. Formerly he was the Director of Interactive Media at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. While at the Exploratorium, his department was responsible for developing educational Web resources and media exhibits for the museum floor. For his work at the Exploratorium, he received a Smithsonian Computerworld Award, an Association of Science and Technology Centers Award for Innovation and three consecutive Webby Awards for "Best Science Site." Jim taught courses on design and technology at SFSU's Multimedia Studies Program for seven years starting in the mid-90s and currently teaches for the Cultural Resource Management Program at University of Victoria, British Columbia and the Technology-Enhanced Communication for Cultural Heritage (TEC-CH) program at the University of Lugano, Switzerland.

Kemper Barkhurst

Kemper Barkhurst is a multimedia designer and developer at Ideum. He has studied at University of New Mexico's Media Arts Department. Before joining Ideum, he founded Identified Media an interactive design and consulting firm, which served educational, commercial, and non-profit clients. Kemper specializes in photography, video, and interactive media.

Jonathan Lee

Jonathan Lee is a programmer and multimedia developer at Ideum. Jonathan has a Master's degree in Media Arts and Computer Science from New Mexico Highlands University and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of North Texas. Jonathan specializes in interactive media and web based programming.

James Kassemi

James is a programmer and developer with extensive experience in web-related applications. Before joining Ideum, he founded Tweeked Ideas, a company responsible for the design of community-driven websites. As an avid supporter of open source software and development, James is fluent with many open applications and programming frameworks. His development methods focus on efficiency, security, accessibility, and stability.

Emily Steinmetz

Emily provides research, writing, video, and computer support at Ideum.  She earned her M.A. in anthropology from American University, and she is finishing up her doctorate in anthropology from Northwestern University.  Before joining Ideum, she was conducting research and teaching anthropology at a local community college, where she continues to teach part time.  She has taken multimedia courses at UNM, with a focus on video and editing.

Sean McCracken

Sean is a multimedia designer and developer specializing in animation and motion graphics. Fluent in AfterEffects and Flash, he is currently branching out into programming and markup. Sean has a strong background in music and fluency in the industry's major audio sequencing programs.

Robert Stehwien

Robert is a software engineer with 14 years experience in object oriented application design and development.  He is fluent in C++, Java, ActionScript, and Adobe Flex with interests in Ruby,  Lisp, and Smalltalk.  Prior to joining Ideum Robert developed Flex business dashboards, wrote desktop applications in C++, did some Java based web development, taught computer science courses at the University of New Mexico, acquired an MBA and did some project/product management.  Robert is currently working on a Master's degree in Computer Science with a focus on languages, algorithms, and bioinformatics.

Carlos Aguayo

Carlos studied Computer Science and Engineering at UC Davis, and has spent twenty years working as a systems and network architect at such prominent Silicon Valley firms as Sun Microsystems, Acuson, General Magic, Infoseek, Marimba, and NexTag.  He specializes in Internet services deployment and operations, and lends his extensive knowledge of UNIX systems, web services, and network security.  Before joining Ideum, Carlos worked at Hobnob, focusing on network security and wireless network technologies.

Chris Gerber

Chris specializes in bridging multimedia programming and design at Ideum.  He studies at the University of New Mexico, and is working toward a degree in Biochemistry and applied Computer Science.  Before joining Ideum, he established himself through experimentation with attention to detail in multimedia design, programming, and photography.

Trevor Stow

Trevor Stow is the Programmer-at-Large at Ideum. He has 12 years of professional experience programming. In the early 1990's, he was employed in Southeast Asia to design training curricula for the hotel industry, and then joined the team that created planetholiday.com, among the 100 most-trafficked travel Web sites.

Eric Brian Smith

Eric is the 3D Designer-at-Large at Ideum and with a BS degree in Industrial Design and Architecture from North Carolina State University, Eric was born to think 3D. As a designer and musician, his worlds are interconnected with rhythm, texture, color, balance, and composition. From scientific models to high-tech fuel cell vehicles, to fly-throughs over virtual landscapes, Eric can make them all happen at the speed of light.