LA Times Calendarlive.com: Now on exhibit, the blogger’s view
July 30th, 2006 by Jim SpadacciniAn article by David Ng, Now on exhibit, the blogger’s view is in today’s Sunday Los Angeles Times. The article mentions our own MuseumBlogs.org site and starts by looking broadly at the museum blogging community:
Within this small community, blogging can assume many guises. Some museums have dedicated staff who collectively write the blog entries and review visitor comments. Others entrust their blog to one person — an artist in residence or a curator — who uses the site as an official diary or journal.
Whatever form they take, museum blogs provide a space where ideas and opinions can circulate, more or less openly. But for the museums hosting them, that very openness can prove problematic. Unlike personal blogs, where anything goes, museums must weigh institutional objectives, such as promoting new exhibitions, against the populist pressures of the blogosphere — like being independent and snarky.
The article elaborates…
“…museum blogs suffer from a kind of split-personality syndrome. Are they civic forums or glorified marketing tools? Should they humanize the museum or enforce an authoritative distance? Perhaps all of the above. For museums, walking the thin blog line often amounts to an improvised balancing act.”
I think David is right about the improvisational nature of museum blogs. If you look at 61 blogs that are currently listed in the Museum Blogs directory, you’ll find a wide variety of approaches.
In some ways this is not surprising, as blogs are uniquely personal and museum culture can differ so dramatically from institution to institution. When I was at the Exploratorium in the mid-90s, I worked on the Science Learning Network project which originally involved five other science museums. I remember at the time being surprised at just how different these science museums were. If you add Natural History, Art Museums, and Cultural Institutions to this mix, then you really have very unique institutions, each with their own culture.
The diversity of approaches is multiplied again since about half of “museum blogs” are outside of any institution’s control. (This was something not mentioned in the article, too bad.) I think we’ll continue to see a multiplicity of approaches in museum blogs and one that will continue to evolve.
The article continued by looking at Science Museum of Minnesota’s Science Buzz and the charged discussions surrounding the Body Worlds exhibition. The article could have similarly looked at Ontario Science Centre’s RedShift Now which has hosted similarly controversial discussions.
David then posed the question, “SO is a blog still a blog when a museum is hovering over every word?” The answer seems to be yes. Sort of. The issue how much control and how “reactive” blogs can be with lots of museum oversight is explored.
Perhaps, the question should be, “What is your definition of a blog?” I think museums have to find their comfort level. Just because the popular definition of a blog is that they are spontaneous and informal in nature doesn’t mean museums have to use them in this way. Afterall, blogs are extremely flexible and the diversity found in the museum blogging community proves it. The article does seem to acknowledge this, as it looks at Eye Level, the Walker Blogs, “Concealed, Discovered, Revealed,” and a temporary blog (that I had never come across before!) from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles for the exhibition, Conversations.
All in all, the article does a good job exploring some of the issues concerning museum blogs. The timing seems right too, as we are in the midst of a very active period with nearly half of the museum blogs in existence having started this year (24 of the 61 blogs found in the museum blogs directory). Today, as we pass the 1,000 “posts” mark at Museum Blogs, we see yet another indication of just how active and visible the museum blog community has become.
Update (August 2, 2006): The Smithsonian’s Eye Level have written a short post on the article.
July 31st, 2006 at 1:19 am
Thanks for linking to this article Jim. It is really interesting to see how the museum blogging community is developing!
One thing I’d like to mention is that even if a museum blogger doesn’t write directly for their museum, they may still have a museum (or two) “hovering over their every word”. With my blog I am reluctant to be too critical of the organisations I work for, unless I had their permission.
July 31st, 2006 at 7:38 am
Lisa,
That’s a great point. There is certainly a fair amount of self-censorship out there. (Perhaps it’s more of a problem in the msm! :-))
I’m suprised the article didn’t mention the Walker Blog Guidelines which provide a framework for staff members who blog.
I think where more open discussion could occur (and perhaps where it might be more useful) is in visitor’s comments. We certainly see that with Science Buzz and Red Shift Now. I think that this area might be of more concern to institutions. Yet, I think museums need to be more open to public comment.
August 6th, 2006 at 10:38 am
Hi Jim:
Picking up on Lisa’s comment, I find the phrase ‘hovering over every word’ a curious one to use at all in describing museum blogs. Isn’t the whole idea of any blog that we all get the chance to collectively ‘hover over every word’? Isn’t that the point? Of course, what’s really being agonized over is the whole notion of control. For me, the less control museums attempt to exert over discussions versus contributing to those discussions in provocative ,productive ways, the better. That’s the place to try to maintain integrity of content, context etc., not through censorship…
I talked with David Ng for more than hour about RedshiftNow and the Science Centre’s experience in general in moderating public discussions, but I think he decided that we didn’t fit the technical definition of ‘blog’ well enough to include in his piece. No matter - the story did an excellent job of examining the issues. Finally, one update to http://www.redshiftnow.ca/ - our field diaries have become a ‘true’ blog with a new comment function that allows researchers in the field to respond to questions and comments from online visitors.
August 6th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
Kevin,
I’ve always thought of Redshift Now as a “true blog” although I wish you had an RSS feed–so we can add it to Museum Blogs! I think there’s no question David Ng focused the article on the tension between museums, (which see themselves as authoritative sources of information) and the blogosphere (which everyone knows is opinionated, informal, etc.).
It’s a good angle for a story, but there’s no doubt that a lot got left out. You’re right in suggesting that perhaps the best use of blogs by museums is when they help provoke discussion and to facilitate conversation. David did mention an example from Science Buzz, a discussion concerning the Body Worlds exhibit. What makes that example interesting was the heated discussion that took place. The fact that it touched on political and religious issues simply puts it in the context of the real world.
You stated that the, “less control museums attempt to exert over discussions versus contributing to those discussions in provocative, productive ways, the better. That’s the place to try to maintain integrity of content, context etc., not through censorship…”
I agree but I wonder, can science centers handle the heat? Certainly Ontario Science Centre and the Science Museum of Minnesota can, but there must be other reasons why so few science centers are exploring this medium?