As we mentioned in posts earlier this year, we’ve written and have now submitted a proposal with the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to fund an open source initiative to develop software for computer-based interactive exhibits.  Our preliminary Website for the Open Exhibits project is now available at openexhibits.org.  The new site contains a screencast introducing the project along with a description of this planned project.

Also on the Open Exhibits site, you’ll  find results from the survey we conducted in April and May of this year. We had a total of 125 responses from 110 museums.  The survey results can be filtered by small and large museums, as well as informal science institutions.  You’ll also find  links to our Facebook group, YouTube page, and Flickr presence.   Please join us on these sites and we’ll keep you up-to-date as we  (hopefully) start this new initiative.

We are in the process of writing our first National Science Foundation grant proposal to fund Open Exhibits, a project that will allow us to develop, test, and disseminate three open source software templates that will allow museum professionals’ to assemble electronic exhibits for the museum floor. The Open Exhibits templates, as well as the source code, training opportunities, and prototype exhibits, will be made freely available to museums. The exhibits will be built using ActionScript 3 and Flex.

We are seeking feedback from museum professionals so we can tailor our project to meet the needs of the field. We have put together a survey to help us assess those needs: to gain insight into the state of electronic exhibits at a variety of museums, to gauge interest in the Open Exhibits software templates, and to better understand museums’ technical expertise and constraints.If you are a museum professional, please take a few minutes to complete the survey — and please help us spread the word about it. It will take about 20 minutes and we will share the results with everyone who participates. We will also keep you updated about the status of Open Exhibits.

Update: The survey was closed on May 10, 2008.

The Slave Narratives online exhibit which we developed with the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) is a finalist in the Flashforward Film Festival (see the “Experience” category). The winners will be announced at Flashforward 2007, a three-day conference “led by the world’s leading Flash designers and developers.” You can vote for Slave Narratives for the “People’s Choice” award on their site. There’s more about the Slave Narratives exhibit in the Ideum portfolio.