Mobile as Radical Social Media in the

Museum as Distributed Network

Or“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”

With apologies to Gil Scott-Heron

Nancy Proctor, Smithsonian InstitutionThessaloniki, 3 October 2011

proctorn@si.edu @nancyproctor

Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu04/12/2023 2http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A617&page_number=5&template_id=1&sort_order=1

Peter Blume, The Eternal City 1934-37MoMA

The Eternal City

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Beth Lipman, Bancketje (Banquet) 2003Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery

Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu

Interpretation is as essential to the Museum as cutlery is to a banquet

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Beth Lipman, Bancketje (Banquet) 2003Smithsonian American Art Museum, Renwick Gallery

Some visitors may bring their own, Some may eat only the finger food, Some may choose another restaurant, Many will go away hungry,

If the Museum doesn’t provide it:

feeling uninvited and unwelcome.

Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu

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Tate Modern’s Principles of Interpretation1. Interpretation is at the heart of the gallery’s mission.2. Works of art do not have self-evident meanings. 3. Works of art have a capacity for multiple readings;

interpretation should make visitors aware of the subjectivity of any interpretive text.

4. Interpretation embraces a willingness to experiment with new ideas.

5. We recognise the validity of diverse audience responses to works of art.

6. Interpretation should incorporate a wide spectrum of voices and opinions from inside and outside the institution.

7. Visitors are encouraged to link unfamiliar artworks with their everyday experience.

VelcroTeflon

http://www.slideshare.net/psamis/learning-in-museums-2008-intro-remarkshttp://www.aam-us.org/pubs/visualvelcro.cfm

04/12/2023 Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu 8Nancy Proctor, ProctorN@si.edu 8

The Museum is transforming from Acropolis…

http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Greece/Attica/Attiki/Athens/photo442345.htm

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… into Agora

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Athens_Roman_Agora_01.JPG

Edward Hoover, 2010, from Flickr.

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Museum Metrics & Constraints

1. Invaluable

= highest possible quality

2. Public good

= relevance & service for all

3. Forever business

= must be sustainable

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Mobile Metrics

Quality Relevance

Accessibility

AccountabilitySustainability

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SI Mobile’s Strategy

1. Integrate mobile into everything we do to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts;

2. Transform the way the Institution works in order to achieve its strategic goals and vision for the 21st century.

The Mission of the Smithsonian… the increase and diffusion of

knowledge…

04/12/2023 Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu 14http://allisondawnpr.com/blog/tag/grassroots-public-relations/

The Multiplatform Museum

Museum

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The Multiplatform Museum

Museum

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More than multiplatform…

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So if we want to meet people where they are

And take them some place new…

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Mobile is a great vehicle

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8

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SI Mobile’s Vision

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by using mobile platforms to enlist collaborators globally in undertaking the real and important work of the Institution.

Recruit the world to increase and diffuse knowledge

Put the Smithsonian not just in the people’s

pockets, but in their hands.

The People’s Institution

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The Megatherium Club, a group of young naturalists who collected for the Smithsonian in the 19th C.

Louise Rochon Hoover,"Secretary Henry Posts DailyWeather Map in Smithsonian Building, 1858.”

James Smithson:“for the increaseand diffusion of knowledge”

Thinking outside the audiotour box

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From Headphones to Microphones“From we do the talking to

we help you do the talking.”– Chris Anderson, Wired, Smithsonian 2.0 Conference, 24 Jan 2009 http://smithsonian20.si.edu/schedule_webcast2.html

NMNH Leafsnap

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Smithsonian Mobile

Stories from Main Street

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http://storiesfrommainstreet.org/

Hypostomus taphorni – from NMNH’s Guyana expedition, 2011

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http://smithsonianscience.org/2011/03/facebook-friends-help-scientists-quickly-identify-nearly-500-fish-specimens-collected-in-guyana/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/americanartmuseum/sets/

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V&A Crowdsourcing

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http://collections.vam.ac.uk/crowdsourcing/

Powerhouse Museum: original online record, incomplete

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http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog/index.php/2009/04/27/another-opac-discovery-the-gambey-dip-circle-and-the-value-of-minimal-tombstone-data/

Powerhouse Museum: 1 week later…

04/12/2023 Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu 31http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=248651

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04/12/2023 Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu 32Fraunhofer Institute, Kunstmuseum Bonn: ‘Beat Zoderer’ exhibition (Listen project) 2003

It’s NOT about the Technology

04/12/2023 Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu 33http://www.amazon.com/Encounters-Virtual-Feminist-Museum-Archive/dp/0415413745/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317122632&sr=1-3

04/12/2023 Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu 34http://www.tepapa.govt.nz/WhatsOn/exhibitions/ETuAke/Pages/default.aspx

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Tepaea Hinerangi – early 1830s–1911, Ngati Ruanui Hei tiki (pendant in human form)

http://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/objectdetails.aspx?oid=55399&term=taonga

Oedipus Explaining the Enigma of the Sphinx – Ingres,

1808-27

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Musée du Louvre/A. Dequier - M. Bard

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Antigone leads Oedipus out of Thebes – Jalbert, 1849

Musée des Beaux Arts, Marseilles

More about Mobile

• http://si.edu/mobile• http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.co

m/Mobile• http://wiki.museummobile.info/• http://tatehandheldconference.pbworks.com • #mtogo• #SImobile• @NancyProctor, proctorn@si.edu• http://slideshare.com/nancyproctor04/12/2023 Nancy Proctor, proctorn@si.edu 38