Future of Museums

To extend community involvement online, the museum created CDNPDX.org where sixteen different blog editors from the community contribute content and editorial perspectives daily.

While including potentially offensive underground comics and "amateur" art may make some traditional museum-goers uncomfortable, the museum believes that inviting people to be part of the experience is necessary to remain relevant and worth the risk.

Ferriso understood that the ability of the museum to involve more people in the conversation was based on the relevancy of the content.

The CDN content was particularly relevant to Portland and had the potential to attract a new audience--the young creative class.

Portland has had a long trade relationship with China due to its location in the Pacific Northwest, and city officials intend to forge even closer ties. Portland's entrepreneurs and business people are interested in understanding more about this global force that is transforming the sociopolitical dynamic of the world. In addition, the exhibition's focus on design, though not traditional for the museum, connected with Portland's thriving design community.

Chinese residents from Chinatown got involved for the first time.

Discussions are ongoing about bringing in more exhibitions that are relevant to local businesses.

They invited a small number of people from the creative community who they knew would help stimulate conversation, like a good host at a dinner party. These creators hosted their own events and were invited to blog on the exhibition's Web site.

The bigger challenge for the museum was releasing control of the conversation. Museums are historically cautious, and protective of the intellectual rigor of each exhibition.

Curation: Stay true to who you are."At the end of the day, you still need to present a point of view," said Jay. "Curation is still king." The museum was able to successfully move beyond the traditional museum experience and remain authentic because it understood its core promise--inspiring conversations through art and culture. The medium of social media did not become the museum's promise, but a means to connect with a new generation of potential patrons. It remained committed to curatorial rigor, the selection of collaborators was strategic, and the topic was timely and meaningful. By staying true to its purpose, the museum was able to be relevant to this new generation without alienating its traditional patrons. An 85-year-old board member said it best: "CDN allowed the museum to rethink how it connects with people."

New metrics are being discussed to measure the value of the conversations generated by the museum. Ideas include measuring repeat visits to the museum, quality of conversations, and influence (how do you measure the impact of inspiring the next Frank Gehry?).

There are no textbooks to buy: that budget is used to give each kid a laptop to take home …

The ultimate test will be whether technology as tutor will actually help students learn

Heads covered by virtual-reality visors,

link four science centres with participating classrooms in each country.

demanding technical challenges. A museum needs a series of access points around the various exhibits, for example, so students can really ‘visit’ the museum instead of watching a series of presentations. ‘In some museums that’s easy because there are high ceilings to fix the access points, in others it’s quite a challenge,’ explains Sotiriou …

In its software, CONNECT has produced a stunning virtual museum, featuring colourful, exciting graphics that allow a student to try experiments and then view the results. This advanced learning environment is called the CONNECT Virtual Science Thematic Park –