Future of Museums

Another page for the COST Web site with a link to Foresight 2030 reports, including the overall summary report. While not museum-specific, there is much to ponder broadly relative to technology, innovation and changing conditions in the world.

Though specifically for a Maryland county parks and rec dept, this strategic plan document might be useful for museum professionals who could be involved in similar long-term projects.

This 2007 paper has some interesting general thoughts about sustainability and the future of museums with reference to what museum conservators, curators and others might consider in looking ahead at museum operations.

Trust as economic "lubricant" - should we understand the neurochemicals of our visitors? Will hugs make them feel good about our museums?

Are you a Utopian Futurist?  Or a Paster or Presentist?

Should we be thinking about visitor personality rather than - or in addition to - age and other demographics?  

Writer Michael J Sandel's book "What Money Shouldn't Buy" speaks to the growing "marketization" of our society. He asks strong moral questions about paying for access to fundamental parts of our society like equal representation. In this interview he does not address the marketization of arts or culture but I can see some of the warning signs he brings up. Is access to museums up for sale?

More and more museums are loosing what little govt funding they have. Losing funding affects professional museum staff most of all.

A tongue-in-cheek presentation of the traditional print-on-paper book as the most convenient device for reading.  Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to embrace all things digital.  What does the future hold for museums and printed publications?

Should museums start forming groups to examine long term funding sources?

The vaunted "third space" isn't home, and isn't work-it's more like the living room of society at large.  It's a place where you are neither family nor co-worker, and yet where the values, interests, gossip, complaints and inspirations of these two other spheres intersect.  It's a place at least one step removed from the structures of work and home, more random, and yet familiar enough to breed a sense of identity and connection.  It's a place of both possibility and comfort, where the unexpected and the mundane transcend and mingle. And nine times out of ten, it's a bar.

Many businesses can be run successfully from anywhere in the world, using modern collaboration software and teleconferencing, but other businesses may need "an environment where people interact in person, and startups are a great example of that.

Another museum serving visitors with memory loss.

It is nothing new that museums have to scramble for funds. This article is great about looking at the long term so it's not a year to year scrabble.

Venture capital for helping salespeople connect with clients via social networking. "We are offering a third space, between the sales team and a client, where they can come together," he said. Can museums use this model to connect with potential donors/members?

This blog entry and following discussion brings up some very important issues regarding how best to engage visitors when dealing with socially-charged issues, in this case slavery.

Nina Simon in her blog poses some important questions concerning mission driven versus mission serving activities.

I recently returned from a family visit during which my 17 year old niece, who is heading off to college next fall, informed me she rarely uses her FB account anymore, and then only to send pictures.