When
examining the use of social media in museums, it becomes necessary to consider
what the goals of museums as institutions are.
The museum as an institution was created to fulfill a two-fold purpose. First and foremost, museums collect and
preserve cultural artifacts which they deem to be important for their
mission. Secondly, they attempt to
engage the public and educate visitors about the significance of their
collections. Museums usually accomplish
this by selecting specific objects in their collections which they use to
create an exhibit centered around a common theme through which the objects can
be interpreted.
Prior
to the Digital Revolution, the public engaged with museums by physically going
to them and viewing their exhibitions which required time and energy. Thus, the public's awareness of and access to
museum collections may have been limited.
However, with the advent of the Internet, physically attending the
museum has become optional due to the development of social media which allows
the public to explore museum collections and, in turn, allows the museum to
educate its visitors about its cultural holdings. In the last decade, social media has changed
the way people have viewed museums as cultural heritage institutions. As Russo et al. comment, "Social media
technologies have broadened learning options, shifting the focus from
individual/institutional custodianship to participatory relationships where
those involved in the learning process are seeking and sharing new knowledge
(Russo et al, 156)." Indeed, the Brooklyn Museum presents one of the best
examples of a museum's use of social media.
The
Brooklyn Museum is a major arts and cultural institution in New York City which
also has a large community presence. It
houses a broad range of collections which were initially developed at the
beginning of the twentieth century.
According to the Museum's website (brooklynmuseum.org),
its mission is to "act as a bridge between the rich artistic heritage of
world cultures, as embodied in its collections, and the unique experience of
each visitor." Consistent with this
goal, the museum has a large social media presence. Indeed, they even have a technology officer,
Shelley Bernstein who, in an article in the New York Times, stated, "It’s
less about technology and more about what the visitor can bring to the equation
... In the end, we want people to feel ownership of this museum. We ask them to
tell us what they think. They can give us a bad review; when we make a mistake
they can come to our rescue. We want to engage with our community (Vogel,
F1)." As part of its social media
efforts, the Museum utilizes a variety of
websites among which I found Flickr and Youtube to be the most interesting.
While
an overall social media policy is not on the Museum's website, there is an
explicit statement regarding Flickr the initial part of which reads:
"Brooklyn Museum is a member of The Commons on Flickr. Brooklyn Museum
images that are part of The Commons are marked as 'no known copyright
restrictions,' indicating that the Museum is unaware of any current copyright
restrictions on the works so designated, either because the term of copyright
may have expired without being renewed or because no evidence has been found
that copyright restrictions apply (brooklynmuseum.org)."
The
Museum's Flickr page can best be described as a digital encyclopedia which
presents the institution's contents, activities, and visitors' experiences. The photos on the site are subdivided into
three categories: Photostream, Sets, and Favorites. The Photostream contains single images of
artists at work, museum employees
creating and maintaining exhibits, and images pertaining to the locales of the
subjects of some of the Museum exhibits (e.g, Egypt). The Sets page contains photos categorized into groups which pertain
to a wide variety of topics including artwork by staff, local sights, famous architectural sights (e.g., French and
Italian churches), and Museum exhibits.
Finally, the Favorites page is perhaps the most exotic of the three
since it appears to contain single images taken and posted by Museum members
and visitors. Most of these pertain to visitors' experiences at
the Museum. Thus, the Museum's Flickr
pages present the full range of experiences which the Brooklyn Museum offers to
its patrons.
While
Flickr provides a static visual introduction to the Brooklyn Museum, Youtube offers a different way for members of
the public to experience the Museum's contents.
Although the Museum appears to not have an official social media policy
about Youtube, this does not diminish the richness of the content displayed on
Youtube. The Brooklyn Museum has
literally hundreds of videos on Youtube all of which fit into three distinct
categories: Playlist, Popular Uploads,
and Recent Uploads. The Recent Uploads
category appears to consist of videos containing lectures, panel discussions,
and interviews. Popular Uploads range
from Museum staff discussing aspects of exhibitions and research on Museum
holdings as well as lectures and panel discussions. It is evident that the Popular Uploads are
the videos watched the most based on their relative number of views. Finally, the Playlists are groups of videos
which address various aspects of the Museum's exhibitions.
In
addition to the videos on Youtube created by the Brooklyn Museum to publicize
its holdings, the Museum has created a community outreach effort utilizing
homemade Youtube productions involving the Museum. Its website states, "If you've created a
video starring the Brooklyn Museum, we'd love to see it and broadcast it from
our website (brooklynmuseum.org/community)." Their policy regarding such videos is covered
under its policy on photography and does permit the original creator to retain
the copyright.
In
line with the Brooklyn Museum's emphasis on community outreach and inclusion is
the program called 1stfans which is described as an audience-specific
membership program built on social media participation (Simon, 2009). 1stfans "builds benefits onto two
programs that were already successful at connecting people to the Brooklyn
Museum: free Target First Saturdays and online social media
outreach." For a nominal fee, this
program allows members of the public who come to the Museum's FirstSaturdays
and who participate in its social media to become a special class of Museum
members. While 1stfans don't get free
admission to the Museum, they do receive other benefits.
The
Brooklyn Museum maintains a vigorous and extensive social media presence which
is designed to create inclusive community participation. Through its various social media activities,
it promotes interactive learning and encourages visitors whether they are
members of the Museum or not. In
addition, it appears to continue to experiment with new types of audience
participation through its social media presence such as its 1stfans
program. Finally, I was impressed by how
innovative the Brooklyn Museum is in its use of technology and am considering
becoming a member.
WORK CITED
Russo,
Angelina, Jerry Watkins, and Susan Groundwater-Smith. "The impact of social media on informal
learning in museums." Educational Media International 46, no. 2
(2009): 153-166.
Simon,
Nina. "1stfans: An audience-specific membership program at the Brooklyn
Msueum."
http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2009/02/1stfans-audience-specific-membership.html, viewed on 11/09/13.
No comments:
Post a Comment