Abstract

Museum professionals face unprecedented challenges in the digital world of the twenty-first century. How will we meet those challenges and who will lead us to the new shore of our future? We need museum professionals who act as ferrymen, guiding the museum community and its constituents through the troubled waters of our age to cultural reform that leads us to the essential purpose of art: love.

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• Neal Stimler (neal.stimler@gmail.com) is the associate coordinator of images in the Image Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00035.x About DOI

Abstract

Zoos have some choice about which pro-wildlife behaviors to ask their visitors to do, but with this freedom comes the difficult task of choosing behaviors that are appropriate, effective, and that do not affect visitors’ experiences. This paper presents attributes of pro-wildlife behaviors that emerged from self-completed questionnaires administered to 114 zoo visitors. Questions sought to elicit attributes that visitors felt should be considered in the behavior selection process. The results say that behaviors should: have an on-site option; be new, or if known, include new learning that underpins why they are needed; be easy to do; and have a clear link between the behavior and how it helps wildlife. Respondents also made comments about specific behaviors as well as how behaviors should or should not be requested. We suggest that visitors’ perspectives be incorporated into pro-wildlife behavior selection in zoos, and we propose that these findings may be relevant beyond zoos.

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• Liam Smith (liam.smith@buseco.monash.edu.au), Jim Curtis (james.curtis@buseco.monash.edu.au), and Pieter van Dijk (pieter.vandijk@buseco.monash.edu.au) are all affiliated with the Tourism Research Unit, Monash University, Berwick Campus, P.O. Box 1071, Narre Warren, Melbourne VIC 3805, Australia.

10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00033.x About DOI

Abstract

The convergence of global issues—ranging from climate change to the erosion of cultural diversity—has created a watershed of opportunity or an unprecedented crisis for museums. The contemporary museum business model based on consumption, entertainment and ancillary education is increasingly unsustainable and irrelevant in this context. This article explores the concept of a more responsible museum and the need for a heightened sense of social, environmental and economic stewardship as the foundation for a sustainable future, in a time of profound social and environmental change for society at large. Obstacles to organizational effectiveness are discussed, as are methods for enhancing greater organizational awareness of societal issues. Examples of progressive museum practice are also presented by way of illustration. The possible consequences of inaction suggest the need for museums to transform their culture-and-industry business model into one of a locally-embedded problem-solver, in tune with the challenges and aspirations of their communities.

• Robert R. Janes (eic.mmc@telus.net) is the editor-in-chief of Museum Management and Curatorship, 104 Prendergast Place, Canmore, Alberta, Canada, T1W 2N5.

10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00032.x About DOI

Abstract

This article aims to capture the spirit and content of a lively exchange among museum staff members at the Denver Art Museum. It began as a conference call and continued as an online dialogue about how definitions of success have evolved with advances in technology and changing expectations of visitors. Together we explored how DAM staff encourage more active participation in the museum and the creative tension that ensues between visitor co-creation and institutional control. Woven throughout this conversation are examples that demonstrate the need to move fluidly between high tech and low tech interpretives, onsite and online experiences, and the impact of environments that break down museum stereotypes. It is our hope that this discussion will spark similar dialogues among colleagues in individual institutions and in the profession at large. Readers are encouraged to respond through the blog at Curator’s new website: http://www.curatorjournal.org.

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• Daryl Fischer (daryl@musynergyconsulting.com) is a museum consultant and member of the Museum Group who began her career at the Denver Art Museum .
• Lisa Levinson (llevinson@denverartmuseum.org) is the senior interpretive writer in the museum’s education department.

All photos in this article are courtesy of the Denver Art Museum.

10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00031.x About DOI

Abstract

The museum family in America is in danger, and perhaps other museum families across the globe are, as well. Management has failed our mission by focusing on outputs like attendance numbers, and audience researchers have failed management by not shedding light on the connections between the pleasure of learning and attendance—or, if you will, between individual gains and a museum’s public value. This research vision for museums looks at how you can make that connection and save museums in their hour of need.

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• John W. Jacobsen (jjacobsen@whiteoakinstitute.org) is president of White Oak Associates and CEO and co-principal investigator of the recently formed White Oak Institute.

10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00029.x About DOI

Abstract

Museums offer visitors direct experiences—such as visual experiences—that are not available elsewhere in daily life. Learning through verbal information is part of it, yet the aesthetic experience is always outside of the “right-answer paradigm.” Cognitive development occurs when perceptions inform thinking, thoughts are expressed in language, and expressed thoughts invite reconsideration of the material at hand. Both science and art require the development of these skills. Science and art museum educators can and should advocate the value of looking, thinking, wondering about complexity, and discussing the results.

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• Linda Duke (LDuke@imamuseum.org) is director of education at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana.

10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00028.x About DOI

The publication of Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits has garnered well-deserved attention from the whole museum profession. It has become a point of discussion and debate, as well as a new tool for museum leadership and advocacy. Thinking of it only as a landmark report for science-based museums, however, would be a mistake and a lost opportunity. This report has important content for cross-disciplinary impact. It offers the gift of new language and thoughtful frameworks through which we can tell our individual stories more compellingly while supporting a shared definition of museums as valid places of learning. It gives fresh substance to the role of museums as effective learning resources.

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• Beverly Sheppard (sheppard@ilinet.org) is  president and CEO of the Institute for Learning Innovation.

10.1111/j.2151-6952.2010.00027.x About DOI