Museum 2.0 blog

Drew Schiller, who's on the UIMA Members Council, recommended I check out this blog, Museum 2.0, by Nina Simon. I really enjoyed it, so I thought I'd pass it along. I thought this post on the intersection of physical museums and their new media technology was really interesting. After begin inspired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art's online efforts and a speech by director Max Anderson, Simon says she was disappointed to find the museum itself was, well, like any other museum. "I felt like I had met someone online, someone sexy and open and intriguing, and then on our first date that mystery museum turned out to be just like all the others," she says.

For the UIMA, the problem of cyber-space existence and physical existence is further complicated by our lack of a discreet museum building of our own. So our website, in many ways, becomes even more important: as a resource for scholars looking to learn about our collections and especially as a go-to place for updated information on where those collections are physically located at this time, how to access them, and where to go for events. But an online museum is never going to be a replacement for the real thing...What do you think? Have you ever experienced what Simon was talking about -- loving something online and then hating it in real life? What about the opposite -- a wonderful thing in person that had a disappointing online precence? What things do you like to see online? What things really annoy you?

-- Maggie Anderson, UIMA Marketing and Media Manager