Nina Simon: The Participatory Museum April 21, 2010

The Participatory Museum by Nina Simon

Nina Simon is well known to museum folks as the author of the blog Museum 2.0. She consults with museums around the world to design exhibitions, programs, and online experiences that engage visitors as co-creators and community members, not just consumers.

At the beginning of 2009, Simon began working on a book called The Participatory Museum. To practice what she preaches, she didn't write the book in the conventional way, but composed it online in a wiki format, which allows pages to be created and edited collaboratively on the Web. The book's entire development was transparent to the public. After she invited a crew of Awesome Helpers to participate, sixty-five people contributed on the wiki. She then solicited more volunteers to review the final content, copy edit, and vote on the book's title.

American Art is fortunate to be cited in the book for two recent projects: the alternate reality game Ghosts of a Chance and the citizen-as-curator project Fill the Gap. Simon will be here on April 22 to discuss the book and answer your questions. Come and join in the participatory fun! The Participatory Museum will be available for purchase in the Museum store. A book signing will follow the lecture.

• Museums, Social Media, Technology, American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum