Now in it’s third year, MuseumNext is establishing a reputation as Europe’s major conference on how museums and galleries can benefit from new technology and the latest web trends.
This year our conference explores the themes of building passionate communities, empowering audiences and digital fundraising with 17 speakers from Europe, America and Australia.
As well as listening to inspiring talks, we also give delegates opportunities to network with each other and share best practice. We have over 200 participants from 21 countries, so we will have many different perspectives on how museums can use technology.
MuseumNext Day 1
09.00 Registration opens
Tea and coffee and ‘hello’.
09.45 Welcome address
10.00
Shelley Bernstein
Brooklyn Museum
Shelley is Chief of Technology at the Brooklyn Museum where she works to further the museum’s community-oriented mission through projects including free public wireless access, web-enabled comment books, projects for mobile devices and putting the Brooklyn Museum collection online.
Brooklyn Museum is internationally recognised as leading the way in which museums are engaging their audiences through the innovative use of technology. Shelley Bernstein will talk about her latest initiatives at the Brooklyn Museum.
11.00
Jasper Visser
Museum of National History
Jasper Visser is Project Manager for new technology and media projects at the Museum of National History of the Netherlands. Together with the team, he’s responsible for their new media strategy, (online) participation, community building and online communication.
In this presentation Jasper will share dos and don’ts based on the experience of the Museum of National History of the Netherlands. He will share best practices for designing participatory projects that successfully engage audiences and make the online-onsite-offsite conversion really work.
11.30
Fiona Romeo
National Maritime Museum
Fiona Romeo is Head of Digital Media at the National Maritime Museum, responsible for all digital elements of the visitor experience.
Fiona is also Chair of the Citizen Science Alliance, a collaboration of scientists, software developers and educators who collectively develop projects that further scientific research and the public understanding of science.
Fiona will talk about how cultural organisations can involve their audience as programmers.
12.00
A buffet lunch will be served in The Hub for all our delegates.
13.30
Amy S. Weisser
National September 11 Memorial & Museum
Amy S. Weisser is the Director of Exhibition Development at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum. She and her colleagues are developing the exhibitions for the museum, located at the World Trade Center site.
In telling a story to which many visitors are expected to feel emotionally and cognitively attached, the Museum draws upon the rich archives of artifacts, images, sounds, and voices gathered to record the event for history. Amy will explore some of the tools—both physical and technological—used in the Museum to express this collective history and support a community of global witnesses.
14.00
Hugh Wallace & Sally Manuireva
National Museums Scotland
Sally Manuireva is Director of Public Programmes at National Museums Scotland where her role is to provide creative leadership on all aspects of the public offer and to attract and inspire new and existing audiences with the objects and stories in the National Collections.
Hugh Wallace joined National Museums Scotland as Head of Digital Media in 2009 from Oxfam. He has overall responsibility for the Museum’s digital strategy and online presence.
Hugh and Sally will talk about how National Museums Scotland took the decision to invest in digital as a priority area. This will cover how public engagement is being embedded in their programmes, and how they are using digital media to inform and engage audiences.They will look at how new technology and evaluation is influencing the direction of the Museum and explore what’s worked, what hasn’t and where they see things going next.
14.30
Jim Richardson
Sumo
Jim Richardson is Managing Director of Sumo, a leading arts marketing agency with an international reputation, and a co-founder of MuseumNext. Jim has worked on a broad range of marketing campaigns and social media projects for clients including The National Gallery, The Natural History Museum, The National Trust and BBC.
Jim will talk about using social media to create dialogue between museums and their audiences, highlighting how encouraging audience participation can be an effective marketing tool.
15.00 Afternoon Break
15.45
Lynda Kelly
Australian Museum
Lynda Kelly is Head of Web and Audience Research at the Australian Museum, Sydney. She has published widely in audience research and writes the popular blog ‘Audience Research’.
Lynda will talk about how the internet has both enabled visitors to have a clearer voice and forced Museums (and researchers) to go and embrace new models of audience research/audience development and what this means for our practices.
16.15
Steve Bridger
In his own words, Steve Bridger helps some of the UK’s biggest charities to unlearn stuff and trust more of their own people to build relationships online that support collaboration, transparency, advocacy and philanthropy.
Steve will talk about building relationships and fundraising through networks – and look at what museums can learn from charities with regards to strengthening the relationships between museums and supporters.
17.00 Conference close
Conference proceedings close for the day.
19.00 — 22.00 Evening reception
A drinks reception for conference delegates at The Caves, an atmospheric venue built in to the foundations of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Drinks and canapés will be served.
MuseumNext Day 2
10.00 Registration opens
10.25 Welcome address
10.30
Rich Mintz
Blue State Digital
Rich Mintz is the Vice-President of Strategy at Blue State Digital, an innovative American company focusing on online fundraising, advocacy, social networking, and constituency development programs for nonprofit organisations, political candidates and corporations.
The most effective online programmes build relationships over time via email and social media, and use the trust established in those relationships to encourage supporters to give and upgrade. Rich will walk through some cultural institutions’ effective relationship-driven online programmes, and help you to understand what you need to do and say in order to build supporters’ trust and sense of urgency and drive them to take action.
11.30
Joanne Orr
Museums Galleries Scotland
Joanne has been CEO of Museums Galleries Scotland (MGS) for five years. MGS is the lead voice for over 340 member museums and galleries, and the main channel for Scottish Government funding to non-National museums.
Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) is the concept of living culture outlined in the 2003 UNESCO Convention. Edinburgh Napier University were commissioned by MGS to carry out research on how this Convention could be implemented in Scotland. One result of this research has been the creation of an online wiki. The participating public are creating a record of ICH in Scotland rather than of Scottish ICH and as such is aimed at promoting diversity and enhancing cultural knowledge and understanding. MGS will take over management of the project this year and plans are in development for working with other cultural agencies to celebrate, enhance and share the results – virtually and in reality and then to expand beyond Scotland’s borders.
12.00
Nora Semel & Francesca Merlino
Solomon R. Guggenheim
Nora Semel is the Associate Director of External Affairs at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Nora’s role within the institution is to develop and advise on near- and long-term strategic communications initiatives, manage special projects, and support the media relations efforts of the Foundation.
Francesca Merlino is Marketing Manager of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, responsible for developing strategic integrated marketing programs that leverage traditional, digital, and emerging media to support the museum’s vital operations, revenue-generating activities, and web-based initiatives.
‘YouTube Play : A Biennial of creative video’ was developed by YouTube and the Guggenheim Museum in collaboration with HP. It brought together innovative, original and surprising videos from around the world and exhibited them at the Guggenheim Museums in New York, Bilbao, Berlin and Venice in October 2010. Nora and Francesca will talk about the challenges of creating YouTube Play.
12.30 Lunch
14.00
Mia Ridge
Science Museum
Mia Ridge is a cultural heritage technologist, and has worked internationally as an analyst, consultant and programmer.
Her work currently focuses on game design for participatory digitisation and the application of human-computer interaction theories to the design of museum interpretation and collections online.
Museums are seeking new ways to attract and engage audiences in a crowded digital landscape with a lot of competition for online time and attention. Games allow a fresh approach to museum interpretation and learning with the potential to reach large, traditionally hard-to-reach audiences. Player participation can also be harnessed to create benefits for museums and their audiences through games that help improve the quality of collection data, whilst encouraging a new type of audience engagement.
Mia will talk about her research in to games within the context of museums.
14.30
Geer Oskam
N8
Geer Oskam is a project manager for Stichting Museumnacht Amsterdam (n8). Founded by a collective of Amsterdam museums, n8 thinks about ways to engage young audiences with the Amsterdam museums.
n8 develops strategies, both on- and offline, involving all kinds of media, creating a platform for young audiences and museums. Geer will talk about the organisation (3 staff members aged 24 - 26) the products they have developed for n8 in the last 2 years: Museumnacht, Nachtsalons, Edits and how they have built a community on n8.nl and various social networks.
15.00 Afternoon break
15.30
Martin Barden
TATE
Martin Barden is Head of Membership & Ticketing at Tate for its four galleries. His role includes leading Tate’s ticket sales and services, membership sales, marketing and communications, systems development, and overseeing the Tate Members’ Charity.
Martin will present Tate’s data segmentation project used to develop its membership scheme. This model has had a profound impact on how Tate communicates with its Members and their likelihood of renewing.
It is now the cornerstone of their marketing and communications programme and has helped the scheme to grow to record levels.
16.30
Willem Velthoven
Mediamatic
Willem is the founder of Mediamatic, a cultural institution, new media agency and technology developer based in the Netherlands, where he is responsible for general management, curatorial strategy and art direction.
MediaMatic has diverse activities covering everything from publishing to opening an Arabic department store, all in the name of culture. As a new media agency, Mediamatic has a reputation for developing complex social networks and connecting these to the real world.
Willem will talk about developing Digitaal Monument Joodse Gemeenschap in
Nederland, a virtual community which lets the public share new information, pictures and stories on people relating to the Jewish community in the Netherlands during World War 2.
*Please note that the programme may be subject to change.