chris-alexander.com

For the American Association of Museums Conference in Denver, I was invited to speak about how our museum over the years has gathered visitor comments electronically.  I gave a historical perspective and talked about analogue methods using paper and worked up to utilizing “web 2.0” technologies.  The panel consisted of myself, Dave Ashiem from Guide by Cell, Peter Samis from SFMoMA, and Marla Shoemaker from the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the session was called Using Technology to Elicit Visitor Feedback.  I was sick at the time of the presentation and was not at the top of my game.  Ironically, while I was researching some facts about this post, I came across the audio from the conference available for purchase from the AAM website.  

I was flattered to be asked, through our YouTube Channel, by David Hart at New York MoMA if I would be interested in presenting at Museums and the Web 2008 about how we utilize YouTube at the San Jose Museum of Art. I was quick to accept because this would be my first conference speaking engagement. Also on the panel were Allegra Burnette, The Museum of Modern Art, New York; Daniel Dark, The Indianapolis Museum of Art; Jennifer Rossi, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; and Nicole Minor, The Exploratorium, USA. The idea for our panel presentation and discussion built on a presentation at Museums and the Web 2007 put on by the Indianapolis Museum of Art about posting videos to YouTube. Our idea was – so now you have a video on YouTube now what? My section dealt on how to make your video viral in a marketing campaign. The session was very well attended with attendees spill into the aisles and standing out in the hallway and lined up against the back wall.

The paper that we collaborated on Beyond Launch: Museum Videos on YouTube is available on the Museums and the Web 2008 website. Thanks to David and Allegra for putting it all together!

Here is the presentation that I gave:

The San Jose Museum of Art’s YouTube Channel can be found at http://www.youtube.com/sanjosemuseumofart

Presentation to a group of Museum Studies students at Santa Clara University. Talked about current SJMA practices for creating and delivering audio and video interpretation with a strong emphasis on cell phones and Guide by Cell. Students are working on interpretive materials for an upcoming Anderson Art Collection exhibition. Interpretation includes writing labels, writing bios and creating cell phone tour.

Links from the presentation:

• Guide by Cell
• IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance)
• Podcast Maker
• SJMA’s Website
• SJMA’s Artist of the Week page
• SJMA’s YouTube Channel
• SJMA’s Odeo Channel

On October 29, 2007 I was pleased to be asked by the museum to present to our Board of Directors about our technology programs and what possibilities existed in the future. The presentation was very well received and seemed to open a lot of eyes towards the potential uses of technology in the museum setting. One of the highlights of the talk was the a diagram that I showed about how the museum could have a central database for artwork which would be fed by everyone from the museum registrar, to curators, to outside art enthusiasts.

Presented to a group of students studying technology in museums, this talk focused on “Web 2.0”, technologies behind it, how it came about and included some example websites. In addition, I addressed how SJMA has been incorporating some of these technologies and looking at them in terms of an interactive permanent collection online. Finally, I ended talking about the process that goes into making one of our podcast series, “Artist of the Week”. The group was bright and very tech savy which made for great Q and A throughout the entire talk.



Links from the presentation:

• 37 Signals (Ta-Da List)
• Flickr
• Guide by Cell
• IODA (Independent Online Distribution Alliance)
• Last.FM
• Panoramio
• Podcast Maker
• Ruby on Rails
• SJMA’s Website
• SJMA’s Artist of the Week page
• SJMA’s YouTube Channel
• SJMA’s Odeo Channel
• Twitter
• Twittervision
• Wikipedia