Hello, listers.

I know some have called for the topic to be dropped, but this recent
"Washington Post" article made me think this may be an issue we need
to continue grappling with (if not on the list, then in our own
institutions):

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A Curate-Your-Own Museum Web Site

By Linda Hales, Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, March 11, 2006;  Page C02

The Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is about to
take its Web site where no museum has gone before.

Where that is isn't absolutely clear, but it merits getting excited
about. The so-called "online national design museum" promises to open
the museum and its vast collection to visitors anywhere in the world.
What's more, if development can keep up with vision, the site will
turn museumgoers into participants in a bold cultural experiment.

Interactivity is the key.

Cooper-Hewitt Director Paul Thompson describes "an open theater for
ideas." And John Maeda, a digital guru at MIT and a trustee, talks of
a "new paradigm" for museums.

They're right. But here's the catch: The traditional museum autocracy
will have to accommodate democracy.
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Read the entire article online:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/10/AR2006031002342.html
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Cheers / Angelique Weger

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