I think that the Smithsonian has something of the kind, but open to the
general public... did I see it on Museum 2.0?

Carol Ely
Locust Grove
Louisville

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Deb Fuller
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 4:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: The new oral history?

On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 4:26 PM, Perian Sully <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> One idea we're considering is to create a way in which people can
share
> their stories about similar objects, online. We're looking at forums,
wikis,
> blog posts, and commenting features on our collections online portal.
We
> already have a space where people can comment on our photos and videos
> (Flickr and YouTube), but we'd like to somehow link those stories to
the
> collection.

Actually, I think you are on to another great idea. Is there a
"communal archives" where small institutions like yours could post
artifacts and get help from other institutions? If not, do you think
your museum would be interested in developing something like it? This
would be a closed list for verified members only so you wouldn't have
any joe smuck to come in and spam it.

I'm not a programmer but from what I understand, things like ning, on
which Facebook is built, are open source and easy to use. They seem to
take off pretty quickly, once people know about them. Members can sign
up for just the feeds or threads that interest them so they don't have
to constantly monitor the site.

The benefits could even be expanded to finding artifacts for exhibits
or related artifacts in other collections. People could even start
resource lists to help point people in the right direction when they
are doing artifact research. Collectively, other museum professionals
could help research thousands of orphan artifacts and perhaps, either
find them new homes or get them put on exhibit. Who knows what
treasures that haven't seen the light of day in years are sitting in
museum vaults because know one knows anything about them? Also think
of all the unemployed curators and experts out there that would love
to help out with projects like this.

The possibilities are endless!

Deb Fuller

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