Our organization is approaching this from the other direction.  We're an online museum that feels that to survive we must branch out into the physical world.  Rather than compete with bricks and mortar museums or start our own we want to embrace existing groups and leverage our strengths with theirs.  We're promoting the concept of the distributed museum wherein we help create physical exhibits in other museums so that our physical presence is distributed around the world.  In this way we help attract visitors to the physical exhibit and those who can't travel there to our online version.

I think that part of the issue is that many museums see themselves as separate from the Internet rather than it being an extension of their current operations, in other words something they're forced to acknowledge and interact with rather than it becoming a core part of their mission. Schlossberg's first two suggestions are really the ones that address this most directly.  By using the Internet as a two way communication empowerment device rather than just as another advertising outlet you can actively engage the public and make them a part of the museum operation.  Other websites are experimenting with tools that allow the public to help build collections online.  Images and oral histories such as the September 11th digital archive (http://911digitalarchive.org/) not only gather data otherwise not easily accessible to researchers but might also foster a sense of ownership by the public as well as encourage visitation and donations.  

No matter which direction you approach it from there are opportunities here.

Kurt Knoerl
Director
The Museum of Underwater Archaeology
http://www.uri.edu/mua

>  -------Original Message-------
>  From: Dave Shirlaw 
>  Subject: Can Museums Survive in a YouTube World?
>  Sent: 10 Aug '07 02:57
>  
>  *Can Museums Survive in a YouTube World? *
>  
>  NEW YORK, Aug. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- That's not simply a rhetorical
>  question. With diminished government funding, dwindling audiences and a
>  tenuous connection to the next generation of patrons, museums are facing
>  a challenging 21st Century. To attract new audiences, museums have
>  mounted blockbuster exhibitions, enlisted starchitects to build
>  expensive additions/expansions and introduced hip evening events with
>  DJs and cocktails.
>  
>  But the real problem may well be the museum experience itself. And for
>  many younger targets -- particularly the under-30s who grew up with the
>  instant gratification of the Web -- it remains as didactic and passive
>  as it has been since the 19th century.
>  
>  Ed Schlossberg, founder of ESI Design, strongly believes that museums
>  need to invite visitors and other constituents to actively participate
>  in the experience if they want to reclaim their relevance. Schlossberg
>  sees the change from passive to active participant as the key to
>  understanding how to make an experience -- cultural or otherwise --
>  current and relevant.
>  
>  Schlossberg recommends the following initiatives to attract and engage
>  new audiences:
>  
>     -- Introduce new communication tools -- From cell phones and PDAs, to
>        blogs and wikis, communication tools offer opportunities to create
>        connections with new audiences.  The Walker Art Museum and The Steve
>        Museum project are examples of institutions using communications tools
>        in a positive way.
>     -- Empower the audience to customize the experience -- Online collections
>        are a great starting point for personalization programs.  The Getty
>        offers digital "bookmarks" that enable visitors to collect information
>        about items of interest and print customized gallery tours of the
>        Getty Center and the Getty Villa prior to their visit.
>     -- Create holistic ties to the community -- Create programs -- after
>        school programs, mobile exhibits, walking tours -- that extend the
>        experience outside museum walls and nurture roots in the community.
>     -- Segment your audience -- Reach new audiences by developing programs
>        for specific segments -- kids, teens, adults, seniors, experts -- and
>        deliver targeted content when they arrive. The Museum of Modern Art in
>        New York is collaborating with teens to develop programming and
>        interpretation specifically for high school students.
>     -- Train audiences for tomorrow -- Museums are no longer professional
>        training grounds for connoisseurs as they were in the 19th Century.
>        Today, audiences need to be trained to be art appreciators and
>        enthusiasts and given tools that can help them use art as a lens
>        through which to explore the world, and then share what they've
>        learned with others.
>  

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