Getting your feet wet in

web 2.0Cynthia Iburg

Senior Educator

Canadian Museum of Nature

My Experience

Facebook group Blog Voicethread YouTube Wiki

Fears and challenges

Loss of control Maintenance Unfamiliarity

Opportunities and Benefits

Micro-audiences Interactivity Participation Bridging distances

Things to Consider

Internal vs External

How much control do you need to have?

Do you want to participate in existing communities?

Examples

Indianapolis Children's Museum http://treeofpromise.org/

Brooklyn Museum http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/

Audience

Who are you trying to reach?

Be specific! The web is about micro-niches.

Purpose

What is the objective of the web product?

* education

* promotion

* connecting with members

Voice

Who is the author?

* institution

* one employee

* one division/project

http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2007/03/institutional-blogs-different-voices.html

Ownership

Which department within your institution “owns” the product?

Language

Do you have a bilingual mandate?

How to you approach two languages?

* one bilingual

* two simultaneous

* different content in each

Editing

Will the content be formally edited or not?

Web 2.0 tends to be casual and

over-editing can be a turn off.

“Look and Feel”

How do you make it clear that the web product belongs to your institution without

interfering with the casual nature of the community?

Community

Will you participate in an existing community? How will you give to that

community in addition to accessing their members?

Maintenance

Who will be responsible for maintaining content? Will it be in their official annual

goals? How much time will you give them?

Copyright issues

How will you address issues of copyright and IP?

Visuals are very important to web 2.0.

Linking

Will you link your web product back to your official site?

Particiaption

How will you manage participation? Almost all web 2.0 products have the opportunity to leave comments as a minimum. You will not be able to control what people write.

Lifespan

Plan an escape route. Especially when first starting out, give yourself a manageable window in which to run the product; you can always extend it. Don’t go into an indefinite commitment.

Resources

Nina Simon’s blog Museums2.0 http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/

Museums and the Web http://museumsandtheweb.blogspot.com/

Some of my projects

Interactive info site http://nature.ca/explore/di-ef/index_e.cfm

Blog http://cmndropbydrop.wordpress.com/

National Café Scientifique http://voicethread.com/#u155263.b394303.i2721455

Try it!