Museums + Web 2.0

The Hermitage has done an excellent job of making some of its 3,000,000+ item collection available online but definitely has some room to grow. Many museums are now making use of recent trends in the use of World Wide Web technology, or what is known as Web 2.0. This new use of existing technology is intended to “enhance creativity, communications, secure information sharing, collaboration, and functionality of the web.” Most people are familiar with Web 2.0 in the form of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, video sharing sites such as YouTube, and blogs. A blog (a portmanteau of the words “web” and “log”) is a website maintained by an individual and regularly updated with entries, or posts, of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as photos or video. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format are an important part of most blogs. Many museums, especially contemporary art museums with a young demographic, have blogs in addition to their websites. The blogs differ from the website in that they use a conversational and personal tone rather than an institutional one and may consist of many contributors' voices. Blogs also evolve with the community that contributes to them and “can create an environment of person to person communication by seeking opinions, ideas, and feedback and by encouraging the visitors to participate and contribute . . . and share experiences” (Beazley). This shows that the museum is listening to its visitors, helps to break barriers, and allows visitors to be more engaged with the museum. Blogs are also an opportunity for smaller museums that may have very little funding to create an online presence for free.

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source: Museum 2.0

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