A presentation about participatory design techniques that can be applied to reduce participation inequality, increase the quality of user-generated content, and support social interaction among users. Presented by Nina Simon of Museum 2.0 at the BayCHI program on March 9, 2010.

1. design for participation:
lessons from museums
nina simon, museum 2.0
nina@museumtwo.com
@ninaksimon on twitter
slides at http://bit.ly/baychinina

2. where i live

3. what i do
balboa park online collaborative
boston children’s museum
calgary science center
chabot space science center
chicago history museum
denver art museum
experience music project
girls math and science partnership
international spy museum
monterey bay aquarium
oakland museum
SFMOMA
smithsonian museum of natural history
statens museum for kunst
tech museum of innovation

4. what i focus on
the participatory institution
is a place where visitors can
create, share, and connect
with each other around
content.

5. in cultural institutions, that can mean...
Stanford Art Center upper: chicago children’s museum Minnesota History Museum
lower: Science Museum of Minnesota

6. and it requires some changes
Authority is content provider Authority is platform provider

7. how do you design
a space to support
community engagement
& meaningful visitor
participation?

9. three core challenges on the web
✴ participation inequality
✴ variable quality amateur content
✴ limited tools for social interaction

10. three design techniques
✴ scaffold participation
✴ design for thoughtful response
✴ design from “me” to “we”

11. three design techniques
✴ scaffold participation
✴ design for thoughtful response
✴ design from “me” to “we”

13. 90,000 visitors, 37,000 posters made
average time poster-making: 25 minutes

14. social participation also requires scaffolding
GoMA
Statens Museum of Kunst

15. giving good instructions
SFMOMA

16. SFMOMA

21. three design techniques
✴ scaffold participation
✴ design for thoughtful response
✴ design from “me” to “we”

23. web 2.0 is software
that gets better the more
people use it
-Tim O’Reilly, technologist and publisher

24. turning trash into data
Auckland Museum Minnesota History Museum

25. an exhibit that gets better the more people use it?
Worcester City Gallery and Museum

26. all of this hinges on responsiveness
Chicago History Museum Staff of Life grocery store

27. and asking good questions
Ontario Science Centre

28. DAISY: How do I know I'm talking to a human
and not just another machine?
DAISY: Are you sure that I'm not a real person
talking to you by e-mail?
What would it take to
convince you?
EXPLORATORIUM

29. Lowell National Historical Park

30. three design techniques
✴ scaffold participation
✴ design for thoughtful response
✴ design from “me” to “we”

32. less like this more like this
Photo by cybertoad on Flickr

33. who are you relative to the institution?

35. social infrastructure for interaction
Advice, University of Washington

37. I’ve never had a gay friend. It was unbelievably
exciting to find myself facing him with his body,
opinions and identity. It seems he was not very
different from me and especially he was not an
alien. From now on, I will not disrupt my
communication with the gays, I will enhance it.
- Reader in Istanbul, 2007

38. what’s next?
the participatory institution
is a place where visitors can
create, share, and connect
with each other around
content.*
* it doesn’t have to be a museum

39. BAR MUSEUM
venue that creative,
+
encourages interactive,
interpersonal content-rich
engagement social objects

40. continue the conversation...
@ninaksimon
http://bit.ly/baychinina nina@museumtwo.com