I was recently browsing the liberal Daily Kos (yes, yes, I’m a Kossack…) when I came across this poll:
Although this poll represents a heavily-biased demographic (technology-savvy liberals and moderates, ages 20-55), I still found it rather interesting. Museums lag far behind libraries, and slightly behind science buildings, schools, and streets. All of these locations are the sort that people actively engage with and receive tangible benefit in some way (I suspect that, for the purposes of this poll, “museum” refers to “art museum” or “history museum” and science museums are lumped in with “science buildings”). I know, I know – people do get tangible benefit from museums, but museums are very rarely considered an integral part of people’s everyday lives… at least not in the way that libraries and schools and roads can be.
I keep thinking about this quite a bit, actually. At the Magnes, we’re working very hard to put forth a lot of initiatives which engage the public in some way. We have a lot of history many people never get to see, and it’s imperative that our public can somehow interact with it. But it’s not enough to open dusty vaults and let everyone (virtually) wander though. Sure, that has a certain value to specific folks, but it’s only a start. I, and the rest of the staff, want our public to make the Magnes their Magnes. If we make our materials available online, how can we best get people to play with it? How can we harvest their own explorations and use them to increase our own understanding of our collections? And what are the tools which best achieve these goals?
We’re off to a good start, and some initiatives in the works may provide a significant ROI in this regard. But looking at the poll above, it makes me think that there’s a lot more we – not only the Magnes, but museums in general – can do. But I’m not pessimistic, and I think it’s a fun and interesting challenge.
