The MyMuseum Challenge

A group of Museum staff are developing a concept called MyMuseum. Loosely based on the MyMuseum aspect of this very website, we are challenging anyone to have a go at designing a MyMuseum experience, during January 2010, that incorporates both the physical aspects of the Museum (specifically our current exhibitions) with the virtual ones we offer through our website.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it ...

The Museum’s mission is to Inspire the exploration of nature and cultures. Through a program called MyMuseum we aim to integrate the physical experience (such as the exhibitions at College Street) and the virtual experience (via our website) we offer our large and diverse range of visitors.

For the purposes of this exercise visitors have been categorised as:

Ants – move methodically from object to object or page to page
Butterflies – move back and forth, alight on some displays or web pages
Grasshoppers – chose specific objects, web pages and hop from one to the other
Fish – glide in and out of exhibitions with few stops, they will browse the website, again gliding in and out of content, they like to play
Elephants – loyal visitor, repeatedly visits both physical and website often and are probably members of both sites, also display aspects of other categories

Our challenge to you is to design a MyMuseum experience that uses the real items you encounter around the public areas (objects, text, graphics, exhibits, people, etc, etc) combined with the technology that visitors will bring with them in their pockets (e.g. smart phones; mini laptops; game boys/PSPs etc). Think of it as the ultimate mash up. It could result in something like a PSP/Xbox game, a downloadable iPhone application, a self-guided tour, a virtual staff member/Museum guide, a TV/radio show, etc, etc. Your only limits are your imaginations!

The first step is to join the Museum's website and get a feel for how the MyMuseum aspect works. Then, physically visit the College Street site and design an integrated experience/s that addresses each (or all) visitor category.

The best idea/s will win a $50 Museum Shop voucher.

More resources that may help you are on the right-hand side of this page, including a post about how (and why museums categorise visitors.

Contact Lynda Kelly for more information or leave your comments/questions here.

Dr Lynda Kelly , Manager Online, Editing and Audience Research
Last Updated: 26 January 2010

4 comments

STAFF

Lynda Kelly
4.01 PM, 26 January 2010

Thanks Leeanne. If you want to take the challenge contact me via my staff profile and we can organise something. It's open to all ages!

bigmama
12.01 PM, 20 January 2010

Hi I liked this idea. Do you have to be a certain age? When does this close? Please advise.

Lynda Kelly
8.01 AM, 17 January 2010

Thanks Des. Crowdsourcing is certainly becoming fashionable. Angelina has written about what crowdsourcing may mean for our sector on the Social Media and Museums blog. Her latest post is a good place to start.

A shop voucher may be a bit lame as you say, but I'm just trying this out. My ultimate goal would be to have the winning idea developed into an app for a smartphone. We are working on these types of projects through a grant via the Smart Services CRC - you can check out what we're doing here.

Des Griffin
11.01 AM, 13 January 2010

I am very impressed at the rapid take-up of this crowd sourcing "design a museum experience" thing. A shop voucher is a little minimal though. At the Met first prize was the inclusion of their entry in the Museum's marketing campaign.

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