Off Center

A year ago this week, I made my first blog post for the Walker and wondered aloud what audiences want from a museum blog and how the medium could serve our various communication needs (I posted on the “museoblogosphere“–a neologism that, alas, hasn’t taken off–here, and the discussion was followed up by Eric here, here, and here). Today there are around 60 museums blogging, according to Ideum, and the news stories about this trend have shifted from “Look, museums are blogging!” to broader discussions of challenges, opportunities and conflicts inherent in this kind of institutional channel for informal communications.

In a thorough and thoughtful piece in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, David Ng digs into the topic. “Museum blogs suffer from a kind of split-personality syndrome,” he writes. “Are they civic forums or glorified marketing tools? Should they humanize the museum or enforce an authoritative distance? Perhaps all of the above.” Offering no definitive answer, he cites challenges of blogs like the Science Museum of Minnesota’s Science Buzz and their discussions around allowing political content–commenters who opposed the use of human cadavers in the touring Body Worlds exhibit or refuted the theory of evolution in a display of T-Rex bones–in a scientific blog, for instance. (We had similar discussions when commenters questioned the use of live animals in our exhibition House of Oracels: A Huang Yong Ping retrospective; we opted for transparency and openness, but decided to close comments a month after the exhibition concluded.)

At this one-year anniversary, I want to revisit some of my early questions in hopes that some of our own concerns–lack of robust debate in the comments, intermittent posting by Walker staff, etc.–can be clarified. What do you, blog reader, like about our blogs and what would you like to see more of? Got a favorite post? A criticism? Lay it on us.

Museum blogging is rapidly growing, but you’d hardly know it reading the New York Times‘ article on web use in the special Museums section today: the only blog listed is the Walker’s. No reBlog or Eye Level, Pulitzer Contemporary or the Katzen, or any of the handful of other art museums that are testing bloggy waters. But the article does reiterate what I think is an important point for all museums considering launching blogs–make an effort to resist the impulse to micromanage blog content. Aside from some common-sense blog rules–don’t bash other institutions, minimize expletive use, resist gossiping about co-workers, f.ex.–we at the Walker are given fairly wide berth to use blogs for what they are, an informal, human medium. And, thankfully, it comes straight from the top (Kathy Halbreich tells me this democratic approach is the lasting legacy of former New Media Director Steve Dietz). From the Times:

“We had to learn to relinquish our curatorial authority, to get noninstitutional voices,” said Kathy Halbreich, the director of the Walker. “The blog gives us a multiplicity of voices.”

Robin Dowden, who runs the Walker site, said that in addition to being educational, it helps promote a community. “In the beginning we were a bit afraid,” she said. “But one thing we realized is that our audiences are smart and they want to be engaged.” As a result, the Walker does not edit what bloggers contribute.

For more, check out Eric’s series The State of Museum Blogs or conference notes by Eric, Brent and Nate from Museums & the Web last week.