The Back Room

I am a pretty connected guy. I have accounts on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, etc. I have my iChat set up on my computer to my AIM account, Google Chat, and Facebook Chat. I have an iPhone, plan on getting an iPad, and my desk has 4 screens on it right now that are all connected. One for my Mac laptop, two for my PC, and one for a Ubuntu Linux box I have running to play around with a content management tool called OMEKA for a project we’re working on here. I like that I can get a hold of almost anyone I know very quickly, find any piece of information in a snap, and take in vast amounts of information all at once. Despite all of this, sometimes I can’t manage to talk with my parents, because they don’t realize what call waiting is and won’t click over, and haven’t checked their email in a few days. No matter how much I use technology to connect and communicate, none of that matters if the person on the other end doesn’t. I can draw a similar line to incorporating social networking and media into museums and other institutions. Sure, some people are going to eat it up and really embrace it, but, as hard as it may be to imagine, there are millions of people that don’t use this as a method of communication, and may get very little or nothing out of the experience.  Nina Simon has some great stuff on her site, Museum 2.0 that is probably deeper than I can go, but I did want to offer a few high level thoughts.

There are a couple different aspects to consider when thinking about social media. How can you use it to market and promote your product (museum, aquarium, etc.), and how can you use it to create content inside your institution, like designing dynamic exhibits and new ways that visitors explore your message? For this article, I’ll first focus on things to consider on the marketing and outreach perspective.

Should you create your own system to create or can you leverage existing platforms to accomplish what you want?
I can’t get over how many web sites now let you create a log-in, and then want you to create a profile and interact with users, share videos, etc. With the vast majority of these sites, so few people are going to actually do it, that it makes very little sense. Sure, someone might sign up for a login and post something once, but the number that will make your own site part of their daily routine? Honestly – VERY few. You must have a powerhouse of a site to really attract people to visit daily. Why try to reinvent the wheel here? As cliche as it is, it makes much more sense to use things like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. They are existing platforms that you could integrate into your website or on-site exhibit media. They have rich API sets, are time tested, and people are familiar with them and many already have logins and make them daily visits. Facebook just passed Google as the #1 web site in this country.

Are you generating content that people care about?
If you’re going to start a Facebook group, Twitter feed and the like, why are you doing it? If it’s just because, “that’s what the kids are doing these days,” then it’s not worth it. You have to have some reason behind it and some vision for how you’re going to use it. Starting a Twitter feed and posting your gallery hours, lunch specials, etc. over and over doesn’t really seem like a great use of the medium. People have to want to follow you and hear from you on a regular basis. Make sure you’re posting fresh content and making people want to follow you, not block you. We get enough junk mail as it is.

This page is like a federal highway project. Always "Under Construction".

Are you going to keep with it?
You know what really drives me nuts? Under construction pages on the web. At least they’re not using that same icon with the orange diamond with a line drawing of some guy shoveling. Also, sites with a bit of content with “coming soon” sections, notes about how more will be up in a month, etc. 95% of the time, it is NOT going to happen.

So, going along with that theme, don’t start down a road that you can’t sustain, and don’t start before you’re ready. When we started this site, I told the guys here that we were going to update it regularly, and made it part of their jobs to make sure we were keeping this content fresh. If you’re going to start posting videos monthly on YouTube and promote it as some sort of recurring feature, you’d better keep doing it, because if people subscribe to your channel hoping to get new stuff, and it stops after two months, they may not come back. Follow through and keep with it long enough to let it work or fail. If after a year you’re getting 14 views per video, then maybe it’s time to pull the plug.

Do you know what you’re doing?
In my previous job, I worked for the in-house production department of a very large company. We had a request come from a VP that she wanted to do a podcast because, “that’s what people are doing.” Except, she had nothing to say and no reason to do one. We also had someone start a YouTube site for the company with a name that didn’t connect to either the company or the products it produced. If you’re going to dive in, make sure you know how the system works, and talk to some people who may have done it. People, especially kids, can spot people who don’t know what they’re doing and it can be embarrassing. A certain presidential candidate had a MySpace page that was put up hastily, and used graphics that were linked from another person’s site. What do you think happened when that person realized the graphics were being used improperly and went ahead and changed them in the background? Yeah, a presidential candidate had a MySpace page promoting issues that were the opposite of what he believed.

Nestle digs out of a Facebook sized hole.

Are you ready for the consequences?
Social media has a broad reach, and can help disseminate positive reviews, experiences, etc. BUT, it also can do the same for bad experiences. You’ll lose control over some of what might happen on your Facebook group, responses on Twitter, or any other public forum. Part of what makes online social media unique is that people are free to make comments, interact, etc. without being censored or held back. If you start deleting unflattering posts or only accepting people who give your institution good reviews, that will really rub people the wrong way. So, make sure you’re ready to deal with a public debate if your ticketing system goes down and causes a two hour wait for entrance into your exhibit halls. You can be sure that you’ll hear about it on your Facebook page, and everyone else reading that page will hear about it too. Be ready to publicly respond to these types of things and be up-front and take responsibility for it to smooth the path. A recent example of some Facebook PR trouble can be found with Nestle Corporation’s Facebook Slip.

I’m a big fan of making sure you do things right. Maybe it’s because I work in this field, or some childhood frustration of watching people not finish tasks, but it really strikes a cord with me. Social networking is a great way to get the word out about what you’re doing in your institution. It facilitates connections, gets people talking, and can really grow your membership. It’s also a very public arena, so you should do it right the first time. How would you feel if you sent out a bunch of fliers to your membership and they all had typos and incorrect information? Content on the web can be seen by millions, so take care of your image there and you’ll have a better chance of success.

One of the ever increasing trends for visitor centers and museums, especially in the public sector, has been the inclusion of open source software and hardware into their exhibits, user stations, and infrastructure.  At face value, it seems like open hardware and software systems should be considered over closed hands-down.  There are a few high level considerations to take into account when making the decision to utilize a certain open source project.

What is open source software?
Open source software means that the original source code for a software product or tool is made available.  An open source software project may or may not have a corporate entity backing it.  Traditionally open source software is volunteer based unless there is a corporate entity actively developing portions of a project.

The Openfire XMPP Server

An example of a corporate backed open source software project is Jive Software’s Openfire Server for XMPP (an instant messaging protocol).

An example of a volunteer based project is the multimedia encoder/decoder/transcoder ffmpeg.

Open source software usually does not provide typical avenues for support.  At a bare minimum there will be a developer’s mailing list that may or may not have active participants who can provide helpful support.  My recommendation is that the amount of documentation for a project should be carefully examined prior to becoming involved with it.

What is open source hardware?
In this context I am referring to open source hardware as circuit boards.   So this may include special electrical converters that allow an exhibit to do external communication, control something remotely, turn on and off devices and lighting, and several other operations dealing with management of electricity.

Open source hardware means that electrical schematics, part lists, gerber files(standard circuit board fabrication CAD file format) and potentially low level code are made available with hardware.  Basically all of the necessary items are provided in open source hardware so that anyone with the ability to fabricate circuit boards could produce and potentially sell or use the piece of hardware.  A very popular piece of open source hardware is a little circuit board for hobbyists, students, and professionals known as the Arduino.

The Sparkfun Electronic's Section for Arduino

The Sparkfun Electronics product page for Arduino shows the power of open hardware as there are several variants and accessories of the popular kit.

Important Questions You Should Ask When Considering Open Software and Hardware
1.  Will the open source software or hardware work for you as-is?
If you decide that you would like to expand or modify an open source project, then make sure you have the manpower and expertise to do so.

2. If modifying an open source project; would it be faster to do your own implementation?
If an engineer is not familiar with an already implemented solution, then there is an additional cost of time for the engineer to learn how to modify the open source project.  Many implementations in software are built on strict templating systems that an engineer will have to figure out how to work with.

3. Does the licensing for the project fit your intended use case?
There are many different open source licenses that all come with their own restrictions.  Some allow you to do whatever you want.  Some place strict guidelines on what is and isn’t allowed.  Some require you to release your source code/schematic changes if they are requested.