I have been most greatly influenced in writing this book by three professional heroes: Elaine Heumann Gurian, Kathleen McLean, and John Falk. If this book excites you, I highly recommend that you “go to the source” and read their books as well. I am honored to consider Elaine, Kathy, and John as mentors and friends, and I would not have written this book without their inspiring example.

This book was not only inspired by colleagues; it was also directly improved by their active involvement in its development. If you think peer review in the museum field is dead or languishing, I encourage you to open your work processes to the eyes and opinions of your colleagues. I wrote this book publicly on a wiki site and invited colleagues and enthusiastic readers of the Museum 2.0 blog to add their comments, insights, and examples along the way. Their contributions, particularly during the editing stage, were invaluable. They pointed out what was valuable and not, shared new examples, and gave me the courage to make major changes to the content, organization, and tone of the book.

Several people contributed many hours of their attention towards improving this book. Some of these editors are colleagues whom I solicited directly, but most are museum professionals and interested folks with whom I had no prior relationship. In no particular order, I’d like to thank the content reviewers (some of whom have provided bios): Conxa Rodà, Sarah Barton, Mark Kille, Barbara Oliver, Bruce Wyman, Cath Styles, Susan Spero, Chris Castle, Claire Antrobus, David Kelly-Hedrick, Ed Rodley, Georgina Goodlander, Linda Norris, Kevin Von Appen, Darcie Fohrman, Maria Mortati, Haz Said, Jody Crago, Jonah Holland, Kerrick Lucker, Kristin Lang, Daniel Spock, Eric Siegel, Lauri Berkenkamp, Rebekah Sobel, Andrea Bandelli, Louise Govier, Lynn Bethke, John Falk, Peter Linett, Ruth Cuadra, Maureen Doyle, Marc Van Bree, Patricia Sabine, Heidi Glatfelter, Susan Edwards, Jane Severs, Phillippa Pitts, Jana Hill, Mariana Salgado, Melissa Gula, Robert Connolly (and his museum practices students), Becky Menlove, Mia Ridge, and Michael Skelly.

Copy-editing was also a collaborative volunteer effort. Thank you to: Dave Mayfield, James Neal, Buster Ratliff, Lizz Wilkinson, Tikka Wilson, Jody Crago, Erin Andrews, Lisa Worley, Monica Freeman, Matthew Andress, Barbara Berry, Kaia Landon, Rhonda Newton, Jonathan Kuhr, Lynn Bethke, Susan Edwards, and L. Corwin Christie for making all the little punctuation and grammatical fixes that make this book read smoothly.

Thanks to Robin Sloan and Scott Simon for their editorial efforts to improve the book overall. Thanks also to Sibley Simon and Sarina Simon, who generously responded to many out-of-the-blue requests for feedback. Great thanks to Jennifer Rae Atkins, who designed the beautiful front and back covers, and to Karen Braiser, who formatted many of the Web-based images for inclusion.

This book was heavily informed by conversations and interviews with professionals across many institutions. Thank you to Evelyn Orantes, Shelley Bernstein, Wendy Erd, Tsivia Cohen, Kris Morrissey, Jeff Grabill, Kirsten Ellenbogen, Kelli Nowinsky, David Chesebrough, Stephanie Ratcliffe, Jane McGonigal, William Cary, Jamee Telford, Barbara Henry, Kathleen McLean, Kevin Von Appen, Sabrina Greupner, Vishnu Ramcharan, Robert Stein, Chris Alexander, Bridget Conley-Zilkic, David Klevan, Nancy Zinn, Jackie Copeland, Josh Greenberg, Jessica Pigza, Lori Fogarty, Beck Tench, Jeff Stern, and countless others who have generously provided information, images, and inspiration for this book.

I take full responsibility for all errors and omissions in this book, and I encourage you to share new case studies, comments, and questions on this site in the Discuss section. Please share your feedback. It improves everyone’s experience with the content and it opens up the opportunity for multi-directional conversation.

Finally, thank you for considering these ideas and, hopefully, integrating them into your work. I can’t wait to hear where you take it.

Drawing by Jennifer Rae Atkins

Nina Simon is an independent experience designer with expertise in participatory design, gaming, and social technology. She is the principal of Museum 2.0, a design firm that works with museums, libraries, and cultural institutions worldwide to create dynamic, audience-driven exhibitions and educational programs.

In addition to design work, Nina lectures and gives workshops on visitor participation. She is an adjunct professor of social technology in the University of Washington Museology program. Nina authors the Museum 2.0 blog, which also appears as a column in Museum magazine.

Previously, Nina served as Curator at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, CA, and was the Experience Development Specialist at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

Nina lives in Santa Cruz, California.

HOWEVER, not all of the images included in the book (and on this site) are licensed under Creative Commons. Wherever relevant, I have included the license and ownership information in the captions of images. Please respect these fine peoples’ copyright in your use of this material.

Cite as: Simon, Nina. The Participatory Museum. Santa Cruz: Museum 2.0, 2010.

Please contact me with any questions or proposals for reuse and adaptation of this book.

• none so far – did you find one? If so, go here.

Bugs in the printed book:

• Chapter 1, page 32, last sentence: “motivate” should be “motivated.”
• Chapter 2, pages 61-62. Tim Spalding’s name is misspelled. “Spaulding” should be “Spalding.”
• Chapter 3, page 103, caption on Human Library image: “LIbrarians” should be “Librarians.”
• Chapter 7, Tech Museum case study: “three challenged arose” should be “three challenges arose.”
• Did you find one? If so, go here.

Bugs in the ebook:

• Chapter 2, Librarything discussion. Tim Spalding’s name is misspelled. “Spaulding” should be “Spalding.”
• Chapter 3, caption on Human Library image: “LIbrarians” should be “Librarians.”
• Chapter 7, Tech Museum case study: “three challenged arose” should be “three challenges arose.”

• Did you find one? If so, go here.

Jump to review by: Sonnet Takahisa in Curator, Mac West in Informal Learning Review, Seb Chan, Kathleen McLean, Daniel Spock, Eric Siegel, Leslie Bedford, Elizabeth Merritt, Bruce Wyman, Harry White, Maria Mortati, Mandi Zanski, Claire Antrobus, Robert Connolly

Curator volume 54, number 1 (review by Sonnet Takahisa):

Simon offers so many good thoughts, challenges, and examples that I found myself wanting to make sure I could go back and find them easily… This is a book that will be well-used by practitioners from all walks of the profession.

Informal Learning Review (review by Robert Mac West):

This is an important book for the twenty-first century museum/cultural organization. Read it–and act.

Seb Chan, Head of Digital, Social and Emerging Technologies, Powerhouse Museum, Australia:

The Participatory Museum is essential reading for all museum educators, designers, curators, program developers and forward thinking directors. Through a well chosen and wide range of international case studies, Nina teases out the implications and opportunities for museums in engaging with a public increasingly familiar with new modes of interaction resulting from nearly two decades of the public web. Refreshingly, she avoids the technical aspects and focuses on how all types of museum can reach out to new audiences and avoid alienating existing ones whose expectations have now changed. She neatly balances the practical ideas for immediate implementation with their broader strategic thinking, making The Participatory Museum *the* go-to recipe book for the coming years.

Kathleen McLean, designer of participatory museum experiences and author of Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions:

This book is an extraordinary resource. Nina has assembled the collective wisdom of the field, and has given it her own brilliant spin. She shows us all how to walk the talk. Her book will make you want to go right out and start experimenting with participatory projects.

Dan Spock, Director, Minnesota History Center:

In readable and engaging prose, Simon provides a multiplicity of practical, real-world examples and strategies for eliciting and enhancing public participation in ways that deliver real value to museum-goers and museums alike. This book will prove essential for any museum seeking to affirm its connection to the public in new ways relevant to the times in which we live.

Eric Siegel, Director and Chief Content Officer, New York Hall of Science:

Nina’s confident, enthusiastic, pragmatic tone overcomes any concern that her ideas are just the latest buzzwords, and fosters a sense of possibility and engagement for museum professionals. As I read this book, there were about 20 times when I thought “we should try this!” The Participatory Museum has the resonance of a manifesto and the potential to make a transformative impact on museum practice and visitors’ experience in museums in the coming decades.

Leslie Bedford, Director, Leadership in Museum Education graduate program, Bank Street College:

Simon is an excellent teacher; she gently leads her readers through what is likely to be new and intimidating territory. She articulates a useful set of intelligent principles, grounded in research and theory, of the sort that promotes reflective and effective practice…  This is the convincing marriage of theory and practice that good graduate programs and professional development efforts espouse and will welcome to their reading lists.

Elizabeth Merritt, Founding Director, Center for the Future of Museums:

Nina Simon’s new book offers practical advice on how museums can become forums for discussion of the crucially important issues of our time. Drawing on lessons from sources as diverse as the publishing industry, casinos and Nike, as well as from innovative museums around the world, this essential guide helps museums break down barriers to cultivating new audiences. I predict that in the future this book will be a classic work of museology.

Bruce Wyman, Director of Technology, Denver Art Museum:

In a blur, I imagine Nina racing into the workroom imploring us all with, “Come, Watson, come! The game is afoot.” The tone and enthusiasm of this book engages and empowers a new generation of museum professionals to reinterpret how we interact with our visitors. Included throughout are thoughtful case studies, interviews, and personal experiences which guide us along a new path of participatory design. This book intrigues, delights, and kept me coming back for more.

Harry White, Science Centre consultant, Cardiff, UK:

This is a field report from the cutting edge of modern museology. Nina sets out the case for participation in a clearly structured distillation of her wide experiences, including lots of case studies which are backed up with more detail on the linked website.

I read the book on holiday and came back fired up with new ideas to try. Can’t recommend it highly enough, if you’re in the business, just add it to your basket now, you won’t regret it.

Maria Mortati, Exhibit Designer and founder of the SF Mobile Museum:

After years of providing insightful, tactical and creative posts on museums, web 2.0 and participation, Nina has put together a clear case for fostering visitor participation. She provides compelling case studies from around the world in museums, libraries, and other industries. All done with her signature smart and fun approach.

If you want to understand the world of participatory design and it’s possibilities for your institution, this is an excellent resource.

Mandi Zanski, Exhibit Design graduate student, Fashion Institute of Technlogy:

As a student of Exhibition Design at FIT in NYC, I found Nina’s book to be a must read for anyone who is interested in creating meaningful and personal cultural experiences. The book serves as a guide for understanding exactly what visitor participation can be, can look like, and how it can be evaluated. The organization of information and the numerous case studies used help the reader to digest the otherwise complex task of empowering individuals in cultural institutions. Everyone is talking about “interactive, social” exhibit environments, but Nina Simon actually describes ways that this can be achieved successfully. An inspiring read that I will refer to for the rest of my career!

Claire Antrobus, Independent Curator and Arts Manager, York, UK:

If you want to know what participation could offer your museum, art gallery, library or cultural organisation then this book is for you. It’s packed full of inspiring examples and practical advice as well as a very clear framework for helping arts professionals understand what participation offers, and which approaches and models might work best for your institution.

Participation is a hot topic, but also one which is poorly understood and feared in some quarters. This book unpicks some of the myths around participation and provides a very clear and simple framework for understanding the benefits and models of participation. It also makes a strong case for why participation is important and how it’s helping museums and arts organisations become more relevant and sustainable.

The main audience will be those working in the design and delivery of museum displays and exhibitions, but the book also has much to offer those involved in managing and leading cultural organisations – with a clear focus on management implications (and useful chapters on evaluation and sustaining participation). It’s well-written and easy to navigate – with great indexing and references for anyone interested in following up the ideas.

Essential reading for anyone interested in increasing participation in museums and arts organisations: from students, to specialists in design and learning, curators, managers and leaders of institutions.

The book combines inspirational ideas with down to earth examples from many different types and scales on institutions and makes you just want to just start doing it!

Robert Connolly, Director of the Nash Museum and Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Memphis:

As an avid reader of Nina Simon’s Museum 2.0 blog I was quite pleased when she announced she was writing a book. Now in hand, my initial read of The Participatory Museum lives up to my expectations. Ms. Simon is clearly on the cutting edge in the practical, hands-on, applied end of Museum work. I particularly enjoy her outside the box thinking that is firmly grounded in practice. The volume is an excellent resource to kick start creative thinking from conceptualizing through to implementing and evaluating visitor participation appropriate for the monster and miniature museums alike. The Participatory Museum is a welcome addition as an assigned text for my course offerings in Museum Studies.

Books and Journals

Falk, John. Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press, 2009.

Falk, John and Lynn Dierking. The Museum Experience. Washington D.C.: Whalesback Books, 1992.

Falk, John and Beverly Sheppard. Thriving in the Knowledge Age: New Business Models for Museums and Other Cultural Institutions. Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2006.

Hein, George. Learning in the Museum. London: Routledge, 1998.

Heumann Gurian, Elaine. Civilizing the Museum. London: Routledge, 2006.

Humphrey, Thomas and Josh Gutwill. Fostering Active Prolonged Engagement: the Art of Creating APE Exhibits. San Francisco: Exploratorium, 2005.

Illich, Ivan. Deschooling Society. New York: Harper and Row, 1971.

Jenkins, Henry. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press, 2006.

Jennings, Gretchen, ed. “Visitor-Generated Content and Design.” Exhibitionist 28(2).

Koke, Judy and Marjorie Schwarzer, ed. “Civic Discourse: Let’s Talk.” Museums & Social Issues 2(2).

Li, Charlene and Josh Bernhoff. Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2008.

McLean, Kathleen. Planning for People in Museum Exhibitions. Washington D.C.: Association of Science and Technology Centers, 1993.

McLean, Kathleen and Wendy Pollock, ed. Visitor Voices in Museum Exhibitions. Washington D.C. Association of Science and Technology Centers, 2007.

Norman, Donald. The Design of Everyday Things. New York: Doubleday, 1990.

Shirky, Clay. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing without Organizations. New York: Penguin Press, 2008.

Stanton, Philip, ed. Repensar el Picasso. Barcelona: Agpograf, 2009. [PDF]

Surowiecki, James. The Wisdom of Crowds. New York: Anchor Books, 2005.

Zorich, Diane, Gunter Waibel, and Ricky Erway. Beyond the Silos of the LAMs: Collaboration Among Libraries, Archives, and Museums. Dublin, Ohio: Online Computer Library Center, 2008. [PDF]

Magazine, Newspaper, and Journal Articles

Allen, Sue and Josh Gutwill (2004). “Designing with multiple interactives: Five common pitfalls.” Curator 47(2): 199-212. [PDF]

Anderson, Maxwell. “Prescriptions for Art Museums in the Decade Ahead.” Curator, The Museum Journal, Issue 50.1, January 2007. [read]

Droege, Sam. “Just because you paid them doesn’t mean their data are better.” Ithaca, NY: Citizen Science Toolkit Conference Proceedings, June 2007. [PDF]

Filippini-Fantoni, S. and J. Bowen. “Bookmarking In Museums: Extending The Museum Experience Beyond the Visit?” In J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.). Museums and the Web 2007: Proceedings, Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics, March 1, 2007. [read]

Grabill, J.T. et al. “Take Two: A Study of the Co-Creation of Knowledge on Museum 2.0 Sites.” In J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds). Museums and the Web 2009: Proceedings. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. March 31, 2009. [read]

Jenkins, Henry, Xiaochang Li,  Ana Domb Krauskopf,  and Joshua Green. “If It Doesn’t Spread It’s Dead.” Convergence Culture Consortium: March 2009. [read]

Nielsen, Jakob. “Participation Inequality: Encouraging More Users to Contribute.” Alertbox, October 9, 2006. [read]

Sandberg, Jared. “Farming? Running? It Doesn’t Sound Like a Vacation to Me.” Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2006. [read]

Tsybulskaya, Dina and Jeff Camhi. “Accessing and Incorporating Visitors’ Entrance Narratives in Guided Museum Tours.” Curator 52, no. 1 (2009): 81–100.

von Appen, et al. “WeTube: Getting Physical with a Virtual Community at the Ontario Science Centre.” In J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds). Museums and the Web 2009: Proceedings. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics, March, 2009. [read]

Weinberg, Carl. “The Discomfort Zone: Reenacting Slavery at Connor Prairie.” OAH Magazine of History 23, no. 2 (2009). [read]

Wolf, Gary. “Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm.” Wired, April 21, 2008. [read]

Manuals and Handbooks

Abergel, Ronni, Antje Rothemund, Gavan Titley, and Peter Wootsch. The Living Library Organiser’s Guide. Budapest: Council of Europe, 2005. [read]

Chinn, Cassie. The Wing Luke Asian Museum Community-Based Exhibition Model. Seattle: Wing Luke Asian Museum, 2006. [read]

IDEO. Human-Centered Design Toolkit. San Francisco: IDEO, 2008. [read]

Institute for Museum and Library Services. Museums, Libraries, and 21st Century Skills. Washington, DC: IMLS, July 2009. [PDF]

InterAct. Evaluating participatory, deliberative, and co-operative ways of working. Brighton: InterAct, 2001. [PDF]

Evaluation Reports and Impact Studies

Adams, Marianne and Jill Stein. Formative Evaluation Report for the LACMALab nano Exhibition. Annapolis, MD: Institute for Learning Innovation, September 2004. [PDF]

Biriotti, Maurice. An evaluation of the impact and outcomes for guides employed by Dialogue in the Dark. London, England: SHM, April 2007. [PDF]

Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education. Public Participation in Scientific Research: Defining the Field and Assessing Its Potential for Informal Science Education. Washington D.C.: Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education, 2009. [PDF]

Cohen, Orna. Dialogue in the Dark: What are its consequences and how can they be proved? Hamburg, Germany: Orna and co., March 2006. [PDF]

Ellenbogen, Kirsten, Beth Janetzki, and Murphy Pizza. Summative Evaluation Report for Open House: If Walls Could Talk. St. Paul, MN: Science Museum of Minnesota, December 2006. [PDF]

Ellenbogen, Kirsten, et al. Formative Evaluation of Science Buzz 2005-6. St. Paul, MN: Science Museum of Minnesota, June 2006. [PDF]

Heritage Lottery Fund. A Catalyst for Change: The Social Impact of the Open Museum. London: RCMG, 2002. [PDF]

Istanbul Bilgi University Youth Studies Department. Assessment Results for the Living Library. Istanbul: August, 2007. [DOC]

Ma, Joyce. Formative Evaluation of Daisy: Eliciting Richer Conversations at a Chatbot. San Francisco, CA: Exploratorium, October, 2007. [PDF]

National Endowment for the Arts. 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. Washington D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts, 2009. [PDF]

Pine, Kylie, Erin Milbeck, Jaisa Halls, Julie Dougherty, and Alex Curio. Advice Exhibit Evaluation. Seattle, WA: University of Washington, June 2009. [DOC]

Ziebarth, E. K. Appreciating Art: A Study of Comparisons, an exercise in looking: at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1992.

I believe in these arguments. I also believe in the potential for participatory techniques to give rise to a new kind of institution, just as interactive design techniques led to the ascendance of the science centers and children’s museums in the late twentieth century. While today museums of all types incorporate interactive techniques to some extent, most children’s museums and science centers can be described as wholly interactive. Some contemporary leading science centers and children’s museums, like the Boston Children’s Museum, are radically transformed versions of traditional institutions. The Exploratorium and many others were born in the 1960s and 1970s to offer new kinds of visitor experiences. These institutions use interactive engagement as the fundamental vehicle to promote visitor learning, recreation, and exploration.

I dream of a comparable future institution that is wholly participatory, one that uses participatory engagement as the vehicle for visitor experiences. Imagine a place where visitors and staff members share their personal interests and skills with each other. A place where each person’s actions are networked with those of others into cumulative and shifting content for display, sharing, and remix. A place where people discuss the objects on display with friends and strangers, sharing diverse stories and interpretations. A place where people are invited on an ongoing basis to contribute, to collaborate, to co-create, and to co-opt the experiences and content in a designed, intentional environment. A place where communities and staff members measure impact together. A place that gets better the more people use it.

The final result may not resemble today’s museums. It may look more like a coffee shop or a community arts center. It may function with models found today in a co-working space or a sewing lounge. It might feature content based on democratic rather than top-down processes. It might prioritize changing displays over traditional conservation and accession practices, multi-vocal content over authoritative catalogs. It might be owned cooperatively or funded by members. It might allocate more dollars to dialogue facilitation than exhibit construction.

Could your institution become such a place? While imagined participatory institutions may appear fundamentally different from traditional museums, so does the modern Boston Children’s Museum look different from the display of children’s objects that preceded it. That institution shifted from being “about” children and families to being “for” them. What would it look like if it evolved to being “with” them?

This is a question that many institutions are already pondering, and with good reason. The cultural and technological shifts that accompanied the rise of the social Web have changed people’s expectations of what makes experiences worthwhile or appealing. People assume the right to co-opt and redistribute institutional content, not just to look at it. They seek opportunities for creative expression, both self-directed and in response to the media they consume. They want to be respected and responded to because of their unique interests. They crave the chance to be recognized by and connected to sympathetic communities around the world. These shifts will change the way that cultural institutions of all types, from museums to libraries to for-profit “experience vendors,” do business.

All of these expectations can bring cultural institutions closer to their fundamental goals. Object-centered institutions are uniquely equipped to support creative and respectful community dialogue. Interpersonal interactions around content can strengthen relationships among diverse audiences. Participatory activities can provide valuable civic and learning experiences. Most importantly, the idealistic mission statements of many cultural institutions—to engage visitors with heritage, connect them to new ideas, encourage critical thinking, support creativity, and inspire them to take positive action—can be attained through participatory practice.

There are millions of creative, community-minded people who are ready to visit, contribute to, and participate with cultural institutions that support their interests. While many people explore their passions in online communities, there is enormous potential for them to come together in physical spaces organized around stories and objects that matter to them. These physical spaces may be historical societies or science cafés, art centers or libraries. They may be museums of all sizes and types.

When people have safe, welcoming places in their local communities to meet new people, engage with complex ideas, and be creative, they can make significant civic and cultural impact. The cumulative effort of thousands of participatory institutions could change the world. Rather than being “nice to have,” these institutions can become must-haves for people seeking places for community and participation.

How will you integrate participation into your professional work? How do you see it benefiting your institution, your visitors, and your broader audience of community members and stakeholders?

These questions are not rhetorical. I hope that you will join the online conversation about this book by sharing your participatory case studies, comments, and questions. You can comment on any section of the book (including this one) by clicking “Post a Comment” in the upper left.

This book is just a start, a rock tossed in the water. I hope that it will help you in your design thinking and that you will share your ideas and innovations with all of us so we can move forward together into this new, participatory world.