Radical Open Authority: When Life Happens and Museums Respond

“Open Authority” is a phrase that’s everywhere in museum blogs, tweets, and conferences these days.  What exactly does it mean?  At the recent Museum Computer Network (MCN) conference in Montreal  Ed Rodley and a panel explored this question in Defining Open Authority in the Museum, proposing that “developments in the realm of accessibility have dovetailed…

Collecting Trayvon Martin’s Hoodie: A Conversation We Need to Have

Now that the 24/7 discussion of the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin case has died down, it’s time to look at the implications of a discussion that flared briefly in the aftermath of the not-guilty verdict for Zimmerman. On July 31, 2013, Lonnie Bunch, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC)…

The Trayvon Martin Case: Do Museums Have a Role?

Those who have read my March 26. 2012  post on Trayvon Martin will know that my answer to the question about museums’ role is “yes.” This case is a part of U.S. history, African American history, social and cultural studies, research on race relations, the history of social media, and digital humanities, to name just a…

Where is Trayvon Martin in our Museums and Social Media?

Silence in My Twitterverse The other morning I was enjoying a cup of coffee and scanning through tweets.  I had just finished reading an article about President Obama stating that if he had had a son, he would look like Trayvon.  While I was zipping through Twitter, I was listening to commentary about the case…