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I ran across a blog/project last month that I thought might interest Net2 folks, E-Artcasting: Sociable Technologies in Art Museums (English + Espanol). According to the blog's profile, it is produced by a group of Fulbright Scholars from around the world, and is directed by Pilar Gonzalo. In addition to a blog, they also have a wiki, a Flickr stream, a del.icio.us account, and a Listible list.
We had a small but lively group last night at the San Francisco Net Tuesday. Raphe Patmore, CEO, and Jinnan Cai, Technical Director, from Buzka were there all the way from Perth, Australia. Buzka is "a simple way to share all your favorite web stuff" in what they call "spots." For example, Jinnan showed me the Refugee Detention spot he created (screenshot above) to share links about refugee issues in Australia. The interface is easy to navigate, and you can view the links by title, description or thumbnails (they have a server creating screenshots of the pages).
Dan Bernstein of Business and Marketing from Meebo, "the web messenger that lets you access IM from absolutely anywhere," showed us how a fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Uppman, put the Meebome widget on her classroom web site so that students and their parents can IM her about homework and other stuff. Cute!!
Dan also told us about a couple cool librarian sites: the Library and Information Technology blog and I Am a Librarian, which promotes instant messaging in libraries.
Finally, Craig Rosa told us about a discussion happening this week on the ASTC (Association of Science-Technology Centers) forum about social technologies. He said that one thread of the discussion was about how Flickr has become a money-saving tool for museums looking for images.
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A couple weeks ago at the San Francisco Net Tuesday, I got to talking with Craig Rosa, the I.T. Director for The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, and he told me about a site called MuseumBLOGS.org that has a directory of 68 museum and museum-related blogs. You can search by Blog Age, Date Added, A-Z, or by Topic.
I also met Leslie Madsen-Brooks this summer at the BlogHer Conference, who is the writer of the blog, museumblogging.com. She has a pretty extensive blogroll of museum-related blogs and her most recent post is about Museums and Second Life.
Craig also reminded me that the 2007 Museums and the Web Conference will be held in San Francisco April 11-14th, so save the date! If you want to present, the deadline for Program Proposals is September 30, 2006, and demonstration proposals will be accepted through December 31, 2006.
You can check out the Museums and the Web blog, Flickr pool and online community here.
The mission of the DuPage Children’s Museum is to stimulate curiosity, creativity, thinking and problem solving in young children through:

SFMOMA produces a podcast called, Artcasts. If you show your MP3 player loaded with the current SFMOMA podcast at the Museum box office, you get $2 off admission.
They are also inviting the public to create their own Artcasts for SFMOMA as part of the Artscasts invitational:
Voices on Genocide Prevention is a free podcast service from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Through this podcast series, you can stay up-to-date on the crisis in Darfur as well as the continuing challenge of preventing and responding to genocide and related crimes against humanity around the world. Voices include human rights defenders, experts, advocates, and government officials.
MoAD’s MISSION
The mission of The Museum of the African Diaspora, MoAD, is to promote the universal connection of humankind to Africa and to explore and appreciate the impact people of African descent have had on contemporary life the world over. Reminding us that we are all part of one family, MoAD will seek to transform the way we perceive each other and ourselves. The new museum will be a world-class institution that utilizes art, culture and history to tell the story of the African Diaspora.
MoAD IS A GLOBAL MUSEUM
An international museum, based in San Francisco, MoAD will reach out and initiate collaborative ventures with institutions of similar vision from around the world. Utilizing innovative communications systems to link with other organizations, MoAD will help to bring Africa, the African Diaspora and the world community closer together.
In addition to exciting permanent and changing exhibits, the Museum will have ongoing educational lectures, scholarly colloquia, concerts, film series, satellite conversations, and other programs and events to add to the regular museum visitor experience.
Designed to be the embodiment of new applications in media, MoAD will feature an interactive theater and new technology in its exhibitions design. This coupling of art, culture and technology will enable in-person visitors and those experiencing MoAD through the Internet, to exchange histories and stories, share and debate viewpoints and find common expression in the many kinds of experiences that MoAD will provide.
While MoAD will not have a permanent collection like many other museums, it will be a collector of stories, a repository of information to be shared with all who wish to know about the vast reaches of the African Diaspora. This institution will draw from the collections of museums, institutes, organizations, universities and private citizens.
Using objects of art and culture as catalysts to tell the story of the African Diaspora, past and present, whether through exhibits initiated by MoAD or through traveling exhibitions, MoAD will become a virtual crossroads for people around the globe.
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