Upcycling Museum Notes

Artwork: ChainLinks.1.Zigmund

Now, just about midway into my 9^th blogging year, I am gearing up to recirculate a selection of my Museum Notes posts. Rather than repeating myself without realizing it, I plan to repeat myself on purpose. In writing Museum Notes over the years, I have been interested in stretching my thinking and being helpful to museums becoming better versions of themselves.

I hope to continue to do both by upcycling some Museum Notes posts.  

With the exception of a few two-part posts, the nearly 300 Museum Notes were written in no particular order. One week I might write a post to help me think through the challenges a client and other museums often face after opening a new building. Consolidating the Gains might be followed by a post on something that caught my fancy like Little Free Libraries or how hardware stores and museums are similar. A post like In Between Research, Theory and Practice, patiently waiting in the queue might finally get the thinking time it needed, or at least enough, for me to hit the “publish” button.

Now looking over the list of posts, some threads and clusters are apparent. There are sets of posts on strategic planning, stakeholders, Reggio-inspired pedagogy, play, materials, nice + necessary, place, and learning frameworks. Going forward I plan group and share posts in a series, selecting ones that are relevant today as they hopefully were when written. Snow Shoveling as Community Building might not make the list.

In writing each Museum Notes post I have pushed myself to find answers to, Why might this matter to what people working in museums and libraries, and to parents and educators? What difference will it make to someone leading organizational change, making a case for the museum’s impact to a funder, or wanting to experiment and bring in new possibilities? How can developing a learning framework be accessible to even small museums?  Can this link or reference be like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle someone has been looking for?

I continue to want to be helpful to museums so am keen to know if there are particular past posts or topics of high interest to you. Below are about 20 possible topics attached to about 4 - 10 posts. You may have other topics in mind that are of interest to you; see some other ways of slicing through topics; or have an idea of some less-than-obvious but useful combinations of topics. If you have time to scroll through past posts at www.museumnotes.blogspot.com please do. I hope you'll let me know what you would look forward to revisiting.   

• Organizational Change  • Strategic Planning  • Professional Practices  • Audience  • Stakeholders • Nice + Necessary  • Impact  • Children in Museums  • Children as Thinkers, Doers, and Knowers  • Children and Community • Parents and Caregivers  • Experience • Books and Literacy • Learning Frameworks  • Curiosity, Creativity  • Experience  • Play • The Play-Learning Connection  • Outdoor Play  • Environments  • Questions?

• Materials & Objects