Get Reading! February's Book Club

As is tradition in HME, we're holding a book club for February's evening meeting.

Teaching in the Art Museum: Interpretation as Experience 
 Rika Burnham and Elliott Kai-Kee

More details about the book here.

It's available from Amazon.ca and Chapters.ca.

We suggest reading the introduction, as well as Chapters 5 and 6.
(It appears that you can get the intro for free on Google Books.)

Despite the title, this book does contain information and suggestions that apply broadly to museum education, rather than being exclusively for art museums.

We're looking forward to a lively discussion!

Here are a few questions to get you started:

-In Chapter 5, "conversation, discussion, and dialogue" are outlined as different approaches to teaching and talking in a museum. Which do you find yourself doing most often? Which do you prefer as a museum-goer?

-Chapter 6 is thought-provoking; it questions the use of questions in museum education. "By not asking questions, it allows learners to ask their own questions". An example of this technique is provided in the chapter. Do you think you can apply this approach in your museum?

#socialmedia @hamed update: reaching your audience, membership, volunteers: HME Meeting Monday January 21, 2013

This Monday's evening meeting saw fruitful, lively discussion and delicious food at Thai Smile in Oakville.

Here are some key points:

-some of the larger institutions appear to be honing their social media interactions: see the Louvre and Met in NYC, which have fewer social media sites than only a year or two ago (in the Met's case, the social media links used to be right on the front page: now you have to dig to find them)

-Know Your Bone is a very interesting and useful site: "Successful nonprofit organizations do not choose between social mission and financial sustainability. Know Your Own Bone is a blog about online engagement strategies with a lean toward business-related best practices and achieving long-term organizational relevance."
See these recent posts!

-some institutions appear to be entering the world of Pinterest, including the National Gallery of Canada, Musées Montréal, the McMichael, and the Alhambra.

-the Bell Homestead adds fun and interesting content to their Facebook page, such as old telephone ads and videos (this one is particularly hilarious).

-Museums of Mississauga have podcasts posted to their site covering recent exhibits and artifacts.

-the UK's Geffrye Museum was sited as a great example of how to use social media.

January Evening Meeting

Join us for the first HME meeting of 2013!

The topic is "#socialmedia @hamed update: reaching your audience, membership, volunteers".

This is a topic we have visited in past years, but as we all know, social media changes rapidly and updates are perennially required!

Attend, share, and learn about your colleague's experiences with this dynamic medium.

We'll be meeting at Thai Smile in Oakville. 

HME members: please RSVP to one of the HME coordinators by Friday, January 18.

In case of inclement weather, please refer to our meeting cancellation procedure.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Meeting Cancellation Procedure

 

In the past, there have been instances where inclement weather has forced the cancellation of HME meetings.
 
Here is where you can read about last minute cancellations:

1) HME blog
2) HME twitter feed
3) HME facebook page

If you are interested in being contacted via cell phone text, please email your contact number to one of the HME coordinators.

2013 Schedule: Looking Forward

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had wonderful holidays.

This is just a quick note to mention a few updates to the January-June 2013 HME meeting schedule, which you can find here.

1) An HME member very kindly pointed out that we had originally scheduled our Feburary meeting on Family Day. The meeting has now been moved from the 18th to the 25th.

2) January's meeting, which is quickly approaching!, has the topic of "#socialmedia @hamed update: reaching your audience, membership, volunteers". Email invitations will be going out soon!