I’ve had a bit of a theme overhaul here. I hope you like it.  I was a bit bored with the previous theme, and sometimes it nice to have new look.  It has been prompted from the interesting things  blogger are doing with introducing new ways to view blog posts, in an attempt to change the way people consume content and make it new and visually exciting.  The new look for my blog isn’t really dynamic but it’s clean and fresh looking and it makes me happy.

Coming back from Museums and the Web (I still have lots to digest from this – games, mobile parade, Google Art Project just to name a few!) has given me the head space to really start to get to grips with The Elmer PhuD.

I’m going to be looking specifically at how museum visitors both online and inside the gallery make sense of digital content.  The aim is to look closely at the steps through which museum visitors construct meaning from, and interact with, the digital museum information.   I want to be truly focused in the user and not the museum. Almost all current museum studies focus on the observer or the museum.  Asking questions which are museum focused; Do you like us? Which of things we do you like? Why? On top of multiple choice questions where the museum visitors tick off the good and bad experiences. While some of these questions are more user focused than others, all start from a museum perspective, and are a constructed reality that the museum visitor has to fit into. So I’m going to try and turn that on its head. And look at characteristics of visitor behaviour and ask specific questions about the why, what for and how.

I’m also in the midst of planning the next Digital Learning Network event at The National Archives in June, as well as the next think drink (stay tuned for that one!).  The DLNet day at TNA should be really great. We will be looking at how teachers use digital resources in the classroom and what they actually want from museum, library and archive digital resources.   The day will include Q&A with teachers; top tips for evaluation, an overview of methodologies for digital resources and there will also be nifty demos of whiteboard technology.  It should be a really busy day!

QRator is ticking along nicely, the Grant Museum is having a grand old time with the iPads and the website is now live so you read all the comments even when you are not in the museum.  You can also have your say via twitter on some excellent questions about natural history museums, conservation, animal testing and extinction.

InterFace is also drawing ever nearer. All the lightening talk delegates have been notified and we have a great selection of speakers, workshops and cake lined up!

In the next couple of weeks, Museums at Night is coming up! I’m excited! I will be heading to Newcastle for the Late Shows! I can’t wait to have a peek in the Victoria Tunnel! You can see my itinerary here.

And then there is #MuseumNext! Awesome.