In museums interpretation could be classified: being enacted by a staff intercessor, say in a program, or placed for audience consumption without a staff-member present, like a label. In both instances, great care is given to have the audience reacts. But, it in former, the staff member has the luxury of being able to tack, or change their course, if their original approach didn’t work. In the latter, you might end up using audience observation, or eavesdropping by a less formal name, to glean if your approach worked.
In terms of Vine in museums, sometimes your audience just needs a little nudge to try it. Teens might only need to see a hashtag and get it. You might put a call out on your website, by twitter, or best yet, on your vine feed. But, in order to do this, make sure that your whole community is ready for it. Ensure that your guards know that people might be Vining the galleries without a staff member. Share the information with your information desk, and explain hashtags/ vine/ etc if they ask.
This type of non-staff led Vine can open you up to some powerful vantage points onto your collection. They are not being told what to answer. They are in fact speaking from their own unadulterated selves.
While I can’t say that we have managed to set this fire yet, I can imagine this would be a great way to see what interests your audience. Probably way better and more interesting than a comment card, I say.
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My vines can be found here.
I have written a series of short posts about Vine. Enjoy:
Vine Video for Museums: Post 1
How can Museum Educators use Vine?
The Right Audience for Vine
Fostering Participation in Vines
Vine to Share the Museum Experience
Narrative in Vine
Vine on Your Own
Vine Interface—An Orientation
Vine Basics
Vine and Audio
Stop Motion Tips
I produced these posts as notes in preparation for co-writing this paper for Museums and the Web 2014, with Alli Burness, @Alli_Burnie; Patty Edmonson, @Retrograde_D; and Chad Weinard, @caw_
Our presentation Vine feed is here.
Our workshop in April, 2014 sparked some good conversation, see the Storify.
Many of our participants made some wonderful Vines, check these out.