Image Sharing in America: A Foreign Researcher’s View

Sometimes it takes a visitor to help us understand ourselves more clearly. Merete Sanderhoff of the Danish national art museum is no Tocqueville (to be fair, who is?). But her new report to the Danish Agency for Culture is a good overview of “how digital media technologies, strategies, and platforms are being implemented in US cultural heritage institutions.” Here are the trends she highlights in the report, which is based on conversations with museum professionals in the United States (mostly from very large museums):

  • Sharing is caring: Open access creates more value
  • Use existing platforms and social media
  • Crowdsourcing
  • Mobile strategies
  • Strengthen in-house development teams
  • Online and print publication synergies

Learn more at http://www.formidlingsnet.dk/report-about-us-2011-research-visit. What trends would you add to the list? Would a review based exclusively on history content — or focused on other kinds of institutions (libraries, archives, academic research centers) — look any different? Discuss.

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About philkatz

I am assistant director for research at the American Association of Museums. One of my jobs there is to track and analyze trends for the Center for the Future of Museums. I'm a historian by training (original area of focus: Civil War and Reconstruction, with a special interest in trans-Atlantic interactions during the era), but have spent most of my career as an administrator and researcher for public humanities and higher ed organizations.

6 thoughts on “Image Sharing in America: A Foreign Researcher’s View

  1. A good report, worth reading. Perhaps overly optimistic – a talk with the leading edge, not what’s happening at most museums. And, as Phil notes, this is mostly about very big art museums. Good footnotes and links.

  2. Thank you for sharing this interesting report. I may want to let my students read it next fall!

  3. Pingback: Reflections on Building the Digital Blue Ridge Parkway | Visualizing the Past

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