Chris Cummings, Founder & CEO, Pass It Down

Pass It Down is an award-winning digital storytelling platform licensed to cities, libraries, and museums to create a way to collect, preserve, and showcase their stories and archives. It’s an all-in-one platform giving clients the ability to showcase their stories across any phone, tablet, computer, or kiosk to create interactive exhibits and experiences for their…

Kristin Prestegaard, Chief Engagement Officer, Minneapolis Institute of Art

I had a great time talking with Kristin Prestegaard about how museums can best engage their audiences in a contemporary setting. As Chief engagement officer for the Minneapolis Institute of Art (MIA) she is a leader in devising strategies that open the doors to increased audience engagement and participation. Our discussion centered around the use…

Chris Michaels, Digital Director, The National Gallery, London

Chris Michaels, Digital Director at the National Gallery, discusses digital as an integral part of a museum’s broader strategy and vision, and explains how technology can help connect visitors to the  museum objects they encounter  in meaningful ways. Acknowledging that there is no perfect map for museum digital strategy, he shares his belief in embedding…

Afua Anokwa, Marketing Communications Manager, The International Spy Museum

(Please disregard from 19:00 to 23:40 due to a power outage in my area. The interview resumes at 23:40) Afua Anokwa (Agent Double A) has been the Marketing Communications Manager at the International Spy Museum in Washington, DC since 2012 and is responsible for all internal communications, eBlasts, partnership coordination, and, since 2014, the Spy…

Amy Fox, Social Media Content Manager, Smithsonian American Art Museum

In this interview, Amy Fox, Social Media Content Manager for the American Art Museum (SAAM) and Renwick Gallery, discusses the ins and outs of her daily social media routines. She breaks down her strategies for planning intriguing content and the best practices for user engagement. Her methods make looking at art a fun experience! SAAM…

Dana Mitroff Silvers, Design Thinking and Web Strategy Consultant

  Dana Mitroff Silvers is the founder and director of Designing Insights, a consulting firm specializing in design thinking and web strategy. Having previously led the website redesign project at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, a project which has greatly influenced her current work, she is now a design thinking facilitator and web…

Aaron Cope, Senior Engineer, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum

Aaron Cope is part of the team reinventing the collections website for the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Aaron talked with us about digital museum objects and what the future of online collections might look like. The Copper-Hewitt’s Manhattan building is currently closed for renovation (set to reopen in 2014). While physical access to the…

Ranti Junus, Systems Librarian, Michigan State University

We spoke with Ranti about museum website usability. What would be your top three reasons for improving access to museum audiences? Improving accessibility provides an equal opportunity to all users, increases diversity and if funding for the website comes from a government grant, it is a legal requirement. What technical and philosophical challenges need to…

Paul Marty, Associate Professor, Florida State University

Paul Marty is currently an Associate Professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University. He has researched and written extensively on museum informatics, website usability and how people use information. He was also the Director of Information Technology at the Spurlock Museum in…

Bart Marable, Owner and Designer, Terra Incognita

Bart Marable is an interactive designer that works independently with a variety of teams. He is currently the owner of his own company, Terra Incognita. For years he has been working with interactives since his years as a student. Intending to teach, he actually ended up becoming an interactive designer and pursued his creative outlet….