This comes up a lot. You can check out the Powerhouse Museum (talks by Seb Chan especially) for information. I'd also recommend everyone read The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine. They do an excellent job of making the case for a shift to empowered employees using these resources to amplify the impact of the museum.
Also, we just published this wiki about our social media workshop in Portland at WMA: http://wma2010portlandsocialmedia.wikispaces.com/ You might especially want to look at the Air Force blogging/SM policy noted here: http://boingboing.net/2009/01/09/the-air-forces-rules.html I think what the question reflects is the bigger issue... a recent study showed that a very, very small percentage of museum administrators are using social media, so therefore they don't really understand the tools or trust them yet. Hope this helps! Best, Stephanie Weaver Visitor experience consultant experienceology: Because happy visitors return. San Diego, CA 619-365-5065 E-news: http://www.experienceology.com/newsletter/ For information on our book, blog, podcast, upcoming classes, and e-news, visit www.experienceology.com or follow me on twitter.com/experienceology. See samples of my classes here: www.youtube.com/experienceology. Watch the free archived version of my class on the visitor experience here: http://bit.ly/NlunE Upcoming presentations: Interpretation Canada online conference: December 1, 2010 Hawai'i Museums Association: January 2011 (TBD) Past presentations: Palo Alto Art Center: October 2010 Western Museums Association: October 2010 Heard Museum & Phoenix Zoo: October 2010 Downey City Library: August 2010 American Association of Museums: May 2010 Tijuana Estuary docent training: April 2010 UCLA Extension: January 2010
