It’s amazing how time flies.  It seems like yesterday that ArtBabble officially launched, all the way back in April.  I remember many of the IMA staff, and even our friends at Art:21 working into the early hours of the night to make sure everything was ready for the launch.  I might have even enjoyed a glass of scotch to celebrate when I finally went to bed around 3am.  It was a proud accomplishment for many of us at the IMA who had poured a tremendous amount of effort into creating the site.  On top of that, we were beyond thrilled to partner with organizations like Art:21, LACMA, SFMoMA, MoMA, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and NYPL.

But, you might be quick to point out, that’s yesterdays news.  And you’re right.

Goodies on ArtBabble

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To say that social media is a growing field would be quite the understatement. Whether you’re an avid tweeter blowing up my Twitter feed (cough cough, John Mayer!) or a soccer mom that uploads the latest school pictures onto Flickr, almost everyone I know actively participates in at least one social networking site – even my grandma is on Facebook.

But it’s not only individuals using these sites. Here at the IMA, as most of you know, we embrace social media as a useful tool in reaching our audiences and fulfilling our mission. And we’re not the only ones – LACMA, SFMoMa, and Walker Art Center are just a couple of our peers actively engaging online audiences. Even the Art Institution of Chicago recently announced here, that they’ll soon be launching a Twitter account.

But as museums and museum employees continue to grow their online activity – both personal and institutional – we’re faced with the challenge of exploring policies and guidelines online activity. Should there be employee policies in place for personal use of such sites? Should museums implement a clearly detailed policy for institutional use of such sites? And if so, what would either one of these policies look like and what purposes would they serve? Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve not launched the perfect, complete site for European Design Since 1985: Shaping the Century. But we have launched a beautiful site, filled with information, and with weeks remaining before the exhibition opening, plenty of time to hit you with additional art content. Last year at SXSW, I heard the founders of I Can Has Cheezburger? discuss the way their site gained momentum, their approach to online marketing, and how they launch sites.

plenty more here

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and use it’s energy to charge my portable devices. I have also found a way to defeat a few of the vampires that lurk in my house. No, I haven’t discovered a mystic artifact that one might find in a compendium of undead lore. What I have found are two modern gadgets to use in my quest for higher energy efficiency.

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Well, here we go plunging head first into a new year. What horticulture delights are in store for the future? Will we have last Spring’s incredibly long show? No way to know. Will we have a late freeze that beats the crap out of tender new plant growth (and leathery old horticulturists)? No way to know that either. A year ago at this time we were having temperatures in the 60’s, fabulous for us humans that tire of winter after a spell but not good for plants at all. So I think while we plant people (professional and amateur) are forever optimistic – we put a little seed in the ground and actually believe it can become an 80 foot tall tree – we also make sure to appreciate what is in front of us right now.

Because we know, do we ever know, that a squirrel or a freeze or a lightening strike can take it away in a blink of the eye. For instance, on true wintery days like today we are very appreciative of plants with colorful twigs and berries.

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