It’s a bit quieter around the office this week, though my inbox is no lonelier. From curatorial staff to exhibition designers, public affairs representatives and IT staff, the IMA has a mighty team of Biennale ambassadors overseas. They’re hosting VIPs, recording videos, taking photographs, installing work, and surely doing a list of other necessary tasks that I am unaware of. While it may seem like the whole Museum boarded a plane, that’s certainly not the case. Many of us (most of us, really) are here manning the fort.

So what are we up to back in the motherland? A few things really…

While our traveling cohorts organize and gather the documentation materials, a team of us are ready and on-hand to help get that content to you (and our friends in the media) as quickly as possible. Working within a system that includes a 6 hour time difference isn’t always easy, but multiple process meetings prior to the trip has made for smooth sailing (knock on wood).

Most of my job entails getting the content out to you, our online audience. From updating the website with videos, images, and information to managing our Facebook and @imamuseum Twitter account, my work is 90% online and 10% meetings about the online material. I sincerely love this job and it’s because of this job that I feel like I am in Venice along with everyone else.

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Filed under: Around the Web, Current Events, IMA Staff, Venice Biennale

From TweetDeck to TwitterFeed, and Ping.fm, there are a variety of tools available to help manage your social sites. For the past couple of weeks I’ve been trying out the Pro HootSuite account and thought I would share my findings in case you’re in the market for a new management tool.

What’s really convenient about HootSuite is that you can pull most of your social sites into one interface, so you spend less time logging in and out of the different sites. From the dashboard, you can create a tab for each of the accounts you want to include, with choices of: Twitter, Facebook, Facebook page, LinkedIn, MySpace, Pingfm, WordPress, and Foursquare. As you can see in the screen-shot below, my chosen tabs for the trial were my Twitter and Facebook accounts.

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Filed under: Marketing, New Media, Technology

Over the past week, you may have seen in your Facebook feed that several of your friends have “Just joined Jumo.” You’re probably thinking oh no, not another one…how many social sites do we all need?  Don’t worry! This one actually serves a purpose that isn’t covered by Twitter, Facebook, or most of the others.

Jumo was conceptually introduced in March of 2010 when Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes announced a soft-launch of the non-profit platform that matches users’ philanthropic interests to various causes. Nearly 9 months later, what was just a landing page is now a beta-launched version that is definitely worth checking out. So what exactly is it?

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Filed under: Marketing, New Media, Technology

(photo via Joe Shoemaker)

Last week, I represented the IMA (@IMAMuseum) at the Indianapolis Social Media Breakfast (@indysmb) on the topic of Using Social Media in Travel, Tourism and Attraction Industries. Serving on the panel with me were representatives from IndyHub (@IndyHub), The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis (@TCMIndy), The State Fair Grounds (@IndyStateFair), and the ICVA (@VisitIndy). Sitting in the audience were some of the most engaged social networkers in the city. It was a great opportunity to discuss the IMA’s social media strategy and to hear how other organizations are utilizing social networks for marketing and audience development strategies. (In case you don’t know, the “@” behind the organization refers to its Twitter account).

To sum up, here’s what I discussed:

1. Social Media = Social Networks (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) + Social Content (Video, blogs, etc.) If an organization creates great social content then social networking is a heckuvalot easier! Producing good, engaging content should be your top priority.
2. The staff person/s that manage/s Facebook and Twitter is your online visitor services staff. Whether they speak from their own voice or on behalf of your organization, Social Media staff are evangelists of the organization. They have to be authentically passionate about what they communicate and be willing to live the mission of the organization. The best Social Networking is done 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week.
3. When it comes to online strategy, the best plan is to not plan. While it’s essential that overall communication objectives and key messages are understood, the best social media presences are those that have the ability to be flexible, responsive and experimental.

See the full discussion:

Indianapolis Social Media Breakfast | May 13th 2010 from Twelve Stars Media Productions on Vimeo.

Want More?

If you are local and want to learn more about the IMA and our social media strategy, you’re in luck! This Thursday, May 20 at 5:30 we will be hosting Bloggers Anonymous, a meetup group of individuals who are interested in art, technology, online communications and networking. Come, grab a drink in Nourish Café, get some freebies, and meet some really great people while you’re at it!

Filed under: Local, Marketing, Musings

Zephyr by Steve Wooldridge; Photo by Lauren Tally

What changed my mind about creating content for the Web? This fall, I enrolled in two courses devoted to contemporary museum practice: Collections Care and Management (CC&M), co‐taught by IMA Objects & Variable Art Conservator Richard McCoy and IUPUI faculty member Jennifer Geigel Mikulay, and Museums and Technology, taught by IMA New Media Director Daniel Incandela. My first assignment for both classes was to create user accounts for Wikipedia, Twitter and Flickr, and then start using them.

In CC&M, our major project was to formalize the artworks on and around IUPUI’s campus into a real collection. In the end, we identified 40 pieces that we dubbed the “IUPUI Public Art Collection.”  Didn’t know that much art existed on IUPUI’s campus? Take a walk around sometime to see an incredibly diverse representation of styles, media and condition qualities.   You’ll also find four sculptures on loan from the IMA: East Gate/West Gate, Mega-Gem, Portrait of History, and Spaces with Iron.  You might remember when East Gate/West Gate was moved to IUPUI early this year:

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Filed under: Art, Conservation, Local, Musings, New Media