It took 3 flights, about 19 hours of flying time and 6 hours of airport mulling to make it here.  How does someone that works in new media stay occupied, engaged and sane on a trip like this?  The glamour of economy class, cheap wine and tasteless food can only go so far.  I’m talking about other options – but with a new media twist.  So here goes –

Think about the next big thing.  Think about nothing.  Or, think about Flickr.  I always opt for the window seat.  It allows uninterrupted moments of thought and a great view.  I love clouds and the landscape below, so in between naps, reading or thinking of the next IMA project, I take photos, lots of them.  With that in mind, check out one of my favorite flickr groups, From the Airplane Window.  You might even see some of my snaps and you’ll think about flying differently the next time you take a flight.  And speaking of flickr, have you checked out IMA’s latest set of images?  You should, because they’re kind of cool.

I love planes and am happy to discuss my favorites or least favorites.  But hands down, the only plane for me is the Boeing 747.  It’s a beautiful piece of design – massive but elegant, stylish and timeless.  Which of course leads me to mention IMA’s blog – specifically our first guest blogger, Patrick Smith, who submitted a superb post on the 747, Pan Am, the Concorde, and the Jetliner as Art.  So – if you’re stuck in an airport with your laptop and looking for something to do (other than check work e-mail), read his post, then impress the person sitting next to you on your next flight, with your new knowledge of aircraft design.

If you’re not the chatty type, recline your seat, turn on your iPod and watch or listen to Indianapolis Museum of Art content.  Yes, you better believe it.  The IMA has its own iTunes page where you can check out some of our latest audio and video content.  And unlike airline food/drinks, our stuff is free, educational, engaging and sometimes funny.  Anyone remember the I love the A.D.’s webisode from the Roman Art from the Louvre exhibition?  It’s on our iTunes page.  Just click, here (make sure you have iTunes installed on your machine).

The NES practically raised me as a kid, so I still hold a special place in my heart for video games.  Recently, I’ve given more and more thought to the role that new handheld devices can assist our visitors in a more meaningful experience.  For instance, when our Art and Nature Park opens next year, should we provide visitors with handhelds such as iPhones, PSP’s or PDA’s?  I don’t know the answer to that…yet, but staff at the IMA are already thinking about the next innovative visitor experience.  Flying 35,000 in the air, I messed around with the Sony PSP as a possible device.  I watched our latest video with Jim Irsay and of course, played some video games – Lego Star Wars II being my favorite (who doesn’t love R2D2?).  It’s unlikely the IMA will partner with Rockstar Games to create an Art Museum Curator game, but we might just create content that will live on your PSP, iPhone/iTouch, or the next popular device.  We’re crafty that way.

It’s now 8:30am Monday morning (8:30pm Sunday night in Indy) and I’m off to some conference sessions.  I would love to hear your thoughts on how to use technology when traveling.  I’m sure I missed something.

I assert that it has to do with how much you love technology. My life, for example, is steeped in it. I read art blogs, watch YouTube videos people send to me via e-mail and spend nearly every moment wired in to some form of technological interaction. So of course I think art, like everything else in my life is fair game for technological enhancement.

But I know there is another point of view. One that firmly holds art and its viewing in a quiet, pensive place, unfettered by the white noise the digital world can create.

The difference in these perspectives is often attributed to a generational misunderstanding, that somehow if you were born before the internet was commonplace then you have no hope of ever understanding it. But I think that is an unfair generalization. Perhaps there is some truth somewhere in that stereotype, but like all stereotypes, that logic is flawed.

Instead, I would assert that it has to do with experience, and the quality of those experiences. If you hate technology, could it be because you tried to use something, or find something and couldn’t? If you love it, isn’t it because it makes your life easier and gives you access to fabulous things?

So, with these extremes in mind, we set out to create digital content that allows people to passively consume or actively participate depending on their desires. So discover IMA on the internet if you haven’t already. You can find us…

• Posting images on Flickr. You can just look or get into it and join our groups and even add your own content.
• Creating videos and adding them to IMA’s YouTube channel. Feel free to watch, share and critique these.
• Writing this blog gives you an insider’s view of what happens at IMA. We always love seeing your comments here.
• Adding content to our iTunes U site. Download IMA audio and video to your iPod or iPhone.
• Developing new web stuff for IMA exhibitions and projects. We recently launched a site for To Live Forever: Egyptian Treasures from the Brooklyn Museum.

If you are reading this list and still wondering why we do it all, I will offer a couple of reasons. One of the key motivations for creating digital content is to allow IMA to compete in the global marketplace. Not entirely in the way a for-profit corporation might, but to help the museum raise its profile, giving attention to its projects, exhibitions and permanent collection.

Another great reason to utilize these technologies is to provide content in places where people are already participating. iTunes, YouTube, and Flickr have established global audiences, and by providing content on these sites, IMA can expand its reach to people who could never make it through the front door.

Perhaps the most compelling motivator for us is potential. Potential to create diverse audiences, and to serve audiences we don’t even know about yet. Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief for Wired magazine wrote an article called, The Long Tail, describing how the internet creates a never-before-seen possibility to direct content to increasingly smaller audiences for increasingly less expense. Since we can customize content in all of these places, we can meet the needs and desires of people who want to know about very specific things without it costing us any more to produce or maintain.

We also have the potential to provide an experience through photos, video or online activities that gives a new viewer his or her first glimpse into what the art world can offer. A simple Google search for a topic might lead someone to IMA’s website, or to one of IMA’s projects on another website, allowing us to be the ambassador of art-related content.

Lofty goals? You bethca. But why would we bother otherwise?

And for those who are more interested in the finite, quantifiable reasons, we consider those too. We track numbers and look for projects that increase viewership or interaction with our content. A recent example is a partnership we are working on to provide access to IMA-produced video in local schools, boosting our outreach to school-aged children and teachers, and consequently, providing an under-served audience with high-quality art content, for free.

So there is the last nugget. Free. Everyone loves free stuff. All of the things we do are free to those who use it. You can search on your computer at home and find us, or go to your public library and use their free internet to get our free stuff. No matter what, you can’t beat free!

Still not convinced it is all worth it? Feel free to tell us why! (And we would also love to hear from those of you who love it!)

Those who know me at all know that I am a Mac sympathizer and will take every opportunity to shamelessly plug Apple products. (And use as many as I can get my hands on.) So it is not surprising that I would have iTunes U at the top of my favorites list. But there is another reason to love iTunes right now….IMA is on it! We launched an iTunes U page on January 28^th allowing anyone with an iPod (or iPhone) to download free IMA videos and audio tours. In addition to finding our digital stuff on YouTube and imamuseum.org, now you can also find it where you already play, in the iTunes store. Search for “Indianapolis Museum of Art” and take your pick of free art videos! (Did you know it is good karma to share this newfound knowledge with friends? Who wouldn’t want to score some free downloads?) BTW, it is definitely bad karma to think to yourself, “Nobody wants free art videos.”

Reading my last blog post will expose my relatively new love of Facebook. The only Web 2.0 thing I love more than Facebook is the super fantastic app ArtShare. Developed by the talented crew at the Brooklyn Museum, it is an easy-to-use tool that allows you to share art you dig with anyone who visits your Facebook page. Just install the app, select art you like and watch it cycle through a loop as you poke strangers, dish out your daily zombie bites and digitally scribble inside jokes onto friends’ walls.

To make it even more awesome, I spent a morning last week uploading a sampling of IMA-owned works of art so that soon all of my peeps (and hopefully people I don’t know) will start choosing some of our stuff. I will also mention that any artist can upload work to share with friends too. (The only thing I like to promote more than Apple stuff is the talent of underappreciated artists.) There are many practical reasons why artists and museums should love ArtShare. I am, of course, referring to things like marketing, networking, mission statements, etc. But, none of these describe the reason I love it. I simply love art and ArtShare lets me indulge that interest and share it with others.

So, I hope you will investigate these on-line opportunities and find that you like them too. Otherwise there would have been little point to your reading this humble post.

(struggling for an image, I decided to show my favorite Pioneer HDJ-1000 headphones…courtesy of pioneerelectronics.com)

So what happened recently to cause this shift? It’s been a convergence of experiences really, and it all occurred kind of like this:

I was on 38^th Street…
This past week I found myself standing in Best Buy, initially contemplating a purchase of a Wii or PS3 (I bought neither). After a few minutes I wandered into the music aisle. I typically download from iTunes but occasionally I buy a CD. I stood in the rap section and an entire world of 80’s old school opened up. I walked out with 2 CD’s – KRS-One and Eric B. and Rakim. I’m listening to Follow the Leader, right now. This set the tone for the rest of the week and the audio coincidences followed.

Meanwhile back at work….
Think of music online and it’s a hard not to think of iTunes. My colleague Despi spent the past week preparing, organizing and finalizing our audio and video content for a new partnership with iTunes, called iTunes U – essentially content from universities and cultural institutions, such as museums. She’ll be blogging about it later, so I don’t want to reveal too much. The IMA on iTunes, pretty cool and it’s kind of a big deal.

Thinking of LOST and Copland…
Previously on…..not LOST (but I can’t wait for the season to start). In past posts I’ve mentioned a project we’re working on with musicians from the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. This project will become an audio guide for our American Galleries, featuring performances from ISO musicians. So when I’m not listening to 80’s hip hop, I’m also now into Debussy, Stravinsky and Barber. We’re in the selection stage for what songs will be recorded and will begin this process very soon….

Local music…
For an upcoming fashion exhibition Breaking the Mode, we are acquiring runway footage featuring work from the designers in the exhibition. You can’t really have runway footage without music, so our web and flash designer Matt Gipson suggested a local band he knows, The Sound Defects. I recommend visiting their site and listening to Kick Stand. We’re working with them to feature some of their sounds in the videos we will produce online (I know – it’s a video…but there is a good audio connection here). Coming soon to imamuseum.org….in some form.

For a totally new experience…
If you’re in iTunes, search for ‘spurse audio tour’. It’s an audio guide we produced with the artist collective spurse, a couple of years ago. Their exhibition is long gone, but the audio tour lives on and might make a comeback. Check it out – I did recently and had a chuckle. It’s not your typical audio guide.

So what does this all mean…
Well, these were my experiences for the week of Jan 21-25, 2008. We may never be an audio powerhouse like MoMA or SFMOMA – but you will begin to see some new and unique audio experiences – and we haven’t given up on audio yet. In the meantime, if you have any audio project ideas, please leave me a comment.

Now who’s ready for The Buggles?