At the IMA, social media has become rather important. We use it to build relationships with you, our online audience, yes- but we also hope to encourage you to build relationships with each other and your community. I don’t know about you, but it’s hard for me to tell the difference between my “personal” and “professional” social media interactions because the lines have blurred in so many ways just in the past couple of years. Yes, part of it has to do with passion for what I do, but even so- everything has become so intertwined, so to speak, when it comes to the ‘interwebs’.

This photo was snapped just this morning down in 100 Acres by Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, Lisa Freiman and promptly tweeted by CEO Max Anderson:

Steel workers gather for a photo opp. on top of Free Basket by Los Carpinteros

Take for instance how social media has reshaped the world of journalism. “Citizen journalism” is the concept of members of the public “playing an active role in the process of collecting, reporting, analyzing and disseminating news and information.” Examples of this can be seen through blogs, twitter, and camera phone images.

As a museum, we can employ this same idea. Staff, artists and visitors can capture events as they happen with their iPhone or a Flip Video. The following images were captured on artist duo Type A’s cell phones and then uploaded to Facebook:

The top ring of "Team Building (Align)" casts a shadow

Astronomer Brian Murphy of Butler U. and Andrew of Type A work out some calculations to place the second ring for "Team Building (Align)"

So, budding art journalists, here are some tips from caffienatedtraveller.com to get you started:

• Acknowledge the artwork and museum in the photo credits. It is time for bloggers to step up and put on a professional face.
• Post great images and not the family snap shots on your blog. Why discredit a good art exhibit.
• Flash photography? Don’t go there unless you have explicit permission from the museum. Not even when you think you’re alone.
• Leave the fanatical blogger psyche at the entry door. Spend some zen time in the moment, with the art and the space and then shoot.

In the meantime, I’ll be looking for your tweets, status updates and image uploads. And let’s continue to blur the lines together, shall we?

Filed under: Art, Art and Nature Park, Current Events, New Media, Technology

We always have projects to work on. Some are small, some are big. When we decided we’d bite the bullet and build this beast, it was still just a vision in the future, but one we knew had to be done. Projects came, and went. New projects were sandwiched in our tight schedule. Pieces of the puzzle all fell together and behold April 7th is here. We can finally proudly announce to the world, the arrival of ArtBabble.org public beta release with a jolt of new content contributors to sweeten the pot!

It had always been our goal to create a website that we could share. One that would bring Art content from different places and perspectives together, easily accessed and found. We’ve been lucky enough to work with the New York Public Library, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and Art21, with the promise of more content contributors & videos and a continued strive to improve the user experience by adding a slew of features over time.

The team that worked on ArtBabble spans many departments and areas of expertise, and external collaborators & partners. It’d be hard for me to articulate all aspects of this project. On ArtBabble, we pay a lot of attention to quotes and interaction. So I thought it’d be fitting to ask the crack team of art techies who have been working on this website what babbles they’d like to share. I’m not of fan of comment begging, but please leave your interesting tidbits here. Please, feel free to ask questions… we’ll answer them here as well.

Filed under: Art, New Media, Technology