Participatory media and information sources have become ubiquitous online, but most museums, libraries, and cultural institutions maintain traditional perspectives on authorial control and the visitors' role as consumers, not collaborators. This lecture by Nina Simon--author of The Participatory Museum (2010) and the Museum 2.0 blog--presents design techniques, international examples, and opportunities for Museum 2.0 cultural institutions that incorporate user participation into their work. Simon will address techniques for designing collaborative processes whose outputs are valuable not only to participants but to staff and non-participating visitors as well. The unique and specific value that participatory techniques can bring to cultural institutions will be discussed, as well as the limitations and challenges to established practice.

Nina Simon is an independent exhibition designer who has been described as a "museum visionary" by Smithsonian Magazine. She is the principal of Museum 2.0, a design firm that works with cultural institutions worldwide on innovative projects that invite visitors to engage as collaborators and active participants.

This event is organized by the University of Michigan Museum Studies Program and cosponsored by the University of Michigan Museum of Art.