21st Century Skills For The Modern Museum

With the dawn of the 21^st century technology and information has boomed. No longer is there real need to step outside your own home to access knowledge and information. But how is this relevant to Museums? Due to immense amount of information that is out there now Museums need to be able to compete with Websites and Web Archives. To keep up the business end of the Museum, the institution must adapt to stay relevant in this day and age. With that being said the only way to improve the Museum is to improve the staff working there and bring fresh interactive ideas to the forefront of the Modern Museum. Now when I refer to the “Modern Museum” I do not mean that the museum is one of modern art or modern history, no I simply mean that the museum is one that has adapted to fit the current time period and maintain its attraction to visitors. There are a few simple ways to make sure that this can happen within all museums and their staff.

1. Technology Knowledge
   1. the use of technology in the 21^st century is critical. Interactive and out of the box exhibits are the best way to grab a visitors attention and keep them coming back for more.
2. Critical Thinking
   1. Staff should be able to analyze and quickly come up with solutions to problems. Also they should be able to take in as many fresh ideas as possible and consider all aspects of the museum and its patrons.
3. Environmental Literacy
   1. Living in this world today, we understand that what we do can have a large impact on the environment and community at large. Museums and staff should know and be aware of how the museum fits into the community environment and play a part in maintaining and protecting it.
4. Global Literacy
   1. The world is no longer full of isolated pockets of space. Today there lives a global community in which all cultures have the ability to be included. Museums and staff should be aware of this and take this into account when planning events and exhibitions. They should be encouragers of this global society and be accessible to all its peoples
5. Evaluation from visitors and patrons
   1. The only way a museum can grow and prosper to learn from not only it's mistakes but also it's successes. The Museum should take notes and criticisms from it's patrons and use them in future exhibitions and events. The only way it can reach its public is through the engagement of the said public.
      

6.  Multifaceted Institution

      1."Every museum today  has had to come to grips with this transformation from temple of art to    culture mall. In order to survive, museums today must be many things to many people: centers of scholarship, places of entertainment, temples of beauty, social service agencies, marketplaces, meeting places, places of diversity, places of calm, and, above all, places of socio-political controversy"

       I love this line from Susanna Torruella Leval about the nature of the "Modern Museum"and the different things it must be to different people. 

Works Cited

Eberbach, Cathrine. "InformalScience | Randi Korn - Interview from the Field."InformalScience | Randi Korn - Interview from the Field. Informal Science, 2008. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://informalscience.org/member/interview/rkorn>.

"Podcast Audio." Podcast Audio. IMLS, n.d. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://www.imls.gov/resources/podcast.aspx>.

Torruella Leval, Susanna. "ARTS, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY." The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts -. N.p., 1995. Web. 18 Sept. 2012. <http://www.warholfoundation.org/grant/paper5/paper.html>.