By Mike Murawski, Portland Art Museum; Dana Carlisle Kletchka, Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University; Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, National Writing Project, University of California Berkeley
“People’s relationships remain strong—but they are networked. Neighbors, and neighborhoods still exist, to be sure, but they occupy a smaller portion of people’s lives. It is hard to borrow a cup of sugar from a Facebook friend 1,000 miles away, but it has become easier to socialize, get advice, and exchange emotional support at whatever distance. Where commentators had been afraid that the internet would wither in-person ties, it is clear that they enhance and extend them.” (Lee Rainie & Barry Wellman, Networked: The New Social Operating System, 2012).
In their recent book Networked: The New Social Operating System, Lee Rainie (director of the Pew Charitable Trusts Internet & American Life Project) and Barry Wellman (Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto and Director of NetLab) have argued that the large online social circles of familiar platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. actually expand opportunities for learning, problem solving, decision making and personal interaction. Their work at the Pew Internet Project and the NetLab (especially research for the Connected Lives Project) suggests that digital technologies are not isolated — or isolating — systems, but rather networked systems built upon these social networking platforms as well as mobile device technologies.
As Rainey and Wellman remind us (although we need no reminder):
“Daily life is connected life, its rhythms driven by endless email pings and responses, the chimes and beeps of continually arriving text messages, tweets and retweets, Facebook updates, pictures and videos to post and discuss. Our perpetual connectedness gives us endless opportunities to be part of the give-and-take of networking.”
But how do we—as museum and arts education professionals—maneuver within a technology-mediated world in a way that allows us to cultivate productive, human-centered networks and communities? Museums and schools have been widely engaged in how digital media and technology can connect them with their students and audiences. But what about the potential of these same technologies to build entirely new “communities of practice” among professionals—whether art teachers, university faculty, or museum educators?
These questions are at the core of a series of conversations that we will be facilitating over the next several weeks, centered around a panel discussion that will be part of the National Art Education Association annual conference in Fort Worth at the beginning of March. Through these organic and open conversations, we hope to begin exploring models of human-centered professional exchange and peer networks suited to the increasing complexity, connectivity, and velocity of the 21st century. Drawing on innovative work from the National Writing Project (such as Digital Is), sites of exchange such as this one (ArtMuseumTeaching.com), and connected learning models developed with MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative, we’ll be discussing how online networks and communities can harness the power of emerging technologies and social media to share, collaborate, curate, and participate with peers both today and in the future.
One way to more easily digest this sizeable topic is perhaps to take it one bite at a time. So we’re excited to be facilitating two public “on air” Google Hangouts along with the session at NAEA—one hangout prior to the conference to take that first bite, and one a couple weeks after the conference to extend our thinking and perhaps follow-up on questions raised in the panel. The online Google Hangout format also allows us to potentially engage a wider range of people than just those attending the NAEA conference, while at the same time practicing one of the most widely used technologies for face-to-face online engagement.
CONVERSATION #1 – Come Chat With Us via Google Hangout
“What Do W
e Want from Online Communities of Practice?”
Open Google Hangout w/ Mike Murawski, Dana Carlisle Kletchka, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl
Thursday, February 28th – 1:00pm Pacific / 4:00pm Eastern
For this preconference conversation on Google Hangout, we thought we might simply ask: “what do we want from online communities of practice and peer networks?” What online networks and communities are you involved with? When you consider jumping into a new online community, what do you hope it will achieve? What types of exchanges and experiences keep us engaged and prevent us from leaving (or ignoring) the online network? During this conversation, we were able to gather your thoughts, questions, and experiences which will inform our discussion at NAEA on March 7th.
View the YouTube recording of the “On Air” Google Hangout here:
Couldn’t join the Google Hangout? Watch the broadcast above, and please add your thoughts and perspectives to the “Comments” section below, and we’ll utilize this space to keep the conversation going.
CONVERSATION #2 – NAEA Conference Session
“Reimagining Professional Exchange & Peer Networks in a Digital Age”
NAEA Panel Session w/ Mike Murawski, Dana Carlisle Kletchka, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl
Thursday, March 7th, -12:00-12:50pm, Meeting Room 121C/Center/1st Floor
At this session, we gathered with a great group of peers to share some of our own experiences working as developers, researchers, and participants in online networks and communities of practice, but also spent time opening up the conversation about key issues (many pulled from the preconference Google Hangout). For example: how do we promote online ‘contributing’ instead of just online ‘visiting’ when it comes to these experiences? What are some ways to build co-learning interactions online?
Couldn’t attend the session? Please feel free to connect with either of the Google Hangouts, or chime in via the “Comments” section below.
CONVERSATION #3 – Reconnect via Google Hangout
“The Digital Follow-Up: How Do We Drag Everyone Back to Their Screens?”
Open Google Hangout w/ Mike Murawski, Dana Carlisle Kletchka, Elyse Eidman-Aadahl
Thursday, March 28th – 1:00pm Pacific / 4:00pm Eastern
One of the most difficult things to motivate busy museum and education professionals to do is to reconnect online after the conference or workshop. While we all know the values of extending these relationships and opportunities to reconnect, it can be so difficult to make these a reality. It only seems appropriate to make this one of the topics of our own ‘digital follow-up’ discussion. How do we manage and nurture online professional networks so that members stay active, build stronger ties, and feel supported? We also kept this follow-up conversation open to issues and questions that were addressed in the panel session at NAEA.
View the YouTube recording of the “On Air” Google Hangout here:
We look forward to continuing this exciting series of conversations! If you have any ideas for a future Hangout or online get-together, let me know and we can work to schedule here within the ArtMuseumTeaching.com community.
Reposted through the National Writing Project’s Digital Is website.
Art Museum Teaching 
Thank you Mike.
Sometimes it’s difficult to join in with these types of events because it’s hard to work out the time zone. Luckily google/gmail have made this easy to add to the calendar, and 8am Melbourne time makes it likely I will be able to join in.
Can’t wait to see how it all works. .
Christine — I’m so thrilled that you may be able to join our Hangouts. I thought it would be a good way to open up the conversation beyond the conference (since attendance at NAEA is limited by institutions’ budgets, travel policies, distance, etc). And making these discussions global is so important to me. We’ll look forward to you connecting with us — and we can flex the muscle of digital technologies to bridge the Pacific Ocean as we discuss this very topic : )
Great idea, and I plan on joining in!
Reblogged this on Steffan Jones-Hughes.
I wanted to share a few thoughts post-Google-Hangout-#1. First of all, thanks to everyone who was able to connect to the conversation online. It was so exciting to be bringing together so many voices from across the field of education (not just in museums) — we had strong representation from people with the National Writing Project and Connected Learning, which was awesome! Dana, Elyse, and I were able to gather many key questions, issues, and ideas from this initial conversation as we prepare for the in-person conversation this week in Fort Worth. I hope many of you can join us. And if there is some way for us to turn our conference session into a video or Google Hangout on Thursday, we will.
Hi, thank you for an informative discussion about what is we want from online learning spaces. I’d like to know the names of the participants – in particular Ralph, from St Louis, Missouri. Would it be possible to give us a full list of the contributors to this discussion?
Siobhan — thanks for your comments. For the first Hangout discussion, here are the names of most of the participants: Dana Carlisle Kletchka (Penn State), Elyse Eidman-Aadahl (Univ California Berkeley), Ralph Cordova (Univ Missouri St. Louis), Paul Allison (http://www.teachersteachingteachers.org/), Christine Healey (Heidi Museum, Australia), and Christina Cantrill (National Writing Project). I hope this helps.