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There are gender wars, and then there are casualties. It wasn’t until 2011 that the behemoth toymaker LEGO acknowledged girls’ d ...

Crowdsourcing can build virtual community, engage the public, and build large knowledge databases about science and culture. But w ...

“Uh-oh,” Refe Tuma heard his girls whisper. “Mom and Dad are not going to like this.” It's Dinovember, and his family's plastic ...

A new generation of small video cameras and consumer robotic helicopters make amazing video shots possible. Stick your phone on a ...

Wikipedia has 4,362,397 articles in English.  But how many of those are seriously encyclopedic, and what are the most important ar ...

Words matter. And so does presentation. Fifty years ago, this week, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I have a ...

Images gain new meaning when given the context of location or change. Two sites, from NASA and HistoryPin do this to good effect - ...

Online education can have a real impact in the developing world. Last week, we needed to hire a programmer for a small freelance j ...

NASA redesigned their web site, with a magnificent failure of design by committee. It is a failure of content (eliminated the most ...

Who owns art and culture? Does it belong to the artist? The legal property owner? Or the society that loves and appreciates it? Tr ...

Online courses with very large enrollments have rapidly matured in the last two years, led largely by experiments outside mainstre ...

Crowdsourcing means involving a lot of people in small pieces of a project. In educational and nonprofit outreach, crowdsourcing i ...

The Grand Canyon is yet another place that Google brings to your digital screens, from their Street View family of content. Google ...

In the era of tablets and smart phones, parents of small children may consider educational apps. Recently, the "Slashdot" online c ...

Sciences and history can nicely meet at historical sites. It engages the history-minded in science, and the science-minded in hist ...

Imploded by the same forces that have disrupted the broader publishing industry, the dictionary business struggles to get a grip o ...

Too many books? Valuable books? If you or your organization has a library of too many books, consider selling them using Amazon.co ...

Twitter hashtags are useful for promoting your projects, learning about new topics, and discovering trends. But what hashtags to u ...

Most data is meaningless to most people -- unless it is visualized. Stepping beyond familiar visualizations like bar charts and pi ...

It's Open Access Week 2012. Now in it's 6th year, the organizers are promoting Open Access as the new norm in research and scholar ...

Games and gaming principles have a useful role in exhibit design for both real world and virtual settings. "As educators, we’re al ...

Search the pages of America's historic newspapers (1836-1922) with the new Chronicling America web site from the Library of Congre ...

Undergraduate education is valuable, but expensive, averaging $375/course at a community college, and $3.5k/course at a private un ...

Film and video can be compelling forms of communication — but using video in science is hard to do well. Science is complex and sc ...

Can profits and kids mix? In a recent edSurge article, Tom Segal argues for the role of the “for-profit” entrepreneurship in the d ...

Getting the community involved in contributing content to an online project is a great form of public participation, and also a wa ...

Science journal subscriptions can cost libraries several thousand dollars a year, yet most institutions members only make use of a ...

What happens to a city when the people that lived there die off or are absorbed by others? War, disease and natural disaster can a ...

Since spring 2010, this blog has covered all kinds of outreach topics, from museums to mobile devices to ebooks to blog networks. ...

Expand your outreach capacity with multiple media, multiple languages, new sites and apps, and other features by hiring freelancer ...

Open textbooks are receiving a potential boost by an ambitious new, organized peer review project organized by the University of M ...

The vast majority of museums are totally ignoring mobile apps. At present, ~350 iPhone apps have been actually created by museu ...

Over 30,000 objects are now available for anyone to savor and study online, for free, in impressive high resolution, in Google's ' ...

IDEA is in the planning stages of a new project, to create a new thesaurus app for the iPad. As an experiment, we investigated whe ...

Advertising is a classic, well-proven way to earn money for a publication, blog or site. "It's the cost of not having direct, paid ...

"Being able to teach machine learning to tens of thousands of people is one of the most gratifying experiences I've ever had," say ...

Online courses can be a great way to teach (and learn) new skills. They can be small and highly personal, or scale to thousands of ...

"The debate about which is better, face-to-face learning or online learning is fast becoming obsolete," says Jennifer Berghage ...

A Hopi doll with painted headdress springs to life, spinning under my finger tips on a new iPad app from the University of Virgini ...

Metadata is a the glue that makes information useful. It is data about data. It could be a title, location, and camera settings fo ...

It is getting easier and cheaper for cultural and scientific organizations make mobile, handheld tours. According to Nielsen, 40% ...

What was once prohibitively complex and expensive can now be done inexpensively with online testing services. Testing will uncover ...

Make sure your investments on web sites, apps or new real-life programs don't fail by conducting usability and user experience tes ...

Gameplay has a lot to teach us about motivating participation through joy. 'Gamification' is a new term, coined in 2008, for a ...

QR codes are a way to send information to mobile devices (e.g., a smartphone) using its camera. You send a short blurb of text, or ...

Mere words are insufficient to describe new web sites or mobile apps. Phrases like "access to information," "online communities" a ...

A cheap and effective way to do community outreach is to piggyback or partner with existing events. NASA did this in a subtle and ...

As Tropical Storm Irene was passing up the East Coast, and tens of millions of Americans successfully prepared for the storm, FoxN ...

Wikipedia, the free, online encyclopedia that "anyone can edit," is a useful way to deliver scientific and cultural knowledge to t ...

Cloud computing is a metaphorical term for hosted services on the Internet. This can be infrastructure (i.e., raw equipment), plat ...

When deciding what software to use for a project, how do you decide on open source vs. proprietary software? For example, in prior ...

So you want to create a niche social network? And you've read the prior post on overall issues to consider? Here's an overview of ...

Social networking gives professionals and enthusiastic members of the public a great way to connect and share information about sc ...

Thinking about launching a new niche social network for a science or cultural community of professionals? Think again. It costs a ...

Mobile is exploding, and this has vast implications for education. Here's a summary of top news and trends for mobile this summer. ...

Last weekend, IDEA's SpicyNodes project received a "Best Websites for Teaching and Learning" from American Association of School L ...

There's a great new video on YouTube, "I'm a climate scientist." It uses gangsta-rap flavor to bring home the point that a lot of ...

All publications from the National Academies Press (NAP) are now available for free as PDFs. NAP is the publishing arm of the Nati ...

Swirling a tasting of beer in my plastic glass, I was curiously intrigued by the presenter's explanations about Trappist monks bre ...

Smartphones (e.g., the iPhone or Android) are commonplace, and education outreach projects need make use of this reality. People u ...

IDEA's second mobile app, WikiNodes (see app store link) puts the encyclopedic knowledge of Wikipedia at the fingertips of iPa ...

Virtual exhibits on tablet devices (e.g., the Apple iPad) put exhibits at the fingertips of students and the public. Visitors ...

There is no better way to reach underserved audiences than to drive directly to them. Mobile museums, in converted RVs or semi-tra ...

The system of getting knowledge about science to the public is broken. One major crack in the system is a disconnect between scien ...

Over 70% of U.S. museums are in economic distress, according to a new report from the American Association of Museums. Here are so ...

Is the art enough? Probably not. Art museum revenues are falling and museums need to experiment with new business models and ways ...

Innovation takes years, if not decades. An essay by Bill Buxton, principal scientist at Microsoft Research, introduced the idea of ...

Fast talks enliven conferences. Ignite and TEDx are two models of fast-paced, engaging and fun conferences which can be adapted fo ...

The National STEM Video Game Challenge, awarded the $50k grand prize last week to a professional team that did not meet the eligib ...

"This is your target" the game says, pointing at an ordinary looking cartoon woman in a T-shirt and track pants. "If you pay close ...

Museums and archives manage information about their collections, facilitate interdepartmental communication, and make collections ...

Drones, spy robots, Mach 6 warplanes, new energy sources, and climate monitoring are just a few of the new technologies being deve ...

Here's a snapshot of the current exhibitions or activities being featured at a sampling of U.S. science centers, and their ticket ...

Open access means that readers have free access. But who pays for the operational costs of running a publication? Often it's the a ...

Open access journals are transforming how researchers share information, and how the public can access it. They are peer reviewed ...

Today, Nancy Proctor, the head of mobile strategy and initiatives for the Smithsonian Institution, gave an online talk about Smith ...

The following were the twenty most visited art exhibitions of 2010: In Tokyo and Kyoto, Hasegawa Tohaku pulled in the crowd ...

What's the difference between a science museum and a science center? To insiders, the difference is the extent a museum is based o ...

Social media can feel like you are talking to the world, but in reality there's a lot of self-selection going on. So know your aud ...

National security is a useful angle for presenting science, art and culture issues to disengaged or skeptical audiences. Like a ...

Games on mobile devices are a new way to engage museum visitors. Two companies gave presentations at yesterday's Museums & Mob ...

Museums are going mobile, and many companies are eager to help. At yesterday's Museums & Mobile 2011 online conference, severa ...

Walking over rough sandstone blocks, between adobe houses, our $20/person tour wove through the streets and alleys of a small vill ...

On Twitter, almost no one hears you. Or at least that's the case for 99.95% of Twitter users whose Tweets evaporate into the aethe ...

The term "strategic communications" has become popular over the last two decades. It means infusing communications efforts wit ...

Small differences have a big effect when trying to coax thousands or millions of people. This includes urging online readers to ta ...

The growing field of digital humanities is hampered by a lack of motivation to share tools, and a lack of direct rewards from the ...

When web sites invite commenting, they open the door to unwanted comments. By quickly identifying types of unwanted comments, you ...

This weekend, I was a judge at a local chapter of National History Day (NHD). I judged web sites. Amazingly, these sites were muc ...

Computers and the internet are an increasingly important way that Americans engage in the arts, says a new report from the Nationa ...

Blogging is an increasingly important way for the public to learn about science and culture. Bloggers fill in the information gaps ...

Museums increasingly realize that if they want government funding and support, they need to make a case for it, and get their voic ...

Blog networks are collaborative blogs. They give readers an interesting destination, like a newsmagazine, with more content than b ...

Bad presentations abound, but it's particularly egregious when presenting to public audiences. Text-heavy slides? Score! Confusing ...

Blog networks provide readers an interesting place to read a variety of interesting articles, or other media. They can be win-win ...

America's teachers are paying $480 million dollars out of their pockets to feed our kids. Earlier this week, Share Our Strength, a ...

Patrons at 150 local libraries have a new option to borrow eBooks on their computers or iPad. Yesterday, Internet Archive launched ...

On the screens of millions of iPad and other mobile devices, moons and stars, elements and molecules swirl beneath our fingertips ...

Online video gained momentum in 2010, says a recent report from comScore. Compare 2009 and 2010: The comScore report says: ...

More people are using fast smartphones, and expect to get their information on their phones. In the last quarter of 2010, approx 9 ...

Tablets are hot, and here to stay, says a new 100-page report from financial firm, Morgan Stanley, which predicts the tablet marke ...

Real life has a close competitor in the "Art Project," released by Google last week. Their initial release is a clean, invitin ...

If you put information online, getting traffic is always a challenge. Web traffic may come from "organic" search results, from blo ...

Mobiles and eBooks will be a big deal in higher education by the end of the year, predicts a panel of 42 experts in education, tec ...

The costs to rent a traveling exhibit vary widely depending on the size, complexity, subject matter, and underlying objectives ...

What kinds of traveling exhibits are there? A lot. The Traveling Exhibitions Database (TED) is a database of 768 current traveling ...

In April 2009, a dozen 53-foot tractor trailers delivered the latest blockbuster exhibit — Harry Potter: The exhibition — to the M ...

Tina Rosenberg wrote in a blog post for the NYTimes last week, about microconsignment, which is.. A way for village entrepren ...

Do we need yet another online version of Economics 101? Why are universities putting courseware online, and what's in it for stude ...

The Hirshhorn Museum's ARTLAB+ program gets local DC teens involved in art. For their event tomorrow, "Teenagers Are Taking Over T ...

This is the first post from IDEA's new blog. This blog tackles the challenge of  boosting the general public's literacy in science ...

Like museums in the physical world, WebExhibits presents information that is, for the most part, timeless. Yet WebExhibits also d ...

If you share our passion for leveraging technology to increase scientific, artistic, and cultural literacy, then get involved! Yo ...

IDEA presented and demonstrated "Concept Maps for Online Exhibits" at the 2010 Museums and the Web Conference, April 13-17 in ...

We've just launched a new blog for SpicyNodes, our new concept mapping tool. In that blog, we'll follow news about the SpicyNodes ...

Not everyone sees the world as you do You can try the Color Vision tool yourself by selecting an image and choosing a color bli ...

In 2008, IDEA conducted a study about online experiences. The report (download PDF here) outlines key findings from surveys that e ...

Author: Sean Liu Problem Flash does not display correctly in browsers on Ubuntu 7.10 Gusty. Solution Setup WindwsXP in VMWare ...

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, a public art museum that opened in 1951, is located in British Columbia, Canada. Art Galler ...

Adding depth to online learning through hands-on experiments. Problem You need to engage visitors wi ...

Labeling sequences is paramount.   The process of painting a canvas is personal and unique to each artist. V ...

Using minimum complexity and maximum consistency in interactive UIs.   Weather: View temperature, expected high a ...

By manipulating models, visitors understand how components interact.   Another interface modeling s ...

Incorporating intuitive graphs provides visitors with new insights. Problem You need to explain the relationship ...

Imparting greater understanding through object manipulation. Problem An important component of understanding how some ...

Color coding can help visitors identify images, as well as provide context. Problem You need to explain the differenc ...

Reducing multidimensional data enables visitors to control what they see.   Data can be more understa ...

Displaying only selected data provides clarity and enhances discovery. Problem You need to display quantitative information abou ...

Avoiding clutter while amplifying information.   The pigment composition of a painting is revealed by ...

Superimposing images for the purpose of comparison.   An inviting way to compare related images is su ...

Incorporating interactivity that is purposeful.   Users perform knee surgery, understanding the proce ...

Creating an online environment that fosters discovery.   The sun in Monet's “Impression Sunrise” is o ...

  Interactivity helps explain why the sky is blue. Problem Some subjects are naturally difficult to ...

Enriching the learning experience with interactivity. Students become disengaged and learn less when information is p ...

  There are 3 theories that can help guide and inform what you do online so that your final product will make sense. ...

Describing learning as the interrelation between behavioral, environmental, and personal factors.   According t ...

Actively assimilating knowledge while constructing and interpreting new ideas.   The core of Constructivism i ...

Actively engaging students who work in collaboration. According to Cooperative Learning theory, you can read or hear ...

Bridging the digital divide requires flexibility. In a village meeting, adults get the weekly news and disc ...

Stepping into emerging markets with informational infrastructure. An “obsolete” computer in the West might ...

Bridging the information gap one step at a time. Problem Increasing access to information for hard-to-re ...

Properly implementing learning technologies benefits teacher and student alike. Problem: It’s difficult to avoid the ...

Enriching teacher-student communication with online tools. Problem: The limitations of classroom teaching are too con ...

Enhancing the learning experience by correctly using online tools. Problem: Although classroom teaching has its limitations, you ...

Implementing a web-based content management system helps keep your site fresh. Since we are not all born tech ...

Personalizing web content helps ensure that users' needs are met. Not everyone wants the same cabbage. Not ever ...

Organizing content into a logical system makes your site easier to navigate. Pointing users in the right direction is c ...

Separating a site's design from its content makes a re-design less costly. Problem It’s expensive to pay for the serv ...

Technological tools can routinely prune obsolete web site content. Problem As a website grows, it tends to accumulate out ...

Protecting your organization from data loss requires forethought. Catastrophic data loss is rare, but it's best ...

Utilizing common tools and hosting solutions can minimize web site expenses. The technical complexities of runnin ...

WYSIWYG user interfaces enable non-technical personnel to publish site content. With a simple, web-based interface, pro ...

A web-based CMS can overcome obstacles caused by geography and technology. Just as too many cooks can spoil the broth, ...

Enabling project staff to update and post new site content prevents bottlenecks. Just as this June 24, 1959 evening r ...

Implementing content management software can overcome the hassles of dissemination. Content management software can t ...

Finding a sensible and sustainable way to provide web site visitors with fresh information is crucial. A mobile Gue ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Selecting a reporting method that will improve the odds for implementation is critical. ...

Analyzing data can help you refine your web site to reach your target audience. Web analysis gives you an i ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Bringing in an external evaluator can overcome staff resistance. Is everyone ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Avoiding survey pitfalls can help ensure success. Simplifying Surv ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby A useful evaluation plan incorporates a number of factors. This penguin did ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Skilled project management can mean the difference between success and failure. ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Using a variety of evaluation techniques can reveal hidden truths about your program. ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Developing program objectives begins with knowing your target audience. Foc ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Collecting and analyzing survey data is easier with technological tools. Wh ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Incorporating technological tools into evaluation plans can please funders. ...

Author: Patrick Parnaby Implementing the right evaluation plan can guide your project to success. T ...

Improving program evaluation can pave the way for superior results and increased funding. It is important ...

In the United States, www.time.gov provides the official U.S. time across all time zones. The team at IDEA, in collaboration with ...

Creating an atmosphere of discovery by allowing visitors to evaluate evidence. Problem You want to explain a multi-fa ...

Online communities can take many forms, and add depth and breadth to your site. Problem You want to create an online ...

Asking specific questions, whether rhetorical or data-driven, can supplement your site's content. Problem You want to ...

Developing community while avoiding chaos. Problem Although the dynamic and database capabilities of web servers can ...

Author: Elisa Warner Eliminating technological distractions can help alleviate procrastination. Problem: While procrast ...

Flexible designs make finding information rewarding. Problem You need to engage visitors by making a large amount of ...

Utilizing straightforward URLs helps both humans and search engines find your pages. Problem You need to make pages m ...

Adding a local search engine helps visitors quickly locate the information they need. Problem Visitors need to find c ...

Linking as a navigational aid. Problem You need to let visitors move to neighboring pages. Solution In addition to ...

Focusing on opportunities for interactivity. Problem You need to overcome the constraints of a web browser. Solution ...

Organizing material for multiple navigation methods appeals to a variety of learning styles. Problem You need to orga ...

Repurposing material for a new medium. Problem You need to adapt a real experience into a virtual experience. Soluti ...

Encouraging epiphanies through interactive web content. Problem You need to choose what to put online. Solution Foc ...

Integrating search concepts into web design enables visitors to find relevant information. Problem ...

Author: Elisa Warner Delineating areas of responsibility for board members can help avoid leadership conflicts. Problem Lea ...

Author: Elisa Warner Permitting respectful disagreement heads off larger conflicts. Problem An open exchange of ideas is cruc ...

Author: Elisa Warner Implementing a strategic plan gives an organization focus and flexibility. Problem Without a strateg ...

Author: Elisa Warner The success or failure of a project often lies in the transition from idea to action. Problem New pr ...

Author: Elisa Warner Allowing team members to play to their strengths sets the foundation for a successful project. Proble ...

Author: Elisa Warner Trusting and supporting your tech team helps them to achieve collaborative goals. Problem Although y ...

Author: Elisa Warner Supporting creative differences through leadership can help a project reach its potential. ...

Author: Elisa Warner Utilizing a variety of project management strategies will help ensure success. Problem Some projects ...

Author: Elisa Warner Nonprofit organizations face special challenges in project development and management. Project manageme ...

Enabling visitors to email a web page supports the user experience. Problem Visitors can’t easily share your site wit ...

Mimicking real-life knobs and switches enhances usability. Problem You need to make knobs on your site immediately ob ...

A consistent button style aids navigation. Problem You need to make buttons on your site immediately obvious. Soluti ...

Enhancing navigation by marrying icons and text. Problem You need to make the icons on your site i ...

Developing user-centered interfaces for increased accessibility. Problem You need a web interface ...

Organizing thumbnail images to increase ease of use. Problem You need to let a user choose among a set of disorganize ...

Bringing 3D images to life through animation. Problem You can’t adequately show a 3D object or scene on your web site ...

Enlarging images to provide visitors with more detail. Problem A computer monitor has low resolution, which can make ...

Capturing interest with personal comments. Problem You need to lend a sense of context and mood to your web site. So ...

Developing a narrative to engage visitors. Problem Your web site isn’t enticing and engaging to visitors. Solution ...

Asking questions of the visitor can trigger more personalized information. Problem Your web site needs to meet the needs of diff ...

Adapting your web content to different audiences increases the effectiveness of your project. Problem You must meet the needs ...

Defining the audience for your content is the first step in personalization. Tailoring meets the needs of the indiv ...

Tailoring information adds value to the user's experience. Educational materials that attempt to meet the needs o ...

Teaching guides help educators master your material. Problem You need to help educators use the material in the class ...

Prado, Madrid In 2003, Museo del Prado had a major exhibit on Titian, the leader of the 16th century Venetian school of Italian R ...