Am. Assoc. of Museums

All together now; museums and online collaborative learning.

Crow, a museum educator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Din (art education, U. of Alaska Anchorage) provide a guide for museum professionals and those interested in online collaboration that explores online collaborative learning for museums and museum visitors. They focus on the concepts and strategies involved in this collaboration, rather than specific technologies, and incorporate case studies and examples of projects by US museums as they discuss the concept of collaborative learning and how it differs from traditional interaction, forms and benefits, theoretical frameworks, creating an effective climate, the roles of collaborators, creating new programs, and interdisciplinary integration. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Mobile apps for museums; the AAM guide to planning and strategy.

Proctor who works in mobile strategy and initiatives at the Smithsonian Institution, compiles 11 essays on the use of mobile apps by museums. Technology specialists and others from US and European museums discuss studies of mobile adoption, integration into the overall museum experience design, serious mobile gaming, augmented reality, the use of the iPad and tablet computers in group tours, cross-platform thinking that optimizes mobile apps for on-site visits and beyond, marketing approaches and integration with mobile project design to reach target audiences, mobile content production and business model considerations, decision making processes for native vs. web apps, future-proofing mobile tours to make them more compatible across platforms and devices, new revenue streams connected to new mobile platforms and players, and metrics for measuring success. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)