Project Details

Project Overview

A partnership including the Writing in Digital Environments Research Center at Michigan State University, University of Washington's Museology Program, North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, and the Science Museum of Minnesota will develop and test a research framework to study the influence of the new generation of social technologies on the co-creation of knowledge and the ways it influences museum practice.

The Science Museum of Minnesota’s Science Buzz (http://buzz.smm.org/buzz/) was selected as the context for this research because it has been recognized as a model of innovative use of the new Web 2.0 capacities and an exemplar of best practice through numerous awards including Best Overall Website of 2006, awarded by an international panel of experts for its transformation of the website experience.

While extremely popular and highly praised, online communication has been historically difficult to study because of the temporal and virtual nature of the interactions. The project addresses the following questions:
1) What is the nature of the community that interacts with Science Buzz?
2) What is the nature of the online interaction?
3) Do these online interactions support inquiry and learning?
4) Do these online interactions support inquiry, learning, and change within the museum—what is the impact on the museum practice?

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