#MuseumTwitterati

I don't usually write about myself, however I've been nominated  for the #MuseumTwitterati challenge by Sarah Kirkham, writer of Museum Curiosities, for writing this blog. The #MuseumTwitterati Challenge is a way of recognising the museum people you find inspiring and engaging on social media and I now get to to acknowledge those people who's museum blogs I read and admire the most.

Me and Emmeline Pankhusrt. Camera shy in the National Portrait Gallery.

I'm a museum educator and I've been blogging about museums for just over a year. I began blogging as a light-hearted way of sharing my take on museums and their collections, about what happens when visitors turn up and look at stuff. As my blog title says, it's about "encounters with objects in museums". I also blog with the aim of getting more people to visit museums. What better way to encourage people to visit a museum, than show them a little of what's inside.

I don't write academic posts about museum learning, I do enough of that for my sudies. I'm in the final stages of a PhD researching family learning. I write posts to be read in 3-4 minutes whilst you sit down with a cup of tea. Hopefully they are food for thought, and more than that, I hope you feel inspired to visit.

I've borrowed this next bit, 'Rules' and 'What to do' from Paolo Viscardi's blog.

The idea of the challenge, a spin off, originally started by@TeacherToolkit to “recognise your most supportive colleagues in asimple blogpost shout-out. Whatever your reason, these 5 educators[museologists] should be your 5 go-to people in times of challenge and critique, or for verification and support“. So here we go.

Rules:

1. You cannot knowingly include someone you work with in real life (ex-colleagues are fine, it’s a small sector and we’d run out of people in no time otherwise).
2. You cannot list somebody that has already been named if you are already aware of them being listed on #TwitteratiChallenge or #MuseumTwitterati (a lot of colleagues have already been nominated so apologies for any unwitting double nominations).
3. Copy and paste the ‘Rules’ and ‘What to do’ information into your own blog post and be sure to cite @TeacherToolkitsince they came up with the idea.

What to do:

1. Within 7 days of being nominated you must write your own blogpost identifying the top-5 museologists that you regularly go to for ideas, support and challenge. Share this on Twitter using the hashtag #MuseumTwitterati and tag them in – they are thus nominated.
2. If you do not have your own blog, write your list by hand or on a computer, take a photo/screenshot and upload it to Twitter, tagging the people mentioned (yes, you can do that) and using the hashtag #MuseumTwitterati – they are thus nominated.

My #MuseumTwitterati

I know that the rules state that you can't nominate people that have already been nominated but I need to break the rules, as these blogs below are the ones I turn to most and would like to publicly acknowledge them, rather than trawl the internet trying to find a blog(ger) not yet been listed.

• Rebecca Herz (@rebeccaherz) - Director of the Peoria PlayHouse Children's Museum, author of Museum Questions blog. Making time to ask and answer questions about museum learning. Rebecca's blog is a great place to read about and question current museum learning theory and practice.
• Cultural Learning Alliance (@CultureLearning) - The Cultural Learning Alliance is an advocate for cultural learning. "A collective voice working to ensure that all children and young people have meaningful access to culture", including museums. I am particularly passionate about their work to keep cultural learning high on the National Curriculum agenda. CLA, run by Sam Cairns and Lizzie Crump, whether they have time for the #MuseumTwitterati or not, I want to acknowledge their work.
• Tincture of museum (@TinctureOfMuse) - Tinc writes Tincture of Museum. I encourage everyone to read this blog whether they are museumy or not. Tinc writes about her experiences in museums and is a powerful voice for 'autism in museums' and volunteering. I love her writing. Her post on the Tower Poppies with her brother made me cry.
• Museum Mum (@vykisparkes) - Vycki writes the blog Museum Mum about taking families to museums, a subject very close to my heart. Check it out for ideas of places to visit, especially if you have young children.
• Jack Shoulder (@jackshoulder) He writes Jack's Adventures in Museum Land about so many museumy things. He seems to tweet and blog about them even before they have happened. I love his wit and imagination. Follow to keep one step ahead of the game with different museum initiatives.

There are many more excellent blogs I could mention. A special mention to Jenny Fuchs who writes Museum Diary and Nina Simon with Museum 2.0.

Thanks for nominating me Sarah Kirkham