Who belongs to ExhibitFiles? About 1,600 people from around the world have joined the site since its April 2007 opening – including our newest members, from the Chicago area and Kuala Lumpur, who joined in the last week.

When we asked earlier this year, most ExhibitFiles members said they were experienced (54.7%) or senior (25.0%) professionals. Another 14.7% considered themselves “entry level,” and some (4.7%) were students. (Fewer than one percent called themselves “retired.”) Members are involved with exhibitions in a wide variety of ways. Most listed as their primary responsibility exhibition development (33.5%) or exhibition management (13.0%), but we also have members who work primarily in new media, visitor studies, and fabrication and maintenance. (See right.)

Science centers and museums are the type of organization or context in which the largest single group of members work. That’s not surprising, because the site was started by ASTC with funding from the National Science Foundation. But from the beginning, the site has been open to everyone in the museum exhibition community, including independent firms and consultants, the next largest group (17.2%). (See left.)

These findings are based on a study carried out earlier this year by Carey Tisdal of Tisdal Consulting, St. Louis, Missouri. Methods included a February 2010 survey of ExhibitFiles members (N=286, a response rate of 22.2%); in-depth interviews with users with high, medium, and low levels of participation (N=15); and analysis of the ExhibitFiles member database. We’ll be reporting more findings in future posts – and letting you know more about the changes we’re making in response.