
Nina Simon
What I do, where I work
I’m an independent person working on exhibits and museum experiences that relate to visitor participation (as co-creators or highly enabled users) and gaming. I maintain Museum 2.0, a blog about ways that museums can integrate social networks, user-focused design, and etc. into our institutions. I work with museums on experimental exhibit processes and new ways of thinking about content sharing and technology.
Positions
scary radar earth science electrical engineering thingy at NASA
Curator at The Tech Museum of Innovation
Experience Development Specialist at International Spy Museum
all-around deck hand at Acton Science Discovery Museum
educational stuff at Boston Museum of Science
Website(s)
More about me
I’m interested in projects that are racy, challenging, and dynamic. There’s a constant struggle in my head between the benefits of highly designed, immersive, narrative experiences and those of user-focused, open-ended ones. My 5-year dream is to start a small museum/bar that can serve as an experimental launching pad for participatory exhibits and for museum folks to play with innovation and see how possible it can be in their own institutions.
I also live in the mountains off the grid and love building treehouses.
Recent publications & presentations
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"Is Museum a Four Letter Word?." Museum
January 2008
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"Discourse in the Blogosphere: What Museums Can Learn from Web 2.0." Museums and Social Issues
Fall 2007
Case Studies

Advice: Give it, Get it, Flip it...
by Nina Simon
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Published June 16 2009

The Tech Virtual Test Zone
by Nina Simon
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Published June 26 2008

Reflexive Architecture (in Secon...
by Nina Simon
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Published February 16 2008
Reviews

The Power of Children
by Nina Simon
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Published May 12 2009

The Psychedelic Experience
by Nina Simon
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Published April 13 2009

Rotten Luck: The Decaying Dice o...
by Nina Simon
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Published April 26 2007
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Quick Hit: Five Evaluation Reports on Participatory Projects
February 04, 2010
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A Simple Technique for Writing Better Visitor Response Questions
February 02, 2010
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A Revised Theory of Social Participation via "Me-to-We" Design
January 25, 2010
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A Poetic Take on Social Objects: The Third Thing
January 21, 2010
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Who Am I? Internal vs. External Role-Playing in Museums
January 14, 2010
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Dear Jack, Dear Snoopy: Using Letter-Writing for Visitor Response
January 11, 2010
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Is Wikipedia Loves Art Getting "Better"?
January 05, 2010
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What Could Kill an Elegant, High-Value Participatory Project?
December 29, 2009
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Be Explicit if You Want Visitors to Work Together
December 21, 2009
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Six Steps to Making Risky Projects Possible
December 14, 2009
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Guest Post: The Denver Community Museum
December 06, 2009
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Guest Post: Top 40 Countdown at the Worcester City Museum
November 30, 2009
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Preservation in Action: Ambition and Excitement at Zealandia
November 25, 2009
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Museums, Church, and Doable Evangelism
November 18, 2009
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Quick Hit: Meet Me Down Under
November 16, 2009
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ASTC Recap: Questions, Colors, and Reflective Research
November 10, 2009



















