Social media is identified as a means for informal learning in museums

• In Event: Poster session III
  In Poster Session: Poster session 3

Proposal

Learning in the 21st century has been challenged by innovative technologies and unstructured settings (e.g. out of school, outdoors). Nowadays, individuals can access overwhelming amount of information without leaving the house or going anywhere. With the basic computer and the Internet, information, ranging from local to international, history to current news, astronomy to geography, are within our grasp in seconds. However, while information is disseminated, shared, and distributed faster and easier than ever before, how individuals benefit from the virtues of using advanced tools is important.

Museums are places where learning happens (Kelly, 2002). Since many museum identify education as their core mission, museums have provided many educational programs to inform their visitors. With the advancement of technology and social change, museums face an opportunity and a challenge to provide adult and lifelong learners an environment for developing communities of interest, engagement and learners’ identity within and beyond museum walls (Falk & Dierking, 2000; Lahav, 2004; Kelly, 2010; 2011). As a result, museums take a visitor-centered approach to develop digital resources for museum visitors online and in-house (Marty, 2008).

The purpose of this netnography study is to examine in what ways museum Facebook users interact with each other and whether users generate learning experiences through interacting online. Through doing ethnographic research online (Kozinets, 2010), this qualitative approach provides a method for researching online communities and cultures. Based on the rich data presented by Facebook, quantitative data can be collected to measure and identify user characteristics, user behaviors and sorts of Facebook postings. However, the intangible and human side of data (Mack, Woodsong, MacQueen, Namey & Guest, 2005) in terms of strategies, engagement and interactions encouraged through Facebook can be collected from qualitative methods. For example, findings from Facebook Walls can be categorized to identify emerging themes for interpretation. This comparative study will examine Facebook as a social tool to be approached between museum professionals and museum lifelong learners.

This study will investigate the phenomenon of learning in the museum of USA and Taiwan. The purpose is to find the similarities and differences of how museum visitors engage in learning in two culturally different museums. Museum Facebook data will be accessed directly to generate and analyze findings. Each museum’s Facebook pages will be visited on a daily basis to observe data posted on museum “Walls”. As a result, museum practices of utilizing Facebook in different countries are compared to inform museum practitioners, educators and researchers of the changing need in the new era of learning.

Museums are participatory spaces where learning activities are voluntary and self-guided (Falk & Dierking, 2000). Understanding the current practices of museum Facebook pages can help to identify the experiences and contributions of online users. The expected outcome is to better understand online users' experiences and further provide suggestions for museum professionals to support learning environments with innovative tools such as social media.

Author

• Pei-Wei Lee, Penn State University