Long reads

Not thought pieces. But more-thoughtful-than-usual pieces.

Museums, media and public trust: National Digital Forum opening (February 2022) looking at recent(ish) research on trust in museums

Adventure and Responsibility (March 2021) an interview about my career and leadership journey with Kimberley Stephenson for the Journal of the Australasian Registrars Committee 

Mentoring suggestions: helpful resources for people managing (and being human in the workplace)(May 2020) a list of resources I was finding really helpful in the opening months of the pandemic, and as a new chief executive

 
The joy and weight of responsibility in our working lives (June 2019) A talk given at the amazing Webstock conference about the social impacts of the decisions we make in our working lives, through the lens of museums and specifically looking at changing perceptions of individual patronage, commercial sponsorship, and safe spaces

On safe spaces: Public Galleries Summit, Sydney (March 2018) A short talk on the museums' changing relationships to the idea of safe spaces

Cultural institutions and the social compact (June 2016) An essay for the first issue of Tauhere | Connections, on data collection and museums.

WCMT Acquittal: Visitor Experience in American Art Museums (June 2016) My full report on  my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust-funded visit to art museums in seven American states in late 2015, focusing on digital innovation, membership programmes, open storage and visitor experience design.

WCMT Draft Acquittal: Visitor Experience (May 2016) A draft of the section on visitor experience design from my research report on my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust-funded visit to art museums in seven American states.

WCMT Draft Acquittal: Digital Innovation (May 2016) A draft of the section on digital innovation from my research report on my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust-funded visit to art museums in seven American states.

On exposing the archive, and being held static in time (April 2016) Thoughts about preserving memories and objects for future access based on the Four Waves of Feminism event at The Dowse.

How to network, in five easy steps (April 2016)  Extracted from my keynote for the Emerging Museum Professionals group at the Museums Aotearoa conference.

The engagement era - and the artist's place within it (February 2016) Thoughts on those ubiquitous words 'engagement' and 'experience' and the way museums have changed their focus over the past 70 years or so.

Who owns culture - Thoughts provoked by Tiffany Jenkins (February 2016) A long response that opposes to the author's position on repatriation from museum collections and involvement of source communities in the care and presentation of their taonga

WCMT Acquittal Draft: Museum membership programmes (January 2016) A draft of the section on membership programmes from my research report on my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust-funded visit to art museums in seven American states

WCMT Acquittal Draft: Visible Storage (January 2015) A draft of the section on visible storage from my research report on my Winston Churchill Memorial Trust-funded visit to art museums in seven American states

'On stars, and thinking things through'  (January 2015) Musings on Matt Webb's 5point9billion Twitter bot, and what it means to look up to someone online

'Cultural organisations and the social compact' (November 2015) Talk notes for the National and State Libraries of Australasia's conference on digital citizenship 

Talk notes for Museums & The Web Asia and the National Digital Forum (October 2015) Looking at digital outreach and visitor experience in American art museums, following on from my Winston Churchill fellowship research trip

Museums and social work: a year of changing thinking (May 2014) Based on a talk given for the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

Creating value and production chains: frameworks for decision making (May 2014) On Tim O'Reilly's 'create more value than you capture' and thinking about a museum's place in the cultural production line

Has the internet killed photography: A talk on Ben Cauchi (February 2013) On photography, nostalgia, and sharing

Exploring the words I use (January 2013) A year of researching the meaning of oft-used phrases

Going back to gallery land: A presentation at NDF 2012 (December 2012) On leaving a web agency, and going to run a museum

A poem, three photographs, and another poem (November 2012, complements the above NDF presentation)

Goodbye to all that (October 2012) What I loved about working in a web agency - especially the language

A Saturday afternoon with Michael Parekowhai's On first looking into Chapman's Homer (September 2012) On of the most important art experiences of my life

Adventures in scent (July 2012) I really like perfume

Dear Competent (April 2012) A love letter to an undervalued quality

It's the ludo-narrative, stupid: Books by Pippin Barr and Tom Bissell (February 2012) On games and gaming

A year in perfume (December 2011) Like I said, I really like perfume

Opening remarks for National Digital Forum 2011 (November 2011) On Melvyn Bragg's line that 'technology has released us into history'

Silent listening: Janet Cardiff's The Forty-Part Motet (March 2010) On experiencing one of the most beautiful works of contemporary art I know