Jim Richardson – Wednesday 1 January 2025

Museum Next

I am not one for prediction content. They rarely are insightful – especially these days. That said, this piece by Jim Richardson about trends transforming museums did pique my interest. Richardson looks at five “big trends rewriting the museum playbook”:

1. Hyperlocal Community Hubs – In uncertain times, people look locally for connection and museums can lean into their role as community hubs through programming that responds to uncertainty.
2. Interactive Creativity Playgrounds – Interactivity in the museum prompts creative engagement, making museums spaces for active participation and self expression, not just browsing artefacts.
3. Combatting Loneliness with Engaging Programmes – Socially-focuses programming by museums can give people the affordable IRLNetspeak for In real life. Learn more  → experiences for socialising and learning together they are looking for.
4. Planetary and Personal Wellness Ecosystems – Propelled by people’s concern for personal and planetary well‐being, museums need to cleverly combine physical health, mental wellness and eco‐friendly practices into business as usual.
5. Bridging the Digital-Physical Divide – The desire for IRLNetspeak for In real life. Learn more  → should not undermine digital offers. A museum’s engagement strategy should integrate on-site and online to keep the experience going.

I don’t disagree with these trends, but there are significant challenges for Australian museums. Some significant mindset shifts are needed. ‘Belonging’ needs to break out of the CRM; it is more than an annual membership renewal request or donation ask! Likewise, many museums struggle to think of themselves in a hyperlocal context. The stigma of ‘local’ in a museum context meaning small, volunteer-run local history museums that only open for a few hours on weekends will need to be dismantled. And balancing budgets as you try to incorporate inclusion, immersion and engaging online experiences will continue to give museum administrators grief.

Ria Andriani – Thursday 2 January 2025

ABC News and ABC Classic, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Naturally ABC Classic would be interested in the discovery of new music by classic composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Frédéric Chopin, but there’s another side to this story that interests me; the importance of libraries and archives in preserving history and culture. In September last year, Leipziger Städtische Bibliotheken (City of Leipzig municipal libraries) announced that an unknown set of serenades by Mozart were discovered in their collection of his works. Not long after, The New York Times reported the discovery of a lost waltz by Chopin found in the Morgan Library and Museum collection. Not to downplay the excitement for classical music lovers of these discoveries, but what they also represent is why we need to properly resource libraries, archives and cultural heritage institutions. In these cases, it was libraries that ensured these culturally important works did not become the casualty of loss, destruction or neglect. Importantly, we often can’t know the significance of collections items when they join a collection. Their noteworthiness may not be fully realised until years later.

Also worth reading on this topic:

‘We didn’t know’ – the young musicians chosen for secret premiere of lost Mozart work

Abby Jones – Sunday 27 October 2024

Classic FM

A cute article about the three musicians from the Leipzig Youth Symphony Orchestral who didn’t know they were playing the new Mozart work until a few days before the performance.

Following Mozart Composition Unearthing, A Previously Unheard Chopin Work Has Been Found

Thursday 3 October 2024

Stereogum

Another article about the discoveries on music blog Stereogum.

Kathryn Diss – Friday 3 January 2025

AM, ABC Radio National, Australian Broadcasting Corporation

I was listening to an AM segment (it still counts as a reading because you can read the transcript on the web page!) from Radio National about Musk’s political movement. Fresh off the success of a Trump re-election, Musk is again flexing political muscle in the UK, calling for the release of far-right activist far-right agitator Tommy Robinson and reportedly committing up to $160 million to right-wing party, Reform UK. While Musk’s outspoken political views are messy and unpredictable at times, his support of conservative political agendas is shining through.

Musk has also taken aim at the Wikimedia Foundation again, criticising its spending on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, discouraging people from donating to ‘Wokepedia’ and renewing prior calls for ‘balance to [Wikipedia] editing’. In my opinion, Musk’s dislike of Wikipedia actually stems from the fact it is a widely used information source that Musk can’t easily influence and it leans a different direction to Musk.

Also worth reading on this topic:

How do you solve a problem like Elon Musk?

Emilio Casalicchio, James Angelos, Eliza Gkritsi and Joshua Berlinger – Friday 3 January 2025

POLITICO

A deep-dive into Musk’s political meddling in Europe and how his unpredictability and outspokenness poses a challenge for European governments.

Lauren Feiner – Friday 3 January 2025

The Verge

The political situation around net neutrality in the US is complicated, made worse by the fact that it is a political football. Political appointments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) have seen net neutrality rules passed and removed and reinstated. While they were likely to be targeted during the second Trump administration, it looks like that won’t be necessary since the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has ruled that the FCC does not have the authority to impose net neutrality rules on internet service providers (ISPs). There’s some technical legal reasoning behind the decision which I won’t get into, but the result is that net neutrality is likely dead in the US, at least during the second Trump administration.

Also worth reading on this topic:

Court strikes down US net neutrality rules

Natalie Sherman – Friday 3 January 2025

BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation

Other coverage of the Court of Appeals decision.

Nick Clegg – Thursday 2 January 2025

Speaking of Trump’s second term, Meta is readying itself by replacing its President of Global Affairs, the former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Liberal Democrats politician Nick Clegg, with Joel Kaplan, Republican and former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy under George W. Bush. Former Republican Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin will replace Kaplan as Vice President of Global Policy. As Clegg says, “Kaplan’s appointment signals Meta’s intent to strengthen its relationships with conservative policymakers.”