015: Professional Identity

What does it mean to be a museum professional with an active online presence? How does blogging, Twitter, and other forms of social media communication give shape to a professional identity in the digital age? In this episode, the Punks talk to Nina Simon, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, prolific blogger, and author of the book The Participatory Museum, and Ed Rodley, Associate Director of Integrated Media at Peabody Essex Museum and author of Thinking About Museums, about the impact that an active online and social media presence can have on museum work broadly, and on professional identity. What does it mean to “grow up professionally” in the public eye, or to enter into an online discourse with an already-established professional identity? How does the kind of professional discourse that social media makes possible give shape to new ways of thinking and perceiving museum work? And what are the long-term ramifications of living a professional life online for all to see?