museums and a tech-savvy public will find the wiki format familiar and attractive. It may

soon become easier to gain meaningful contributions from older generations as well,

especially as Web 2.0 software becomes increasingly user-friendly. Currently, wikis are

used by museum professionals to connect multiple institutions or facilitate

interdepartmental projects.1

       However, there is an emerging trend in building wikis to invite community-

contributed heritage content.2 For example, Now & Then,3 an Australian heritage wiki

produced by the Mallala Museum, was recently launched in September 2009. Now &

Then invites community members to submit photos and stories of objects they view as

important to Mallala's community heritage.

       Using wikis for museum collaboration is a strategy consistent with the changing

role of the museum in society, and leads to improved cultural understanding. It is also

important to consider the institutional implications for museums that embrace

participatory projects and the wiki's intersection with the museum's changing role.

These issues that my project raises are currently gaining momentum in the museum

field today. The Fall 2009 issue of the AAM exhibits journal, The Exhibitionist, focuses

its content entirely on "Visitor-Generated Content and Design." In this issue, Daniel

Spock revisits some of the questions raised nearly a decade ago by Stephen Weil.4

Spock (2009, 10) extends Weil's arguments for civic engagement, and proposes that


1 One example is www.museums.wikia.com
2 MN150 is a recent example of this contributory trend
http://discovery.mnhs.org/MN1 50/index.php?title=Main_Page
3 This heritage wiki Now & Then can be viewed at
http://mallala.nowandthen.net.au/index.php?title=Main_Page
4 Weil, Stephen."From Being about Something to Being for Somebody. "Daedalus 128 (1999):3.