Open Forum

Hello,

I am writing a chapter in my dissertation on audience development and would like to know if anyone has a come across in the literature, or perhaps themselves written a good definition of engagement.

Thank you,

Seph

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Seph Rodney
Communications Manager
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Hi Seph,
You may find this report useful - 
Going APE!at the ExploratoriumInterim Summative Evaluation ReportApril 2004 Lynn

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Lynn Baum
Principal
Turtle Peak Consulting
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2015 11:49 AM
From: Seph Rodney
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hello,

I am writing a chapter in my dissertation on audience development and would like to know if anyone has a come across in the literature, or perhaps themselves written a good definition of engagement.

Thank you,

Seph

-------------------------------------------
Seph Rodney
Communications Manager
-------------------------------------------

I was interested as well, and found the report on the Exploratorium's website. Thought I would share the link for others:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/vre/pdf/APE_Summative_Phase_1.pdf


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Michelle Moon
Assistant Director for Adult Programs
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-16-2015 07:43 AM
From: Lynn Baum
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hi Seph,
You may find this report useful - 
Going APE!at the ExploratoriumInterim Summative Evaluation ReportApril 2004

Carey Tisdal
with Deborah L. Perry, Ph.D.  Selinda Research Associates, Inc. Chicago, IL 

They describe engagement in four different ways and use them as a means to assess impact of exhibits.
I am attempting to attach the report for you, but in case it does not go through you have the necessary information.

Lynn

-------------------------------------------
Lynn Baum
Principal
Turtle Peak Consulting
-------------------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2015 11:49 AM
From: Seph Rodney
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hello,

I am writing a chapter in my dissertation on audience development and would like to know if anyone has a come across in the literature, or perhaps themselves written a good definition of engagement.

Thank you,

Seph

-------------------------------------------
Seph Rodney
Communications Manager
-------------------------------------------

Your question engaged my interest enough to offer a working definition or thoughts on engagement.  Engagement in common usage at the Morris Arboretum  refers to capturing the interest of our visitors or program participants to the extent that they value our mutual interaction enough, first, to continue it, and second to expand, share or deepen the interaction with our institution or mission ("...connecting people, plants and place.").  Engagement is often measured, or said to be measured, using metrics such as giving and membership levels, program participation, volunteer activity or media hits.  Less easy to measure are changes in social behavior and life style choices based on knowledge and experiences we make available (our reason for being), however there are abundant stories in this regard.  Of recent interest is the potential of social media in mission engagement as it relates to mission assimilation into our society and culture and beyond what is typically measurable as our institutional audience. 

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Robert Gutowski
Director of Public Programs
Morris Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia PA
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-17-2015 09:58 AM
From: Michelle Moon
Subject: Engagement: A definition please


I was interested as well, and found the report on the Exploratorium's website. Thought I would share the link for others:
http://www.exploratorium.edu/vre/pdf/APE_Summative_Phase_1.pdf


-------------------------------------------
Michelle Moon
Assistant Director for Adult Programs
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem MA
-------------------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 02-16-2015 07:43 AM
From: Lynn Baum
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hi Seph,
You may find this report useful - 
Going APE!at the ExploratoriumInterim Summative Evaluation ReportApril 2004

Carey Tisdal
with Deborah L. Perry, Ph.D.  Selinda Research Associates, Inc. Chicago, IL 

They describe engagement in four different ways and use them as a means to assess impact of exhibits.
I am attempting to attach the report for you, but in case it does not go through you have the necessary information.

Lynn

-------------------------------------------
Lynn Baum
Principal
Turtle Peak Consulting
-------------------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2015 11:49 AM
From: Seph Rodney
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hello,

I am writing a chapter in my dissertation on audience development and would like to know if anyone has a come across in the literature, or perhaps themselves written a good definition of engagement.

Thank you,

Seph

-------------------------------------------
Seph Rodney
Communications Manager
-------------------------------------------

You might also want to check out my book What Makes Learning Fun?  In Chapter 3 I define engagement in a little more detail than is in the APE report mentioned previously, and also put it in the larger context of the museum visit, including outcomes and motivations.

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Deborah Perry PhD
Director
Selinda Research Associates
Chicago IL
-------------------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2015 11:49 AM
From: Seph Rodney
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hello,

I am writing a chapter in my dissertation on audience development and would like to know if anyone has a come across in the literature, or perhaps themselves written a good definition of engagement.

Thank you,

Seph

-------------------------------------------
Seph Rodney
Communications Manager
-------------------------------------------

Always happy to help a dissertation writer...

The Exploratorium's report uses "engagement" in a very restrictive and strongly behaviorist way. That may have been what they needed to suit their purposes, but it certainly does not reflect the range of how the term might be used. For example, for me, "engagement" serves to describe one of three principal "domains" or concerns of museums -- the others being "materiality," and "representation." "Engagement" in this broad sense pertains to the many reciprocal relationships that can be recognized between the institution and people - individuals or groups - who have an interest in what the museum does. (I discuss this in greater detail in an article: "Re-Configuring Museums" Museum Management and Curatorship 2005, vol 20 (2):103-130.)

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Peter Welsh
Professor & Director of Museum Studies
University of Kansas, Museum Studies Program
Lawrence KS
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2015 11:49 AM
From: Seph Rodney
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hello,

I am writing a chapter in my dissertation on audience development and would like to know if anyone has a come across in the literature, or perhaps themselves written a good definition of engagement.

Thank you,

Seph

-------------------------------------------
Seph Rodney
Communications Manager
-------------------------------------------

Here is a different kind of definition of a museum engagement that allows for the very wide kinds of outcomes and that can be counted through operating data:

• äEffort is measured by the number of person trips or site visits[1] to a museum-sponsored location to engage in one or more museum activities, each of which is a museum engagement. This umbrella definition collects a museum's many potential kinds of activities - gallery attendance, lecture series attendance, volunteer hours, board meetings, interactions with partners, in-kind services, outreach participants, etc. - into one number across all the museum's activities. Annual engagements are an indicator of the effort the museum's beneficiaries are willing to make in return for the personal, private and public values they receive.

Engagements can be face-to-face or physical, both on-site at a museum facility, and off-site, or virtual. Virtual engagements are not yet included in most reporting of attendance.

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John Jacobsen
CEO
White Oak
Marblehead MA
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-14-2015 11:49 AM
From: Seph Rodney
Subject: Engagement: A definition please

Hello,

I am writing a chapter in my dissertation on audience development and would like to know if anyone has a come across in the literature, or perhaps themselves written a good definition of engagement.

Thank you,

Seph

-------------------------------------------
Seph Rodney
Communications Manager
-------------------------------------------