Posts
Ethics
As Nazi objects and fakes enter collectors’ market, should museums show them?
A recent rash of sales of Nazi memorabilia raise questions about dealing in such objects at a time when fascist philosophy is being embraced by populist radicals and demand is fuelling the …
Museopunks Episode 41: Digitization is not neutral
Over the past decade, museums have increasingly shared high-resolution open access images of their collections. Yet there are significant legal and ethical complexities related to digital …
The Top Ten Alliance Blog Posts of 2019
It was a whirlwind year of museums making themselves over for our changing world. Evolving ethics, social and technological transformation, and the looming presence of the bottom line are …
Toxic Philanthropy
We live in a time in which the public is hyper sensitive to the ethics of where money comes from, and where it goes. As I observed in TrendsWatch 2015, nonprofits don’t get a free pass in …
A Modern-Day Fundraising Dilemma
I recently renewed my certification as a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE), which recognizes an individual’s comprehensive understanding of the fundraising profession and their …
“As Native Americans, We Are in a Constant State of Mourning”
In this opinion piece, repatriation scholar Dr. Chip Colwell dismisses claims that returning unethically obtained objects to their original owners is a loss for museums, instead emphasizing …
Museums and AI: Is There a Ghost in the Machine?
What are the ethical implications of AI? What role do museums play in the global conversation about data privacy? How can bias impact AI systems? This post, one of three on the topic of …
Museums and their Observers Debate the Field’s Deaccessioning Ethics
Recent sales of art by institutions like the Berkshire Museum and Baltimore Museum of Art have reignited the debate about when and how museums deaccession collections and to what purposes …
Science Museum under pressure to shun big oil sponsorship
Thirty people, including leading scientists, have signed a letter asking London’s Science Museum to sever its ties with oil companies BP, Shell, and Equinor. “I particularly …
Museums too: what should institutions do when artists are accused of abuse?
This article discusses how some U.S. museums have handled the ethical dilemma of displaying artworks created by artists who have been accused of sexual misconduct. “Listening deeply …
Commerce vs. Curation: Lessons From Today’s Museums World
In this article, the author, Scott Reyburn examines the overlap between the financial operations of museums and their admissions alongside the role of curating permanent and special …
Futurist Friday: Emotional Intelligence
For your Friday future-break, here is a lovely short film by Dennis Sungmin Kim, exploring a future in which artificial intelligence has been supplemented by “artificial …