This talk will present a look under the hood of some WordPress-powered museum projects. We’ll explore WordPress as a solution to a variety of common problems, including powering websites, digital publications and in-gallery experiences. Our lens will be recent projects for the The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh; The Clyfford Still Museum, Denver; The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History and others.
In addition to taking advantage of an easy-to-use content management system and a strong open-source community, WordPress opens up opportunities to solve perennial museum website problems. We will discuss the development of museum websites’ content strategy and design, informed by analytics and qualitative user research. Additionally, we will demonstrate the ways we’ve solved specific museum and user needs, including designing a system of flexible page templates, solving event calendar challenges, and implementing systems/workflows for managing intellectual property restrictions for collection images. We will also explore how WordPress can be used to power experiences outside of traditional websites, including membership renewal and constituent management, online exhibition catalogues and touchscreen video kiosks.
This session will be led by Marty Spellerberg and Zack Rothauser. Marty is principal at Spellerberg Associates, a consulting practice that offers interactive design, development and communications assistance to artists and museums. He has 19 years experience in interactive design, including 9 years working specifically with museums. Zack is an Austin-based developer with 6 years experience helping companies make technical decisions and building solutions with WordPress and Javascript.