Ethical issues of social media in museums: a case study

Abstract

The emerging media landscape of the early twenty-first century is motivating the professionalization of ‘social media’ in museum work. Through a case study of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, this article explores the ethics of this work by considering how social media is both in tension and synergy with modern museum practice. The ethical questions raised about transparency, censorship, respect for constituencies, preservation, and privacy are not exactly new, but are asked in a different realm of publicness and persistence than that of physical museum space. It concludes with the admonition for museums to train their employees to understand the nature of the social media landscape in order to judiciously assess its limitations and opportunities.

Keywords:

• ethics
• museum ethics
• social media
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acknowledgements

This article evolved from a conference paper delivered on November 14, 2009, at Seton Hall University's Institute of Museum Ethics’ graduate student conference, ‘New Directions in Museum Ethics: An International Conference of Graduate Student Research.’ The author is grateful to the conference organizers, editors of this issue and peer reviewers for their feedback. I also thank David Klevan and Lorna Miles of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, as well as former employee Christopher Testa, for their support to this publication.

Notes

1. The assertions, opinions, and conclusions in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.