Everyone's 15 minutes of fame online

It’s fun to find yourself online. Many people will “Google” themselves to see whether they have any listings. There’s a vicarious thrill to seeing your name in print and online. Now, with YouTube, you can also see yourself or your organization in video. Here are two examples of videos showing DuPage Children’s Museum:

Larnie Fox, a nationally-known artist, has a kinetic sculpture on display as part of our Wild Wings: Animals in Artland exhibition.



And someone posted visitors dancing to the beat in the sensory room:



This brings up interesting points. For years, museums have dealt with whether they are able to take pictures of people in the museum and use of these images in advertising, brochures, or grant reports. Generally, as a public site, it isn’t required to gain permission. On the other hand, with images of children, it is important for museums to get photography permissions from the parents or guardian. It’s a simple matter of respect for minors and safety. But with the prevalence of image and video on the internet, you can be recognized anywhere. If individuals can take video and post it from a museum, even if the museum isn’t listed, who else can link to it? Who else can identify the site? What if the poster doesn’t want the site listed to keeps some anonymity, but it is recognized and shared in other links?