We Tube: Getting physical with a virtual community through a YouTube Meetup 
Kevin von Appen, Ontario Science Centre, Canada
Kathy Nicholaichuk, Ontario Science Centre, Canada
Karen Hager, Ontario Science Centre, Canada
http://ca.youtube.com/888torontomeetup
An increasingly broad cross-section of museums have created channels on YouTube, posting videos that range from marketing messages to educational content to special events and the creations of museum visitors themselves. The Science Centre began a pilot project of creating and posting science communication videos to YouTube in October, 2006. It now has 18 separate channels on YouTube alone and more than 1300 subscribers. But we have a nagging question: how can on-line video spark physical visits and deeper engagements at, and with, our science centre? YouTube itself suggested an answer in the spontaneous emergence of large-scale in-person gatherings of site users called meetups in 2007. We decided to host the 2008 Meetup at the Toronto Science Centre. This paper explores what we observed at the event, analyzes the video content produced by participants and its potential impact on the Science Centre’s profile and mission, and suggests opportunities for collaboration between a network of museums and their YouTube audiences through a next generation of meetups.
Session: Museum Content on Other Platforms [Institutional]
Keywords: video, You Tube, communities, Web 2.0, education, marketing, meetup
