Seven things: Shelley Bernstein

1. Who are you?
I’m a thinker who believes people and community can change everything…if we listen.

2. What do you do?
I work at the Brooklyn Museum on projects that explore the intersection of public participation and digital.  We’re often developing projects that use crowdsourcing as a means to learn more and we aim for deep participation among our visitors with the hope they will own projects as much as we do.

3. How did you end up here?
I have a love of art, so working at a museum gives me inspiration every day.

4. What current issue(s) is/are most important to you right now?
Meaningful interaction with the people we serve.

5. Tell us more about your talk at Webstock – why should folks come listen?
I’m going to talk a lot about change.  It’s not an easy thing any project that we work on, but it’s fundamental to getting things right.   I’ll profile three former projects and the big lessons we learned from them. Those lessons are driving our current initiative, ASK Brooklyn Museum, and we’re building ASK in a way that allows for great change as we run up to our launch in June.

6. Who are your greatest influences?
My girlfriend, Sasha, and my dog, Teddy; both remind me of the value of staying present and mindful every single day.

7. Tell us three things you love (eg movies, albums, songs, poems, artefacts) and why.
I love where I live in Red Hook, Brooklyn, because it’s a community and that’s rare in a city this large.  I adore the open sky owing to my Texan heritage.  I love vintage things because they speak volumes about time and place.

Shelley will be presenting at Webstock on Thursday 19th Feb at 2.30. Details here