Are we talking about the same thing?

Step one in looking at civic engagement in museums - define civic engagement.

I dislike buzzwords. Strongly. So, when a word like civic engagement gets tossed around, I want to understand what it really means. And honestly, I'm not sure I do. Seems like for some museums, civic engagement is holding forums and talking about issues and current events. For others, its providing needed services, or serving as a liaison between community and social agencies. For others, its teaching about and celebrating diversity.

Which is making finding children's museums with a visible dedication to civic engagement pretty darn hard.

So, for now - reviewing the AAM work on civic engagement from 2002, along with Margaret Kadoyama's work and some other texts. Really need to hash this out before I start choosing my focus.