What is White Oak?

White Oak Associates, Inc. is a nationally prominent planner and producer of museums, science centers, children’s museums and special format theaters. Our mission is to work collaboratively with others to create sustainable institutions and compelling learning experiences that address significant visitor and community needs.

The White Oak Institute is a non-profit formed by the owners/principals of White Oak Associates, and it benefits from WOA’s resources and 39 years of service to the museum field.

The mission of the White Oak Institute is to further innovation in the museum field through research, analysis, and dissemination of data-based findings drawn from museum operations.

For more information and to see samples of White Oak Institute’s recent research findings and reports see

Current White Oak Institute initiatives include:

• Key Indicators and Ratios Benchmarking Calculator (Project led by the Association of Children’s Museums with support from The White Oak Institute). Funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Completed December, 2012
• Digital Immersive Giant Screen Specifications (DIGSS) and Digital Immersive Screen Colloquium for Unified Standards and Specifications (DISCUSS) (with the GSCA, Institute for Learning Innovation, the LF Examiner and the MacGillivray Freeman Films Educational Foundation). Funded by the National Science Foundation. Completed March, 2012.
• The Museum Operating Data Standards (MODS) Initiative, in partnership with the American Association of Museums (AAM) (in progress)
• Recommended Data Collection Fields for Museums Count: The IMLS National Museum Census. The Institute of Museum and Library Services selected WOI and our sub-contractor AAM in a national RFP. (completed, March 2011)
• The Museum Landscape Exploration Initiative (MLExI): An as yet unfunded initiative to advance knowledge about the ISE museum sector as a national generator of public impact and value.
• ISE Museum Indicators of Impact and Performance Indicators (MIIP). An as yet unfunded initiative to explore developing an integrated and shareable menu of indicators for measuring a museum’s impact, operations and performance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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