ROM PhotoDiary

ROM launches Canada’s First Museum Photo Blog

Today the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) launched the ROM PhotoDiary, Canada’s first museum photo blog. The PhotoDiary provides visitors with a behind-the-scenes look at ROM people, exhibitions and events. A new photo, taken by ROM staff representing numerous aspects of the Museum, is posted daily. Online visitors can subscribe via e-mail or RSS feed, comment on photos and view archived images. The ROM PhotoDiary is available in both English and French and can be viewed at www.rom.on.ca/photodiary.

“This is an exciting step forward for the ROM as we continue to expand the scope of our website to encourage more participation and dialogue from our growing community of visitors,” said Brian Porter, Senior Director of New Media at the ROM.

The PhotoDiary is designed to reveal the unseen ROM. Some of the photos to be posted include shots taken during such recent ROM events as the preparations for the massive A World of Possibilities concert preceding the public opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal in June. Other photos include the Lee-Chin Crystal in various stages of completion as well as shots taken during the Run the ROM event where more than 250 participants staged a choreographed run through the ROM’s galleries.

In the future, the ROM plans to introduce special guest photographers and editors, themed weeks and other ways to keep the photo blog consistently interesting and inventive. Over time, the ROM expects to develop a community of PhotoDiary visitors that will access and share photos, leave comments and expand their communication about the ROM through their own websites and blogs.

The ROM website – www.rom.on.ca – is a comprehensive guide to the Museum’s exhibitions and galleries, collections, research, programs and provides essential information for planning a ROM visit. The website also offers a variety of multimedia services including ROM Images, a 6,000-plus database of images from the ROM’s collections, and more than 50 podcasts on topics ranging from the formation of sapphires to body art in ancient Peru. A new feature offers a sneak peek of the James and Louise Temerty Galleries of the Age of Dinosaurs, now being installed in the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, and the Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada, opening October 6, 2007 in the ROM’s historic building. Traffic to the ROM website has increased dramatically since the opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal in June 2007, with more than 300,000 website visits in July of this year, an increase of 72 per cent from July 2006. In total, more than three million visits are expected to the ROM website in 2007.