Medical Museion at the University of Copenhagen is both a research department in medical science studies and a museum with large collections and outreach activities in the form of exhibitions, events and web communication. The research and the public engagement are tied together both through a focus on materiality, an interest in participatory public activities and through an extensive social media dimension (twitter, Facebook, blog etc.) The museum is currently building a DIY biology (or ‘biohacker’) space inviting another form of public science to be part of the museum. The biohacking movement is a citizen science “maker-culture”, where personal engagement in the materiality of the physical objects and processes is central. At the same time it is a global movement, where communication on social media forms a close community. The construction of the biohacker laboratory builds on and sustains the museum’s focus on combining interaction with physical objects and social media activities. This experience led us to ask if a conceptual link can be established between curating material things and being on social media? And whether social media fulfill the democratizing and publicizing ambitions of the hacker movement and the museum or simply become part of the long tail of specialized communities.

This presentation is based on work co-authored by Thomas Söderqvist.