Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum is trying to engage visitors online with its newly launched ROM PhotoDiary. ROM staff will post new photos daily, giving behind-the-scenes looks at people, exhibitions and events. Online users can subscribe via e-mail or RSS feed, comment on photos and view archived images or share ROM content.

ROM senior director of new media Brian Porter calls the new site an effort to ‘encourage more participation and dialogue from our growing community of visitors.’ Traffic on the ROM’s own website, www.rom.on.ca, has jumped dramatically since the opening of the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal in June, with about 300,000 visits in July (up 72% from the previous year). The site is expected to get over three million hits in 2007.

Guest photographers, editors and themed weeks will be used to keep the site inventive on an ongoing basis.