How can we re-align museum practices to make more of changing technologies? YMT

•

1 like•2,736 views

Technology moves fast, but museums move slowly. This session featured case studies from MOSI and York Museums Trust and group discussions about ways forward in this area. 2 of 2 presentations from this session Session: Workshops

Education

How can we re-align museum
practices to make more of
changing technologies?

- a few micro-case studies from
YMT

Conclusions
• Resource allocation
• Opportunism
• Partnership
• Experimentation - play

Question
“What next steps can we take to improve
our museums’ ability to make the most of
technology for the benefit of our users?”

More from Museums Computer Group

12,000 sheets of paper per week

Museums Computer Group

how online collections could potentially impact the actual art system

Museums Computer Group

Artificial intelligence and machine learning for the analysis and enrichment ...

Museums Computer Group

Balancing enhancement, innovation and invention

Museums Computer Group

The new phygital normal: case studies from India Shalini Bansal (Museums22)

Museums Computer Group

Towards inclusive digital museum innovation: theoretical and practical issues...

Museums Computer Group

Digital is our everyday reality, digital preservation should be too

Museums Computer Group

Cyberattacks: the reality, the trauma, and how to survive. A case study from ...

Museums Computer Group

A shot in the arm for QR Codes in museums

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2022 Closing panel

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2022 Keynote

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis Entertaining audiences in a time of crisis Alix Geddes, One Further This is an ongoing study looking at types of content posted by museums online during the various crises of 2020, specifically humour, and how audiences interacted with it. The study consists of surveying digital communications staff at large and small museums across the UK and takes data directly from their website analytics and social media platforms. With the sudden pandemic and subsequent lockdown, museums were forced to close their doors to the public and focused on using their digital channels to share the objects, themes, and stories within their collections, albeit with different perspectives. Digital content was transformed, with accessing collections from home and children’s activities at the forefront. We also saw attempts to reach online audiences with content that would amuse, entertain, and engage. Early on during the crisis, people participated in the Getty Museum Challenge (recreating artwork with objects from home), and hashtags such as #MuseumFromHome and #CuratorBattles gained traction. What was the impact of this? What types of content did audiences flock to, and in what numbers? What trends and insights can be pulled from the data available?

Entertaining audiences in a time of crisis Alix Geddes, One Further

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis COVID, content strategy & organisational change Georgina Brooke, National Museums Scotland In January 2020 I moved out of my home in Oxford, north of the border to Scotland, to start a new role as Digital Media Content Manager at National Museums Scotland. I’d done Hogmanay and Burns Night, I’d written a new content strategy, which was about to be rolled out across the organisation. I was beginning to feel like I’d got my foot under the door. By 19 March my mood had changed. The museum was closed, all exhibitions indefinitely postponed, my team was going to reduce by 50%, and all my lovely online audiences were very online, very stressed and very vocal. This paper will look at how the Digital Team at National Museums Scotland developed and adapted an effective content strategy through the lockdown period, including: The content formats and storytelling themes that most successfully connected online audiences with our collections and staff Black Lives Matter – convincing Senior Management to react quickly and commit to a step change in our policies on race and representation within the museums What we learnt and how these lessons are now changing our approach to audience engagement as the museum reopen

COVID, content strategy & organisational change Georgina Brooke, National Mus...

Museums Computer Group

Virtual tours and monetisation Paul Fabel, Guided & Nathan Wilson, YourTour

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis Videogames and museums: fields in convergence Amy Hondsmerk, Nottingham Trent University As museums and heritage sites consider the ways in which they can engage visitors in the digital age, a trend expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic, the sector has progressively looked to the videogame industry. Tapping into the ‘experience economy’ (Park and Gilmore 1999), this intersection has allowed museums to explore the role of play in understanding the past. This has taken various forms including collaborations with game companies, utilising existing games to reach gaming communities and broaden audiences, and developing new museum-based games. Yet, while many of these game-related initiatives have been successful, thus far the museum sector has mainly employed video games in a manner that has been limited, with museum games remaining primarily focused on educational or entertainment goals. In the context of changing understanding about interpretation in museums and, specifically, of the recognition of the role of visitors as participants in the interpretative process (Hooper-Greenhill 2000, Staiff 2014), the convergence of museums and videogames is rich area to explore and consider how the sector could realise the full potential of museum video games.

Videogames and museums: fields in convergence Amy Hondsmerk, Nottingham Trent...

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis Inclusive digital practice in post-lockdown society Becki Morris & Sarah Simcoe, Disability Collaborative Network and EMBED As we navigate out of crisis during unprecedented times, the pandemic has highlighted that the time is right to reflect on the key role that digital is playing in reaching diverse communities as we create the ‘new normal’. While the heritage sector has traditionally taken a piecemeal approach to delivering digital services, these challenging times have necessitated the sector need for embracing digital inclusive practice. This ensures the continued delivery of services, attracts new audiences, including those who may have previously faced barriers to the physical environment and includes those who are vulnerable to COVID-19 complications. The pandemic has provided the sector with a unique opportunity to build positive intersectional inclusion through digital practices. At the same time, the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted the issue of colonisation and the importance of greater access to related collections. During this presentation, DCN and EMBED, a cross-sector partnership, will share experiences and key learnings from the lockdown period, what we have done to support the sector and how digital inclusion is core to the sector in creating better, more resilient service, support and participation for audiences and the workforce.

Inclusive digital practice in post-lockdown society Becki Morris & Sarah Simc...

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis With a houseboat and an iPhone (how IWM supported home learning during lock down) John Glancy, Imperial War Museum When the UK’s schools closed in March 2020 the needs of the nation’s learners changed. Education was moved to a different type of classroom one that often involved a kitchen table for a desk and a digital device instead of an exercise book. Learning outputs in the heritage sector had to change too. School audiences couldn’t visit our galleries and objects, so the galleries and objects had to visit them… With a Houseboat and an iPhone will explore how Imperial War Museums conceived and developed its 16-part web series Adventures in History and brought a national collection into people’s homes. It will also explore how the work done on this project is inspiring Imperial War Museums to evolve its ongoing digital learning offer by tackling some of the most difficult stories in its collections such as Empire history. We will also explore the ways we are proposing to use eyewitness testimony to support a recovery curriculum by aiding health and well being outcomes.

With a houseboat and an iPhone (how IWM supported home learning during lock d...

Museums Computer Group

Brave new world – thinking about the future of museums Sharon Heal, Director ...

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis Museums in an Earth crisis – and how digital can help Bridget McKenzie, Climate Museum The multiple crises facing museums and society are all part of the Earth crisis, caused by an extractive and exploitative system. COVID-19 is an outcome of the ecological emergency, and climate breakdown threatens further blows to the relative stability of past decades in which museums have flourished. The Activist Museum Award has allowed us in Climate Museum UK to enquire into the possibilities of non-extractive digital collecting. As part of this, we are exploring extractivism, taking an environmental approach to the challenge of decolonising museums. A new mobile museum, we are reimagining museums for an age of crisis. This lightning talk will summarise our findings of how digital collections might power activism to tackle the big challenges of social and environmental justice. What are the possibilities for museums to collaborate to create an accessible UK-wide digital collection that gives a climate and ecology lens to cultural artefacts? What is the appetite for a commons-based resource that opens up to democratic interpretation, and that enables its users to learn about the Earth crisis, to express views, to design solutions and to take action?

Museums in an Earth crisis – and how digital can help Bridget McKenzie, Clima...

Museums Computer Group

Museums+Tech 2020: Museums in a crisis SDDC virtual visits pre and post COVID-19: what’s changed? Emilie Carruthers, British Museum The Samsung Digital Discovery Centre offers free live workshops to schools delivered through video conferencing technology, and has done for many years. This puts us in a unique position to compare how the programme and its audience has evolved since COVID-19: how have student and teacher’s expectations changed, are teachers now more comfortable booking virtual experiences for their classes and how has the programme evolved to align with audience expectations? We’ll use the most recent data from the schools Autumn term 2020 to explore these questions and think about how the demand for online live experiences in classrooms might evolve in future.

SDDC virtual visits pre and post COVID-19: what’s changed? Emilie Carruthers,...

Museums Computer Group

More from Museums Computer Group (20)