A museum’s Collections Management System (CMS) is more than just a catalog—it can also serve as a foundation for digital storytelling. By leveraging the rich object data and images already housed in the CMS, museum professionals can experiment with new ways to craft compelling narratives. In this article, Rachael Cristine Woody explores how different types of digital surrogates can bring museum collections to life online.
This is the sixth year of our forecasts for the museum field! An incredible amount of change has occurred in the sector which brings with it new challenges and opportunities.
At the start of 2024, I shared three forecasts for museums regarding digital programs, AI, and burnout in the museum industry. This post recaps the specifics of my forecast and how those areas actually evolved over the course of 2024.
Let’s look at the numbers and consider taking inspiration from what our visitors are most interested in. This demand-driven approach can be incredibly informative and can offer fodder for stories in perpetuity.
Online exhibits lack the constraints that can make it impossible to relate stories in a physical exhibition and can inspire us to share in new ways
Collections online offer multiple benefits for storytelling including greater flexibility and cost effectiveness around budgets and staff time.
Storytelling with online collections is impactful, whether we choose online-only or as part of a hybrid approach to museum exhibitions.
Digitizing museum collections introduces new and engaging opportunities for storytelling. By leveraging digital surrogates—essentially online representations of physical objects—museums can enhance how they present narratives and information to audiences.
Storytelling with museum collections online allows for a great degree of flexibility, offers additional detail, and lends a dynamism that is difficult to produce within a physical exhibition.
Tips to make sure your museum data is good quality; the cleaner it is, the easier to migrate seamlessly from one CMS or spreadsheet to another CMS.
Recap of how three areas helped evolve the museum field in 2022: accessibility, elimination of “entry-level” jobs, and a digital boom.
You’ll successfully move a museum digital project forward if you know how to budget, how to accurately calculate costs, and where to find funding
Covers quality, file format, and metadata (cataloging) standards as the most common standards for museum digital project work.
Challenges museum staff face when engaging in the reparative and post-custodial models of DEI collections development; strategies for success.
Museum digital project planning should include who, what, why, when and how questions; advice for project managers
Museum digital pre-project evaluation is an excellent approach to intentional work—setting you and the collections up for a more successful result.
As museums integrate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives into programs it’s important to apply a DEI lens to collecting practices.
Basics of maintaining digital file integrity and access, tips for how museum staff can protect and preserve museum digital files.
There are three things to consider before making a digitization equipment purchase: fit, time, and budget; tips from a museum expert.
Training is critical to a successful digital project and is where using a consultant can yield a high Return on Investment (ROI).
With CMS selection led by a consultant, decision-makers can feel confident in the chosen tool and more easily agree to the financial investment.
Highlights several digital project types where a museum consultant can be beneficial. Outlines how a consultant can help support museum staff.
Effective teams involving a hybrid of museum staff, interns, and volunteers require established communication patterns, unified training, and respect.
Museums have largely based their success on capitalist models, using for-profit values of power, productivity, and economic metrics of success.
Many disasters are driven by climate change; museums can use their nonpartisan credibility and communications skills to build climate policy consensus.