3 Strategies for Museum Digital Project Sustainability
Sustainability is a practice; improves work life balance, alleviates chronic stress, ensures work you perform receives the best of your attention.
Project Management for Museum Digital Projects
Implementing project management principles and tools saves museum staff time, keeps projects on budget and on time, and helps avoid costly mistakes
Strategies to Effectively Work with Museum Staff, Interns, and Volunteers
Effective teams involving a hybrid of museum staff, interns, and volunteers require established communication patterns, unified training, and respect.
How to Ethically Build Museum Intern and Volunteer Opportunities
Museums are steadily transitioning from exploitative labor practices to more ethical labor practices; this should apply to interns and volunteers
How to Ethically Adapt Museum Staff Capacity for Digital Projects
It’s easy for museums to create term or contract positions to increase capacity but with minimal compensation; but it’s ethical to avoid exploitation
Museum Digital Project Roles for Staff, Volunteers, and Interns
Museum digital projects are inherently complex and require an understanding of the technology involved. Staff, volunteers, and interns all play a role.
Museum TrendsWatch: Right-Sizing the World
Museums have largely based their success on capitalist models, using for-profit values of power, productivity, and economic metrics of success.
Museum TrendsWatch: Emergency Response in the Face of Disaster
Many disasters are driven by climate change; museums can use their nonpartisan credibility and communications skills to build climate policy consensus.
Museum TrendsWatch: Mental Health for All
Mental health for both museum staff and the external museum community is important; museums can be good for our mental and physical health.
Museum TrendsWatch: Livable Communities for Our Elders
Analysis of some of society’s broader physical infrastructure issues that keep seniors from fully participating in the museum world.
Museum TrendsWatch: Education for Our Children
Museums offer innovative educational experiences. The pandemic provided an opportunity for museums to fill a gap in educational programming;
Myth #5: If it’s Digital, Toss the Original
Digitization is not a reason for disposal of the original, especially in archives. Digitization is a preservation tool, not a replacement tool.
Myth #4: Digital = Permanent
When creating digital preservation policies, consider the file types used, where and how files are saved, and how they may be accessed in the future.
Myth #3: It’s too Hard to Digitize Museum Collections
It’s a myth that digitizing museum collections is too expensive, slow, or hard from a technical perspective. Provides context and ideas.
Myth #2: It’s Easy to Digitize Museum Collections
Museum collection digitization is not cheap, not fast, not technically easy. Museum professionals should educate stakeholders about this myth.
Myth #1: You Should Digitize All the (Museum) Things!
There are five museum digitization myths, and it’s time to dispel them. The first myth is that we can or should digitize the entire museum collection
How to Calculate an Appropriately Sized Funding Request
The budget is key to a grant application; it’s the last check to ensure everything is correct and your budget request aligns with the project scope.
How to Construct a Fundable Museum Digital Project
Overview of seven core areas to focus on in grant applications and how to construct a museum digital project to gain a competitive advantage in each.
Who Funds Museum Digital Projects?
Museum funders want to support the most interesting aspects of museum work, but there are grants for foundational projects, especially digital ones
An Interview with Arc/k Project’s Brian Pope: Citizen-Science & CHE
Interview with founder and director of Arc/k Project, Brian Pope, about the benefits and pitfalls of citizen-science and digital CHE
Building a Blueprint for Future Digital Projects
To help with planning digital projects, create a blueprint for where/how each pending project will fit in; elements of blueprint for success
How to Choose Your Next Digital Project Idea
The scope of your museum digital project will be influenced by the priorities of the museum, the needs of the collections, and the resources available
The Most Common Museum Digital Project Types
The scope of any museum digital project is influenced by the priorities of the museum, the needs of the collections, and the resources available
How to Identify Museum Digital Project Ideas
Museum staff must find ways to prioritize and protect uninterrupted thinking time to generate compelling, achievable museum digital project ideas
How to Win Museum Grant Funding for “Boring” Projects
Museum grant writing is part science, part art; your application must have sound structure, meet certain benchmarks and must catch reviewer attention
