National Council on Public History

aSHLEY bOWEN, sCIENCE hISTORY iNSTITUTE

Proposal Type

Roundtable

Seeking

• Seeking Additional Presenters
• Seeking General Feedback and Interest

Related Topics

• Data/Information Management
• Digital
• Public Engagement

Abstract

Few museums and historic sites have a chief digital officer but as more institutions try to coordinate their digital projects and check the proliferation of platforms, tools, and coding languages in use by their staff, managers need to be prepared to foster a culture in which everyone whose work touches the digital participates in the planning, development, and evaluation of digital projects. This roundtable will bring together public history professionals working in digital project management to discuss specific design thinking techniques they used to cultivate collaborative relationships, build capacity to evaluate digital projects, manage external developers, and factors new digital project managers need to consider.

Description

Museums and historic sites of all sizes now develop and manage complex digital projects like video games, virtual and augmented reality apps, touchscreens and touch tables, web applications, smart phone apps, digital catalogs, crowd-sourced research initiatives, and many more. Sometimes, these projects began with a single grant to build a prototype, as an individual staff member’s labor of love, in collaboration with community groups, or as the exclusive domain of a particular department. All of these digital humanities projects exist alongside an organization’s website, e-newsletters, and social media. Few museums and historic sites have a chief digital officer but as more institutions try to coordinate their digital projects and check the proliferation of platforms, tools, and coding languages in use by their staff, managers need to be prepared to foster a culture in which everyone whose work touches the digital participates in the planning, development, and evaluation of digital projects. When all stakeholders, internal and external, are involved in the planning and development of all the organization’s digital projects it becomes much easier to build momentum for change. This is particularly important when making decisions about digital projects to sundown, what projects to prioritize, and how to articulate the relationship between individual projects and the institution as a whole. Change need not be disruptive or anxiety-producing. When managed thoughtfully, one byte at a time, change can make for a more collaborative, accountable, and dynamic organization.

This roundtable will bring together three to five public history professionals working in digital project management for museums, historic sites, and archives to discuss specific design thinking techniques they used to cultivate collaborative relationships among staff, build capacity to evaluate digital projects, manage external developers, and the factors new digital project managers need to consider when asked to consolidate a museum or historic site’s digital projects. Each speaker will draw on their specific experience and use those examples to illustrate some best practices. Then, the speakers will open the conversation up to everyone in the room. Rather than emphasize the theoretical aspects of building digital humanities or digital interactives for museums, this session will emphasize the tasks and skills needed for digital project management.

If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Ashley Bowen, [email protected]

All feedback and offers of assistance should be submitted by July 1, 2019. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.

Discussion