On February 17, 2017, over 350 cultural organizations—museums, libraries, archives, science centers, and educational groups—collectively rejected the idea of “alternative facts” by sharing thousands of posts on social media tagged #DayofFacts. Using facts about immigration, climate change, refugees, LGBT issues, freedom of the press, support for the arts, and more, the campaign quickly went viral and generated 50,000+ posts and plenty of press coverage. In this presentation, Mara will discuss the original goals of the campaign, how she and her co-conspirator Alli Hartley pulled off an international day of museum resistance, and evaluate of the success and usefulness of the action. Caitlin Kearney and Lucille Carver will discuss the Field Museum’s viral #DayofFacts video that was viewed over 1 million times and widely celebrated. Mara will present the #DayofFacts both as a general social media case-study and one of institutional bravery: many participants needed convincing to join a potentially risky action. The campaign had to have a coherent message but also be relevant to each institution’s mission to mitigate possible blow-back for appearing too “political.” Factors that encouraged participation included the extensive content suggestions the organizers provided in advance, support from major museum and library organizations, and knowing which other institutions were participating. Mara will discuss inspiring feedback from the campaign as well as the problematic fact that the viral nature of the campaign activated some of the kind of negative rhetoric and unsubstantiated assertions it was meant to fight. Ultimately, evaluation revealed increased engagement and goodwill for the majority of the institutional partners, was deeply meaningful for participants, and proved that standing up for truth in a mission-aligned way can be a huge benefit for institutions. To demonstrate this, Lucille and Caitlin will share a look at #DayofFacts from within the Field Museum: how they secured institutional buy-in to participate, how the video came to be, and the overwhelming positive reaction they received from their audiences and in staff morale. The campaign demonstrated the need for museums as truth-tellers and provided a productive framework for institutions to assert their missions in a powerfully public and united way.

1. #DayofFacts: Pushing Back on Alternative Facts, One Tweet at a Time
MARA KURLANDSKY & CAITLIN KEARNEY
NOVEMBER 10, 2017
#MCN2017-F23

2. The Story Behind the
#DayofFacts
Mara Kurlandsky, Project Coordinator for Digital Engagement,
National Museum of Women in the Arts
@mkurlandsky
MCN 201702

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13. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201713 #MCN2017-F23

14. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201714 #MCN2017-F23

15. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201715 #MCN2017-F23

16. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201716 #MCN2017-F23

17. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201717 #MCN2017-F23

18. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201718 #MCN2017-F23

19. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201719 #MCN2017-F23

20. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201720 #MCN2017-F23

21. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201721 #MCN2017-F23

22. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201722 #MCN2017-F23

23. How did we do it?
● Gauge interest
● Pick a date
● Make the case
● Provide resources & guidance
● Spread the word
● Accept constructive criticism
● Land some “big fish”
● Notify the press
● Confirm the participants
● Prepare for the trolls
● Hope for the best
MCN 201723 #MCN2017-F23

24. ● 350 institutions on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook
● From 16 countries & 40 U.S. states
● Nearly 50K Tweets & Instagrams using the hashtag
○ ≈ 1,500 Tweets related to the campaign
○ ≈ 475 Instagrams related to the campaign
○ ≈ 200 Facebook posts relating to the campaign
● #DayofFacts trended on Twitter for several hours
● @DayofFacts finished with over 3,000 Twitter followers
MCN 201724 #MCN2017-F23

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26. We saw a huge jump in the amount of
engagement on our page from
#DayofFacts. We focused our posts on
immigration to our area and on many
posts saw people sharing their own
family stories about immigrating to the
United States.” — W.K. Gordon Center for
Industrial History of Texas
70% of survey respondents said that their
#DayofFacts posts received more
engagement than usual
““We had an overwhelmingly positive
response to our involvement, and saw
engagement from a couple of our fellow
Chicago institutions, too. It was a great
experience and we saw tremendous
engagement.” — Chicago Academy of
Sciences
“Our #DayofFacts posts really
resonated with people. We saw huge
spikes in both engagement and followers
during the day and after.” — Newberry
Library
MCN 201726 #MCN2017-F23

27. MCN 201727 #MCN2017-F23

28. Participants
by state
Participants
by country
MCN 201728 #MCN2017-F23

29. “Thank you for organizing the event; it
helped me push our institution to become
more relevant in the stories we tell.” — W.K.
Gordon Center
“This initiative seemed very effective in
underscoring our museum’s commitment
to inclusiveness and integrity…” — Noguchi
Museum
“It was a positive and affirming way to
network and show solidarity....”— Job Carr
Cabin Museum
“A way for us to participate in a larger
conversation with mission-related
messaging.” — Museum of the Moving
Image
“The event empowered my colleagues and
me to take a stand for information and facts
during a time when we wanted to do
something but weren’t quite sure what to
do.” —Gustavus Adolphus College
“This was, for us, a great exercise in truth
and fact-telling as we move forward in re-
interpreting our complex past as a historic
house museum and former country estate.” —
Reynolda House Museum
“Thank you for organizing so our collective
voices could rise up and be heard. What an
impact we made together.” — Riverside Art
Museum
MCN 201729 #MCN2017-F23

30. #DayofFacts at
the Field Museum
Caitlin Kearney, Digital Content Developer, Field Museum
@caitkear
MCN 201730

31. The decision
Q:
● Will other museums participate?
● Does it align with our mission?
● Are we preaching to the choir?
● Conversely, who might we alienate?
● How big should we go?
A:
● Facts are kind of our thing. Let’s own it.
MCN 201731 #MCN2017-F23

32. The video (and the facts)
● Gloom and doom = nonstarter
● Sign-making party (200+ signs!)
● Filmed February 10
● Staff support = essential
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33. The response
● Facebook:
○ 1.1 million views
○ 9.8k reactions
○ 18k shares
● Twitter
○ 2.5k retweets, 4.2k likes
● Instagram
○ 6,697 views, 1,360 engagements
● YouTube
○ 13k views
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34. The future
● Decision-making processes
● Areas of focus:
○ Climate change
○ Environmental conservation
○ Women in STEM
○ Protection of cultural heritage
○ Safeguarding science
● March for Science
● What’s next?
Photo: @swigs27
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36. Thank you.
Mara Kurlandsky | @mkurlandsky
Caitlin Kearney | @caitkear
MCN 201736 #MCN2017-F23