Presentation to the Churches Conservation Trust looking at the ways in which community engagement and technology are helping shape a new relationship between museums and their audience.

1. Nothing about us without us:
Community engagement & participation through
culture & technology
Nick Poole, CEO, Collections Trust

2. These slides online at
http://www.slideshare.net/collectionstrust

3. The Collections Trust is the
professional association for people
working in collections management
http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk

4. “Nothing about us, without us”

5. The Polish ‘Nihil Novi’ Constitution, 1505

6. The idea that instead of doing
things to and for people, we ought
to be doing things with them

7. It all used to be so simple…

8. Producers

9. Producers Consumers

10. Producers Consumers
Shop window

11. Producers Consumers
Shop window
PRODUCT

12. Producers Consumers
Shop window
PRODUCT
PURCHASE

13. Except it was never really that
simple…

14. I like what I do and
I want to keep
doing it…

15. I like what I do and
I want to keep
doing it…
I like what you do
and I want you to
keep doing it…

16. “A century or so ago, the local corner shop lived or
died on the relationships they built.
As new means of mass communication emerged,
companies used their increased reach to try to
advertise their way out of that responsibility.
But today every aspect of a company’s behaviour is
on public display. Putting the relationship first has
become the imperative again.”
- Scott Olrich, Responsys

17. SHARED VALUES & BELIEFS

18. COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS
SHARED VALUES & BELIEFS

19. COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS
SUSTAINABLE FLOWS OF VALUE
SHARED VALUES & BELIEFS

20. Community engagement isn’t some
radical new model. Its about
understanding & building on the
connection between your venue
and the people who love and
support it…

21. Modern audiences are activist –
they get behind campaigns sooner
than they get behind organisations.
If your venue were a campaign,
what would it be a campaign for?

22. BRAND

23. BRAND
LOCATION

24. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT

25. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE

26. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE

27. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE

28. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE
LEAFLET

29. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE
VISIT

30. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE
EXPERIENCE

31. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE
RELATIONSHIP

32. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE
PARTNERSHIP

33. BRAND
LOCATION
CONTENT
CULTURE
PURPOSE
CO-CREATION

34. The point is not that any of these is
better than the others, but that you
have to be clear about which you
are doing (and mean it…)

35. Technology
adds to the
capability
of these
people
Technology
drives
expectations
for more of
these people
COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS
SUSTAINABLE FLOWS OF VALUE
SHARED VALUES & BELIEFS

36. Engaging
communities
to develop
audience
Meeting needs
for research &
online
engagement
PRE-VISIT VISIT POST-VISIT NO-VISIT
Enhancing &
extending
the visitor
experience
Sustaining the
relationship &
driving repeat
visits

37. Some examples…

40. “Museums already appreciate their position in their community
and many combine this with scholarship, stewardship, learning
and a desire for greater participation.
The Happy Museum Project is trying to show that the context is
now different. Environmental change, pressures on the planet’s
finite resources and awareness that a good, happy society need
not set economic growth as it most meaningful measure offers a
chance to re-imagine the purpose of museums.
Museums should realise their role as connector, viewing people
not as audiences but as collaborators, not as beneficiaries but
citizens and stewards who nurture and pass on knowledge to
their friends and neighbours.”

41. Collaborative development

42. Networking community knowledge

43. The Happy Museum Project is
aiming to put the generation of
social capital through community
engagement before the generation
of revenue

44. Using technology to engage
dispersed communities

45. Museum of Arch & Anth, Cambridge

46. KIWA is a collaborative project between communities
in the UK, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil
The project is ‘digitally repatriating’ the lost heritage
of Polynesia by identifying material removed by
colonial voyagers, digitising and reinterpreting it and
using it to create a collective online archive.

47. Engaging with Maori communities in the UK & worldwide digitally to
‘repatriate’ & re-interpret removed cultural artefacts

48. Creating a community-owned digital archive of artefacts and cultural
memories lost to Southern Australian tribes through colonialisation

49. Engaging communities in opening
up new knowledge

51. Credits earn points and prizes:
•Hall of Fame
•Promotion
•Certificate
•Opportunity to manage cases
•Opportunity to blog
•Invitation to our Summer Party

52. Harnessing the power of an engaged community to research and
transcribe diaries from servicemen & women in WW1

53. Developing a highly engaged online community of taggers and
supporters, now being extended into a real-world community

54. Using ‘low-fi’ technology to engage
communities

55. ‘Museum in a Box’ uses a collection of 16 3D printed objects from the British
Museum to engage London-based & local communities including schools
and community groups - http://thesmallmuseum.org/museum-in-a-box/

56. The Brunel Pop-Up Museum in Swindon took over Unit 40/41 of the Brunel
Shopping Centre, resulting in increased visitor numbers at the museum

57. Re-negotiating the terms of our
relationship with heritage
audiences is key to remaining
relevant & sustainable

58. Technology & technology-enabled
approaches create new
expectations for our communities
and new opportunities for us to
engage

59. Embracing those opportunities
depends on taking the initiative,
being creative & getting
comfortable with a different kind of
relationship

60. Thankyou!
Nick Poole
@NickPoole1
www.slideshare.net/collectiontrust