Digital engagement
- Synchronous discussion: 1:30pm-2:30pm PST
- Guest lecture: Seema Rao, Akron Art Museum, 3pm–4pm PST
- Begin assignment five together: 4pm–5pm PST
Read and watch for this class:
- “On Storytelling,” On View (podcast).
- Stack, John. “Exploring Museum Collections Online: Some Background Reading.” Science Museum Group Digital Lab, January 23, 2018. Note: This is largely a collection of examples. Click around and see what appeals to you.
- “Kimberly Drew on the Life-Enhancing Power of Art” (Slate Plus Podcast).
- Jia Jia Fei, “Art in the Age of Instagram” (video).
- OPTIONAL (but a great read!): Whitelaw, Mitchell. “Generous Interfaces for Digital Cultural Collections” Digital Humanities Quarterly 9, no. 1 (2015).
In-class links and documents
Discussion question 1: Encountering an object
Discussion question 2: The digital surrogate
Seema Rao
Seema Rao is the Deputy Director & Chief Experience Officer at the Akron Art Museum in Ohio.
With nearly 20 years of museum experience, Ms. Rao has extensive experience in interpretation and programming from leading content development for all audiences. Ms. Rao led the content development for many digital projects including the innovative Gallery One, Studio Play, and Asian Odyssey.
Along with these digital project, she was instrumental in developing mobile and off-site museum spaces, such as note-worthy Studio Go. She has worked assiduously to include new audiences from serving as the museum’s access specialist, developing community engagement programming, and creating teen programming.
Her work has won numerous awards including 6 Muse awards from the Alliance of American Museum as well as been reviewed in the New York Times, Fast Company and the Wall Street Journal. Beyond accolades and reviews, her work has directly impacted millions of museum visitors. Ms. Rao holds a Master’s degree in Art History from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a Master’s degree in Information Science and User Experience Design.
Seema is the author of Objective Lessons: Self Care for Museum Professions, a book designed to prompt museum workers to focus on self-care.
Other resources
- “Digital Engagement: Connecting with Your Audience,” Museum of New South Wales: a very pragmatic approach to designing digital museum experiences
- Digital Engagement in Cultural, Heritage, and the Arts: a free, short book that may be useful for those interested in learning about the nuts and bolts of digital engagement in more depth.
- “From Visitors to Virtual Audiences: Digital Learning and Engagement in Museums” (webinar)
- Objective Lessons: Self-Care for Museum Professions is Seema’s extremely helpful-looking book.