Case Study title: Rescuing the Evidence through Social Media

Presenter:   David Klevan (Education Manager for Technology and Distance Learning, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

Brief Abstract:

Curators' Corner at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shares the stories of our collections with Facebook fans. This project was started as a “quick and dirty” way of filling a void in the Museum’s online presence: our collections are potent trigger points for audience identification with the history of the Holocaust and the Museum’s mission, but they are not well-utilized on our current website nor have we been able to get administration approval for a blog for these purposes. Lacking the staff time and resources to make polished videos on an aggressive schedule, we used the story-telling platform VoiceThread.com to create short slideshows of the stories of artifacts and collections narrated by curators. Although VoiceThread presents some challenges to telling these stories well, it has been a useful tool for producing compelling content about the artifacts and collections that have wended their ways to the Museum and for inviting the public to be part of its work.

Abstract:

Curators' Corner is a project that I launched with a colleague last fall at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum to share the amazing stories of our collections with our Facebook fans, to make the public aware that the Museum continues to actively collect, and to encourage people to care for artifacts they have related to the Holocaust and consider donating them to the Museum. This project was started as a “quick and dirty” way of filling a void in the Museum’s online presence: our collections are potent trigger points for audience identification with the history of the Holocaust and the Museum’s mission, but they are not well-utilized on our current website nor have we been able to get administration approval for a blog for these purposes. We see this project as working towards a key initiative of the Museum’s strategic plan—to “rescue the evidence” of the Holocaust in light of the passing of eyewitnesses to this tragic event and the disturbing rise in Holocaust denial. Lacking the skills and software to make polished videos that would highlight the Museum’s collections and work in preserving the evidence of the Holocaust, I proposed we use the story-telling platform VoiceThread.com to create short slideshows of the stories of artifacts and collections narrated by curators. Working with an enthusiastic collecting staff that want to share the incredible stories they encounter on a daily basis with the public, my colleague and I ideally produce a new Curators’ Corner episode once a month. After selecting an object or collection that has a rich story in itself and/or a rich story as to how it came to the Museum, we settle on a narrative for the episode and select appropriate photographs, documents, and sometimes video clips for illustration. We then record an interview with the curator, edit the narrative, and upload everything to VoiceThread. The success of this project in providing behind-the-scenes information about the Museum is evident in the comments garnered from the public and the enthusiasm of the staff, which extends to our administration. It has also motivated at least one sizeable expression of financial support to the Museum, in which the donor expressed that he used to donate to the Museum, did not realize we were doing this kind of public engagement, and it reminded him of the importance of the Museum’s work. While each episode is first announced on Facebook, the series is now indexed on the Museum’s website and highlighted on the homepage. Although VoiceThread presents some challenges to telling these stories well, it has been a useful tool for producing compelling content about the artifacts and collections that have wended their ways to the Museum and for inviting the public to be part of its work.

Session Info

• Type: Case study
• Keywords: storytelling, behind-the-scenes, collections, web, social media
• Relevance: This is a case study in opening museum practice to the public and how such projects can generate interest among staff about social media and about a museum's work by the public.

Presenter Info

David Klevan, Education Manager for Technology and Distance Learning, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum 

David Klevan is Education Manager for Technology and Distance Learning at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum where he oversees the museum’s social media outreach; he designs and develops Internet-based learning activities, online educational events, and other distance learning applications; and applies instructional design solutions and technology to further programmatic and educational goals across the institution.  Prior to joining the Division of Outreach Technology, David worked in the Museum’s Education Division where he coordinated the museum’s partnership program with Washington, DC public schools, Bringing the Lessons Home: Holocaust Education for the Community and subsequently managed the national pilot of the Law Enforcement and Society: Lessons from the Holocaust partnership program. His efforts to engage museum audiences in experiential learning and authentic content co-creation have recently been featured as case studies in Twitter for Museums: Strategies and Tactics for Success (MuseumsEtc), The Participatory Museum (Nina Simon), and Learning in 3D: Adding a New Dimension to Enterprise Learning and Collaboration (Chapter 6) (Kapp and O'Driscoll).