We (Natalie Gentry, Julia Sager and Max Evjen) had the opportunity to attend and present a session at the Museum Computer Network 2020 Virtual Conference. Here is our recap of the experience in terms of what was good, what was challenging, and what our specific takeaways will be. We hope this recap will be of value to the MCN Community, as well as the museum studies programs in higher education. This was Max’s fifth consecutive MCN, and it was Natalie and Julia’s first. Julia was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship to the conference and we can expect an upcoming publication from all MCN scholars this year. Her recap, though, like mine and Natalie’s, will focus on the overall experience. We presented together in “Connecting Students to Professionals Using Social Media: Twitter in a Learning in Museums Course”, and Max presented in a session with colleagues Brad Dunn, Alli Hartley-Kong, Richard Josey, and Sarah Pharaon called “The Show Must Go On!: Lessons From Theatre to #musetech in a COVID-19 World.” The entire conference took place on Zoom, Slack, Spacial Chat, and as always, on Twitter (#MCN2020).
What worked?
Sessions:
As always, the sessions are wonderful, it is so good to be able to see the direction the #musetech sector is heading toward, and the MCN conference is always that good shot in the arm where those of us who may think we are alone in the work we do can be challenged and validated in the ways that matter most. Natalie adds that it was awesome content, and she appreciated that a lot of the session content was relatable to her interests in education and community engagement. She was surprised and pleased to see so many young folks presenting. Julia will add that the MCN Conference 2020 was a unique and important experience for her. As a graduate student and emerging arts professional, she enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the museum world by being introduced to interesting topics and networking with experienced, as well as other emerging, professionals. She was glad to present with Max Evjen and Natalie Gentry, two people who she very much admires and appreciates for their creativity and insights.
We would like to call out a few amazing sessions we were fortunate enough to enjoy during the conference (those of us who registered can see videos of all sessions, so we can go back and see the good ones we might have missed). We’d all like to call out a few of the more notable sessions we were able to attend:
Ignite: Nik Honeyset did an amazing job retaining the informal, entertaining, and fun experience that the Ignite talk presented. And everyone who presented had excellent, funny, and hard hitting ideas that were a great kickoff experience (though it did take place during the first day of sessions, when IRL it is the same night as tours and workshops, just before sessions).
Lessons from the Coronavirus: There is No Pivot: This session led by Brad Dunn, Dana Allen-Greil, and Susan Edwards was an excellent exploration into the issues presented with the sudden reliance museums now have on the #musetech community to be the core way audiences are now reached. And the chat discussion in this session was intense.
Putting the Pieces Together: A Study in Digital Content Management: Dan Brennan and Sarah Brown of the Princeton Art Museum discussed the museum’s adoption of a headless CMS (Content Management System) to address a backlog of digital content. Max attended this session, and while he has limited experience in the backend of museum systems, he adds that an essential thing to do at MCN is to go to sessions that do not directly apply to your experience. Max came away with a simple, but important, lesson from this session: do not choose digital technology for the sake of using the technology, but to choose digital technologies that address your specific needs.
Making “The Digital Future of Museums”: This presentation Keir Winesmith, Suse Anderson, LaTanta Autry, and Lauren Vargas was so valuable and engaging, and Autry provided one of the key takeaways that we will expand upon below: We will not be returning to “normal.” “Normal” has been violence for many communities, and we need to reimagine the future of museums. In addition, there was a very active chat, and there were a few chat items Max wanted to add to this recap:
“So many museums are violent to communities of color, poor folks, disabled folks. Staying away from those places is smart and an act of care in itself.” — LaTanya Autry
“That white supremacy model of setting a timeline on projects before you’ve even started talking to stakeholders is so poisonous in the museum world.” — Rachel Ropeik
“A key question for white folks I encountered recently is ‘What are you willing to give up, to create a more equitable workplace/world?’ Museums are about power and power hoarding.” — Juline Chevalier
Art & Science Across North America: Engaging Communities in Times of Crisis Through Collaboration: In this session, Alana Quinn from the National Academies of Science discussed that in her DC Art/Science Rendevous (DASER) events that even carefully crafted social media promotions performed poorly, while email performed exceptionally well for promotion. The social, however, worked great for conversations and storytelling. Max inquired over Twitter if others heard the same, and at least two other attendees discussed the same outcome.
Virtual Field Trip: Museum of Portable Sound: This field trip, led live online from the UK by MOPS Director and Chief Curator John Kannenberg, gave guests an exclusive opportunity to experience sounds from the museum’s collection. Whereas guests would normally have to make an in-person appointment with Kannenberg to experience the sounds, conference attendees were able to get a taste of what the MOPS had to offer from their own homes.
Social Experiences:
While below we will list some networking opportunities as a challenge, we’ll say (while fully acknowledging that Max was on the Program Committee, specifically on the Social subcommittee, so he does have a bias) that the Speed Networking, Spacial Chat, and of course, Karaoke, were wonderful social experiences. Speed networking was held in breakout rooms in Zoom, and we were grouped in smaller groups than IRL speed networking events, so we could have some short discussion instead of just the introductions. Spacial Chat does provide a decent facsimile to IRL discussions, as much as it can in a virtual setting, so some of the hallway conversations or those at the bar later were preserved as much as possible. Karaoke was amazing this year, since we all accessed karaoke versions of songs from YouTube to accompany the singing, and that meant that people could access songs in different languages. That was the first multi-lingual MCN Karaoke, and what an amazing experience that was!
Slack:
Slack this year was on fire. Many discussions that previously would have taken place on Twitter happened in Slack, and perhaps the lack of character limits encouraged richer discussion than might have happened on Twitter. The program chairs and those manning the back-end at MCN were establishing specific subject matter chats that people could opt into, and a lot of session followup happened there (much of what might have been discussed IRL right after a session, or in the hallways).
Twitter:
Despite most of the Twitter conversations now taking place on Slack, there were still some great posts, recaps, questions, and community sharing at the #MCN2020 hashtag.
Jono (@jonofyi) created a great Twitter thread of takeaways for every day of MCN that Max recommends everyone check out!
Zoom Chats:
When sessions were in meeting mode, the chats were great places where intense discussions happened. We know that many of the meetings were Chatham House Rules (not recorded, no identifying individuals) there were times when we thought that the chat in those sessions or even those not observing Chatham House Rules, really needed to be released to the wider community.
What was challenging?
The three of us mostly agreed about what worked, while we have a few different thoughts regarding challenges and takeaways.
Max’s thoughts on challenges
Networking:
While I applaud the efforts of the social subcommittee of the program committee for the numerous efforts to preserve the social aspects of the IRL conference as much as possible, the core means of networking in hallways, at the end of sessions, in the hotel bar, out in the city where we have multiple points of contact with each other just cannot be replicated. I know that everyone feels this. In particular, the following points also complicate the ability to really experience good networking.
Distractions at home/work:
Since COVID-19 is keeping everyone at home, various distractions from pets, children, home responsibilities, as well as requests and responsibilities from work, made attendance and presenting disjointed.
Zoom Webinar Format:
While I understand that there may have been limits on how many people can be in a Zoom Meeting versus Zoom Webinar, but the fact that as presenters we could not see the people reacting to our session (except for the chat and Q&A) was strange (though I teach over zoom and don’t require students to turn on cameras, so I am a bit more used to that interaction — it’s not ideal).
Slack replacing Twitter:
While there were excellent conversations happening on Slack this year, I feel for those who could not attend the conference, since Twitter makes our discussions accessible to anyone who can follow the conference hashtag. That being said, there seemed to be some freedom for discussion that Slack afforded or that people using Slack felt, so I don’t regret being in Slack myself. However, managing Slack, Twitter, and Zoom or Spacial Chat was…a lot.
Natalie’s thoughts on Challenges
I am not an online learner. I learn best when I can be in a room with other people and bounce ideas off of each other. Online learning presented this challenge to me so forcefully, and I don’t think MCN was an exception to this. I have a difficult time focusing when it’s just me and my computer. So, that said, I don’t think I got as much out of this virtual conference as I might have from an in-person conference.
Despite all efforts, it was really difficult to be social and make connections with other conference attendees. Slack and Twitter were both useful tools, however I often felt overwhelmed with Slack simply because there was so much going on. Twitter was fun to share my own thoughts, but it’s not always the best place to make connections (just like we found out in our class study).
Julia’s thoughts on Challenges
Having the conference online was not a challenge in terms of technology from my point of view. However, connection was certainly harder to feel given the distance between those participating and presenting.
What are our takeaways?
Max’s takeaways
In Spring of 2022 I’ll be teaching a course, Museums, Arts, and Culture in the Digital Future, and I was looking for MCN2020 to inform what or how I might teach that course. There was so much great discussion in the Making the Digital Future of Museums presentation, as well as the Redirecting Power: Holding Institutions Accountable in Responsible and Effective Ways that have inspired me to begin the course with a framing of ethics in digital. So, that goal was met!
While we all hope to return to the IRL conference, the virtual affords some opportunities to make things more widely accessible, and I hope the program committees for future conferences consider what things might or should be kept from the virtual conference (cheaper options for virtual attendance and what that might include, maybe keeping slack channels open for IRL conference, see notes about karaoke above).
We will not be going back to normal: Museums, as well as Higher Education, need to think more critically not just about getting back together, or getting people back in the door, but about what future engagement looks like with our communities, our students, etc.. As LaTanya Autry said “Normal” was violence for many communities. Think about how you are excluding others, creating barriers, and how your indifference to communities perpetuates violent infrastructure. How will we work with and for our communities in ways that will uplift everyone (including staff)?
Natalie’s takeaways
I think the most rewarding part of the whole experience was getting to speak with other young museum professionals who are also attempting to navigate the world mid-COVID. Finding folks to talk to was difficult, but the people I was able to connect with all shared aspirations, fears, and hopes similar to my own. It gave me hope that the museum sector will bounce back, perhaps stronger than ever.
Julia’s takeaways
There were a couple themes in particular that stood out to me during the conference: renewal, reprocessing, resilience.
- Renewal — This could be seen through discussions on the “who” in GLAM (it’s all about the people inside and outside of organizations) and that we are “beginning again” as a result of the pandemic as well as a result of social changes. It is like an awakening, if you will.
- Reprocessing — We have had technological advances occurring for quite some time. Often the technology we use in museums is not necessarily new, however, we are finding new ways to use it, talk about it, and analyze it.
- Resilience — There is so much to tackle in our organizations right now. However, many are working hard through this pandemic and there is a resounding “we won’t give up!” in the world of GLAM. This also applies to striving for better museum operations as well as being cognizant of the social changes that need responsible attention.
The availability of networking sessions was certainly appreciated and I was able to gain a few more contacts that way. Overall, I found the conference to be a positive and educational experience and I look forward to the opportunity to join in in-person next year.
In Conclusion
Again, we hope that our thoughts can be useful to for the #musetech and museum community, and for those in higher education. MCN is always an energizing and paradoxically exhausting experience, and well worth the time. While we know that a return to “normal” is impossible, we all look forward to building a better next year (hopefully) in Baltimore for #MCN2021!
