Communicating loud and clear

Continuing with our Life goes on… theme, I’d like to share the many ways in which we, the team at MoDiP, have been adapting and further developing our means of communication with students, staff and everyone we work with and for – not to mention our public audiences - over the last few months, as we embrace everything digital.

 

Teams, AUB’s software of choice, has allowed us to chat, meet and share our work on an ongoing basis, so we have been able to support each other, and in many ways, it has made us stronger and more dynamic as a team. Only our dedicated Collections Officer has been able to go into the museum in person during lockdown, as she needs to regularly monitor the objects.

 

But never before have social media streams, online resources, and video conferencing and presentation software, played such a key role in the delivery of our museum services.

 

And, being responsible for Museum Digital Communications, I am pleased – as well as privileged - to be able to play my part and step up to face these new challenges alongside my colleagues.

LP High Pitch Jam Block
- usually played alongside a drum kit and makes an incredibly loud and clear sound

Not being able to deliver a practical ‘High Performance Plastics’ session (which was to include demonstration of the High Pitch Jam Block pictured above) to students in person early into lockdown, inspired me to produce a bespoke, audio enhanced version which I’m delighted to say went down a treat with Product Design, Design Engineering and Mechanical Engineering students over with our neighbours at Bournemouth University. 

‘Superduper’ 
- the super hero character with carbon fibre running blades, created by artist Jake Rowlinson, used to engage school children with our Cultural Hub project and
‘Being Me: plastics and the body’ exhibition

As it became clear home-schooling and much reduced class sizes had to be addressed regarding the delivery of our Cultural Hub project ‘Plastics for every body’, we decided to recreate school resources in a digital format.  I really enjoyed producing audio enhanced presentations for the project including a virtual exhibition of ‘Being me: plastics and the body’.  Having stayed in close contact with Cultural Hub teachers, I was able to keep my ear to the ground and provide resources – with appropriate content and format - for all Cultural Hub primary school children whatever their circumstances however challenging. 

A special thank you to my team mates for your encouragement and support along the way – very much appreciated as ever.

Philips D 8007 'The Roller' radio cassette recorder
- used in our #MuseumWeek  PR campaign to communicate loud and clear (with a ghetto blaster!) that our collections continue to be accessible online

And PR campaigns like the international #MuseumWeek and ‘Life goes on @ MoDiP’ have kept us focussed on what we need to be saying 'loud and clear' to our larger public audiences as well as to our colleagues and students here at AUB. Our virtual collections and exhibitions continue to be accessible 24/7 and we are continually adapting how we work and how we provide resources – most importantly, for our own university community, whether it is delivered directly to our students or working alongside academic, professional and gallery staff.

 

Julia Pulman, Digital Communications Officer.