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conference flyer for StoryHabitat

ACM InterActivity, St. Louis, and AAM, Boston. See you there!

After two years of online conferences during the pandemic, great to be anticipating two major in-person conferences next week, one after the other.

ACM InterActivity. First off the bat is the Association of Children’s Museums InterActivity conference in St. Louis. ACM like home base for me — the community I grew into while I was a staff member at Boston Children’s Museum. It will be a busy three days: I’ll be in our booth in the exhibit hall, as well as helping ACM gather stories in preparation for its 60th anniversary. We’ll gather stories on the topics:

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Museum Stories to Support Urban and Regional Planning

In what ways can museums use their public engagement tools — including exhibits and popups — to inform city and regional planners as they create regional plans? The plans touch on a wide range of issues that directly affect our museum communities, including climate resilience, economic development, accessible public parks, environmental justice, and more.

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overview of COVID 19 heroes exhibit

Using Visitors’ Own Phones in Exhibits: COVID-19 Heroes

Museums have a special role to play advancing the cause of community participation against COVID-19. It’s been rewarding working with California Science Center to advance this role in their All In This Together exhibit. The exhibit highlights how individual actions come together to affect community — how your actions can combat COVID-19.

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phonebooth with storykiosk

Phonebooth Storykiosk: Camden High School / Camden County Historical Society

When Camden’s school district and DIGroupArchitecture were planning for Camden’s new high school, they wanted to incorporate signature elements from the old high schools. And what could be more iconic than an original phone booth from one of the old schools? When we were referred by our friends at Night Kitchen Interactive to the Camden County Historical Society, a partner in the project, we took on a unique mission: to restore one of the old phonebooths and retrofit it with our Storykiosk installation, using its cloud-based architecture to facilitate community storytelling.

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storykiosk station in library setting

Community Stories and Libraries: Kingston Public Library

Of new directions in 2020, one of the truly positive ones was our Storykiosk installation for Kingston Public Library in Massachusetts. This installation is geared specifically for libraries, and includes a scanner for library cards and housing that works both in an unstaffed lobby as well as popup community events. Because libraries are so connected to their local communities, it provides a natural expansion of the community storytelling model we’ve been developing over the years, and presents unique opportunities for collaborations with museums.

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The Rise of Popup Exhibits: Community Stories During COVID

Popup exhibits have been on the radar for many museums for several years now. These exhibit outposts can be located outside the museum, in community spaces, often outdoors. And now, during times of COVID-19, these outdoor, remote locations may provide new options for museums looking to connect beyond their walls. Our focus in particular has been gathering community stories, recorded in video, as part of a popup exhibit experience.

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Storykiosk in ‘Dogs: A Science Tail’ exhibit

What could be more compelling than asking visitors to tell stories of their relationships with their own dogs? When I was first approached by California Science Center about providing a Storykiosk for their traveling exhibit, I knew it would be a hit. And looking at the review server for the installation, I see hundreds of heartfelt stories confirming this…

I had the pleasure of visiting the installation a couple weeks ago at its current venue, Museum of Science, Boston. It was a school vacation week, and was it busy! Visitors flowed throughout the exhibit with a variety of engaging dog related activities. The exhibit also incorporates a Storykiosk and a separate playback station, with attractive design and project development/management by Unified Field.

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