From exhibitions, program activities and social media to storytelling, experiences, and ecosystems
This is a shortened and adapted version of my recent presentation at the conference CIMED 2022, in Valencia, Spain.
A shift in mindset
I have been discussing the need for museums to keep up with a rapidly changing world for quite a few years and I have always advocated for a digital first perspective. I have also suggested a shift in mindsets and adopting new methods when making priorities for the distributed museum, a museum that is much more than its museum building, website and social media channels, a museum that consists of a multitude of touch points, channels and formats — an ecosystem.
Making these priorities means to focus less on technology and more on human interaction and heritage storytelling, and how these stories are presented. This means re-thinking content, formats, interaction, and channels. More specifically I believe that transmedia storytelling can be a relevant toolbox for museums.
Storytelling is widely known as an efficient way to convey messages, affect behaviour and to make facts more available and understandable. And as museums are distributed across more than just the museum building and the most immediate online channels, telling stories will by default be done across the ecosystem of channels and touch points — both in digital and analogue formats and in the shape of hybrid experiences in other locations.
Challenges for museums
That museums are facing challenges in a rapidly changing world is certainly not new. Though digital is central in driving this need for transformation, the actual challenges are only to some extent based on new technologies (I do feel I am repeating myself here, but it can be said again). Rather they concern new audience behaviours and expectations, a demand for personal experiences and participation as well as expectations of multi-sensory and multidimensional and event driven experiences.
Young generations today are socially conscious and express themselves in digital channels. They have access to information and social connections from all over the world.
Information and experiences are consumed in a personalized manner, I can choose which TV-series to watch when I want to. I can choose which podcasts or music to listen to. I can join movements that suit my agenda and values, and that also help me build and strengthen my own identity.
Then there are of course several major global challenges that truly can and will affect museums, such as climate change, anti-democratic movements, pandemics and war.
The impact on museums
These issues and challenges are of course impacting museums and they (still) require us to ask new questions.
- What does the museum offer in digital channels? How do we cater for the “digital only” audience? What does this mean in terms of shaping new museum experiences?
- How and what does our audience consume and experience online? How can we find out what they want and need?
- How can we compete with other mediators of cultural history (f.ex. on TikTok and Youtube)? There are many different actors telling heritage stories online, what is the role of museums in all this?
- How do we make cultural heritage relevant to more people, and how do we reach a wider audience? We can reach wider audiences online, but it’s often easier said than done.
- The audience uses many different channels and platforms online. How do we adapt content to them all?
- How do we make the content coherent across channels and formats? How can we connect the content between channels in a way that makes sense to the audience?
- And perhaps most importantly: How do we contribute to a sustainable society with cultural and historical mediation? There are many of the United Nations Sustainable Development goals that museums need to address. How do we do this while meeting the new challenges that museums face?
But what does the audience want?
Spending time asking these questions within the organisation will most certainly also raise questions among colleagues:
But do we know that this is what the audience wants?
I often hear arguments that audiences want to see and experience real authentic objects. And there is no opposite in this. On the contrary, combining digital and physical is even better. One can even use the trendy word phygital, the combination of physical and digital.
Still, having statistics at hand is necessary.
Source: The Swedes and the internet, 2022, https://svenskarnaochinternet.se/english
These stats show the use of social media in Sweden in a recent report. Young people in their teens, 20s and 30s are frequently using social media. What happens if the museum does not develop its role online?
If you are reading this, you most likely do not need to be convinced. But you might be the one starting conversations in your museum, convincing managers, board members and staff about the need to make a shift in priorities.
Besides knowing the sheer number of people using social media daily we also need to know what people do online. These facts are from the same report about internet habits in Sweden in 2022.
Youtube: We seek entertainment, information and instructions, listen to music, watch a documentaries.
Facebook: Is used primarily for social connections, participating in interest groups, getting information about events
Instagram: Consuming content firstly and post own content secondly
TikTok: Consuming content of interest made by users I don’t know personally
Transmedia storytelling — a magical solution?
I started by mentioning I believe that one way forward (among others) to address challenges that museums are facing is to turn to transmedia storytelling This is not meant to sound like a simple magical solution, but rather a toolbox to navigate different parts of the challenges.
Most museums are already fantastic storytellers. We tell stories through programming and events, and sometimes also through exhibitions. And the list of benefits of using storytelling is almost never ending:
- Stories are a huge part of our cultural heritage and society — they are an important way of passing our history on to future generations.
- In digital channels: They can quickly capture attention, and in the next step retain interest.
- Stories can evoke emotions which in turn improves learning. Stories stick.
- Compete with an ever-growing range of digital content online.
- Can be adapted to many different channels (as there’s no “one size fits all“).
- Narrative, a way to structure an experience — the journey though the story.
- Strengthen the connection to the museum’s brand.
- A way to contribute with more perspectives and multiple voices.
But what does the ecosystem mean for telling stories? As I mentioned before, museums are distributed across many different channels and formats, many touch points where the audience can encounter the museum and its stories.
And to illustrate this I often use this type of image, to start the conversation with colleagues to remind ourselves that we can’t create content and stories just for the exhibition or for a social media post. Not when we can spark engagement and open up paths into the magical universe of the museum.
I want to stress that this is not an actual detailed mapping of a museum ecosystem at Västernorrlands museum. This image is first of all meant to spark conversation and ideas. The next step would be to make an actual map and connect the content with the dots and the dots with each other. And of course place the audience and other stakeholders at the centre of the map.
The point is that distributed cross multiple media channels, the story can become a transmedia story.
Transmedia storytelling
In my conversation with museum colleagues around the world, I have found that this is not yet a common term in museums. So I wish to just make a brief stop at the definition of transmedia storytelling.
We can start with Henry Jenkins’ original definition:
Transmedia storytelling represents a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.
As you can see this definition is very much building on the development of transmedia within the entertainment business.
Museums on the other side have a broader mission to make heritage relevant, contribute to sustainable societies etc. So, this definition alone is not enough for museums to lean on.
Why transmedia storytelling in museums?
When we talk about transmedia storytelling in a museum context, we see that (as I mentioned before):
- Museums consist of an ecosystem of channels and touch points. We are more than just our museum buildings, websites and social media.
- Transmedia storytelling is based on shared authorship, it is rarely or never a single voice that is heard. And multiple voices in turn, open by default to dialogue and multiple perspectives.
- A diverse dialogue also opens for the opportunity to influence and create positive social change.
- Stories and narratives encourage us to seek information, to think more deeply about what we hear, to consider what it means and how we might react in similar circumstances, and to remember the information longer.
This is also what sets transmedia storytelling for pure entertainment apart from transmedia storytelling experiences based on the mission of museums.
Another interesting possibility is that we, when planning museum experiences for the ecosystem, can aim at capturing visitors at one end of the ecosystem and lure them further into the magical universe of museums (or further into the story).
- Multiple channels also mean multiple formats. Several formats enable us to reach new audiences.
- Multiple channels and formats enable us to design an experience with many dimensions, not just offer an encounter with a story in the form of a social media post or a text label in an exhibition. Many dimensions and interaction, as one of the characteristics of transmedia storytelling, enable the audience to learn and discover more about the story.
- The story then becomes something to explore, experience and delve into. In this quest, the audience can then take on the role of either co-creator or explorer.
- Specifically, game mechanics is a way to advance the story for an interactive and/or exploratory experience. It can create a feeling of commitment, of being able to contribute to the action and the result.
- Opening for many voices and for co-creation of stories can build trust with under-represented communities.
- Transmedia storytelling can specifically encourage and facilitate new perspectives on and relationships with a place. Stories can direct the spotlight on social challenges and contribute to possible specific solutions for a positive social change, connected to that place.
In that sense, transmedia storytelling has an ability to illuminate the relationships between people, places and practices that can affect social change, which in turn can cultivate a positive public investment in terms of engagement and resources.
A definition of interest to museums
So as we see transmedia storytelling has the potential to be much more than just pure entertainment. And therefore, I would like to use a different definition. I would argue one that is more useful for museums.
Transmedia storytelling is more than a practice and a process centred around digital technology, it is a framework or a philosophy. It represents an original way of thinking and creating the narrative. It includes traditional literacy, understanding of writing, design thinking, user experience and collaboration.
Quote from “The Revolution in Transmedia Storytelling Through Place” by Donna Hancox.
Not a magical solution — but a toolbox
With this perspective transmedia storytelling becomes a method, and a toolbox. It is very clearly not a simple magical solution.
How do we take the first steps? At Västernorrlands museum we have launched a few projects and initiatives that will explore transmedia storytelling in different ways.
As I mentioned above I often use, for internal discussions, an illustration to illuminate the ecosystem of channels and touch points where we as a museum can meet the audience. Creating awareness of the museum ecosystem is important in many ways.
Then to start discussions around how we can create content for the ecosystem, and plan for this at the very beginning of a project. For many museums this means broadening the perspective from for example exhibitions to something broader.
But we also need to start exploring new ways of working, new methods, and this means opening the transmedia storytelling toolbox.
As in many different areas of museum operations agile project methods are vital. Through pilot projects, iterating and scaling, we need to learn more about audience needs and behaviours, and further develop how we work with inclusive methods.
Through exploring and cross sector collaboration we learn how to design for interaction, and to engage local communities, connecting heritages stories with place with social impact and sustainable development as a goal.
Steps forward and key questions
To make business out of talking, the above key issues and questions need to be connected to actual projects and initiatives within the museum, both long-term work with exhibitions and programming as well as temporary initiatives in projects.
I will briefly here mention two ongoing projects and a concept that help us channel discussions internally and focus on goals and new priorities.
To capture a place — Stories from Västernorrland
As a tool for innovation and exploration around new museum experiences we have developed a concept, To Capture a Place — Stories from Västernorrland. This is meant to become a toolbox for working with municipalities and communities around the region. The concept builds on a previous exhibition and is under constant development.
The exhibition, that for several reasons had to be developed and displayed during the pandemic, was deliberately designed to give the sense of almost stepping into the collection storage spaces.
We were emphasizing the museum as a teller of heritage stories, at the same time as we shared previously known or unknown stories. One part of the exhibition was a collaboration with a musician a writer and a small theatre company, storytellers that are building their work partly on museum collections.
During the development of the exhibition, we also realized we are lacking stories in our collections databases. Being told stories by the museum is in fact not very common. And not unsurprisingly, there are voices and stories that are completely absent from our repositories.
This exhibition started many rewarding discussions internally and eventually led to the development of the concept “To Capture a Place.” A concept that will live on and be developed beyond the exhibition. The purpose is not only to tell stories but to collect new stories, co-create stories and re-tell old stories. The purpose is also to explore the relevance and power of heritage stories for local communities.
Stories from Kramfors
One of the first steps we are now taking, with this concept, is to collaborate with a neighbouring municipality, Kramfors, around heritage stories. We are working with the head of cultural affairs as well as a communications manager.
This is a small pilot initiative, with no dedicated budget, we just put in working hours. But it is a great opportunity to explore how we can collaborate, the museum and the municipality, around heritage storytelling.
The purpose of the project is to mainly explore the benefits of heritage stories.
It is a way to make space and time to ask ourselves questions:
- How can heritage stories contribute to a more sustainable municipality?
- How can storytelling as a method contribute to tell the history of Kramfors to more people? What are the needs and benefits for organizations, the municipality and local businesses?
- How do we reach more people?
- What do heritage stories mean for place and identity?
- And how do we deliver and tell the stories? What language and vocabulary do we use? How do we talk about sparsely populated areas, exclusion, unemployment? How do we choose stories to package? How do we tell stories in a new way?
- How do we deal with difficult topics and conflicting narratives?
- How do we promote and share a diversity of stories? How do we make invisible stories visible?
- How do we fill in with fiction where we partially lack facts?
Through asking these questions we can discover new potentials of stories connected to the municipality. But we are also making space and time for developing the museum’s role in relation to place and heritage storytelling.
Smart Heritage Tourism in the High Coast of Sweden I
Smart Heritage Tourism in the High Coast of Sweden is a brand-new project which will be performed mainly in 2023, building on the same principals, exploring place, identity and heritage storytelling. But also, exploring how heritage stories can become a resource for local communities and businesses. An end user group here are tourists visiting the region. So called smart tourists. This project is funded by Leader Höga Kusten and partly financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
Smart tourism
Then what is smart tourism? I just recently learned that Valencia is the European Capital of Smart Tourism in 2022. I am no expert in this area, I just look at the term from a regional museum perspective.
This quote is from the website visitvalencia.com.
Smart tourism is about:
…ensuring the best possible experience for visitors, utilising innovative technologies and a healthy measure of creativity. And this experience must be accessible to all.
Of course, the term is about so much more than this, but for museums it is important to reflect on the fact that tourists use internet and smart phones to plan their trip and to take part of experiences.
Examples of new experiences being offered to the smart tourist
And this is where things get interesting. The tourism sector is fully embracing the concept of smart tourism and are even developing online and hybrid experiences. Heritage is a very large and even growing part of tourism. In this I sense that many museums would benefit from defining their role much more clearly. How do we cater for the smart tourist, in a way that supports sustainable local communities and of course a sustainable development and care of heritage sites.
These two, of several, examples of what is being developed and offered right now.
Air Bnb Has for some time explored experiences on site but are now also offering online experiences.
One of the most interesting recent examples is Spellbound by Visit Sweden.
Sweden welcomes you through a chilling audio story by renowned author John Ajvide Lindqvist! The twist? You can only take part of it in the Swedish forest.
On the website we can read:
“We’d like to invite you to experience our country’s nature in a way you’ve never done before. Sweden’s nature has always been an integral part of our culture and played a central role in Swedish folklore. Inspired by this heritage, internationally-celebrated author John Ajvide Lindqvist has brought some of our mythological creatures to life in a chilling tale and audio story — only available for listening to in our Swedish nature.”
Please note the word heritage.
(Johan is by the way the author of the well-known novel “Let the right one in” that is now also turned into a TV-series.)
So, back to our Smart Tourism project: In this project we will focus on a period of 700 years, starting with the medieval times and ending with the local witch trials in the 1670s. These were the most severe trials and executions in the history of Sweden. So, some of the stories included in the project are already well known and will be re-told in new formats.
We will develop five location-based experiences in 2023, these are pilot projects that we aim at developing and scaling further.
One of the main goals is to also develop experiences in close collaboration with local communities and businesses.
Besides creating actual experiences, another important goal is to create a sustainable repository of stories that others can build on. Finding the balance here will be important. The museum as experience designer, and the museum as a resource for others to use.
Some challenges
There will be some immediate challenges, as I have discussed before. But addressing them will also help the museum develop its role and upcoming priorities.
Re-telling old stories. There are individuals and small businesses telling te very same heritage stories. How can the museum step in and deliver something that is beneficial for all? How can we open up for collaboration?
A shift in mindset. To develop new museum experiences, we need to adopt an explorative mind, and be open for completely new formats We also need to discover which competencies we need to complement what we already have in the museum. Making new priorities is a learning process for the museum.
Mapping the ecosystem. One fundamental step is to map our museums ecosystem. Where do we deliver the stories? How do we use the formats and channels that we already master?
Starting (almost) from scratch. Perhaps the biggest challenge of all, there is no blueprint or toolbox that will show us the way. So making time and space for exploration and pilot projects is essential.
Authenticity, interaction and storytelling
So again, why transmedia storytelling in museums? Besides Donna Hancox’s useful definition of transmedia storytelling I wish to leave you with another quote, from the brand new book: Role-play as a Heritage Practice: Historical Larp, Tabletop RPG and Reenactment by Michal Mochocki, Kazimierz Wielki University, Poland:
It is not ICT but authenticity, interaction and storytelling that will be key factors for the innovation of museums and the creation of value for visitors.
