In a report to The Edgewood Museum Corporation, students in Heidi Lung’s “Museums in the Digital Age” class recommended appropriate methods to digitize historical artifacts for a new community museum and developed a comprehensive communications plan for the organization.
The community of Edgewood drew together to work towards the establishment of an Edgewood Historical Museum, which was the community’s first opportunity to display their rich historical documents and items. The group was, then, recently gifted the use of a historical building in which to house the museum, and structural renovations were underway to make the museum a reality. During that time, the community desired to prepare exhibits for the new museum that provided interesting and educational interpretations of the documents and items on display.
The first class initiative involved the selection of a digital tool to manage collections. Students acted as consultants and developed a report that recommended a digital tool aligned with best practices in the field and the specific needs of the Edgewood Museum. For the second class initiative, students developed a comprehensive communications plan that included social media. This plan considered the Edgewood Museum mission and vision, audience, and communication strategies in use. Each team developed a Google Site that acted as a platform for professionally presenting the reports to the collaborating organizations as well as a digital portfolio for students’ work.