What If You Could Start Over?
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The document outlines the transformation of the Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation following the closure of the science museum due to mold, emphasizing a shift towards digital engagement and participatory heritage. It highlights the importance of redefining what a museum means in the 21st century, focusing on collaboration, citizen input, and the ecosystem over traditional models of success. The museum aims to evolve into a global hub for digital culture, implementing new technologies and partnerships to enhance engagement and accessibility.
What If You Could Start Over?
- 1. ALEX BENAY Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation
- 2. CONTENTS About us What happened New beginning What if you could redesign a museum from scratch? Digital impacts — Designing a museum for today What we are doing — Digital citizenship Results Lessons learned
- 3. WHO WE WERE Inward focused Locally engaged Nationally forgotten Globally absent WHO WE WERE
- 5. WHAT HAPPENED Museum of Science and Technology closes due to mould
- 8. “Canada’s national science museum infested with mould” – CTV NEWS “Emma Godmere: For imagination’s sake, save the Science and Tech Museum” – OTTAWA CITIZEN “Documents reveal extent of crisis at Science and Technology Museum” – Ontario Building Officials Association “Government Acts to Restore Canada Science and Technology Museum” – Ontario Building Officials Association
- 13. NEW BEGINNING People ralliedPeople changed and started thinking differently “To anyone else, I was just another suburban Ottawa kid ambling around a museum on a quiet, admission-free evening. But what no one else could see was that I — along with hundreds, even thousands of unsuspecting students before and after me — was discovering a whole new dimension.” – Emma Godmere — writer, radio producer and host
- 15. WITHOUT A BOX — YOU DON’T THINK OUTSIDE OF ONE You survive in a world drastically different than what you once knew
- 17. DIGITAL IMPACTS
- 19. Pace of change impossible to keep up with — we have lost that battle
- 20. TODAY’S VISITORS ARE DIGITAL CITIZENS
- 21. Many born digital demand participation End of didactic environments New norm — co-creation not only of content but of strategy
- 22. People want the “real thing” and much, much more Traditional “Unassailable Voice” challenged — we are no longer the source of truth — too much content out in the world
- 24. Release of data Release of archives and content Our physical walls came down WE ARE MOVING TOWARDS A FULL OPEN HERITAGE MODEL • Why not lower our digital ones as well? • Redefine what it means to be a museum in the 21st century Release of all information — first open by default public institution
- 26. Magic Carpet (2014) by ar4st Candy Coated. Photo Constance Mensh © 2014 for the Associa4on for Public Art.
- 27. APPLY INDUSTRY INNOVATION MODELS TO CULTURE Good things happen It is about the ecosystem now, not about bums in the seat — The broader the ecosystem the more bums Citizen input into strategic decisions Redefine success — move away from linear research and development to ecosystem and co-development Internal and external use of knowledge — expert and non-expert input into heritage development
- 28. RESULTS
- 29. DID WHAT YOU WOULD EXPECT OF US Collection online Mobile games (Ace Academy Black Flight) Global reach (170+ countries) 3rd party applications Increased travelling exhibitions
- 30. VIRTUAL REALITY
- 32. DOCUMENTARIES Persistence of Science — 3rd party produced
- 33. NEW RESEARCH Ottoman collection Open by Default — world’s first graduate level course at Ottawa U
- 34. NEW PARTNERSHIPS
- 35. NEW PARTNERSHIPS
- 36. REACH Broke all-time attendance records in the process From 4M to 13M to 22M — this FY (30M — eventual goal 70M per year)
- 37. LESSONS LEARNED Redefine what makes a museum successful in this day and age — don’t wait for mould like we did! Engagement, participatory heritage, co-creation, whatever term you use — in a digital world a must for institutional survival Don’t be linear or didactic — work in parallels, grow partners in the digital world, let others lead Don’t be perfect — imperfection is key for co-development of culture Think global first — local second — you will always be local Merge into multimedia, not just exhibitions
- 38. CONCLUSION WE ARE OUT OF THE BOX — NO ONE WILL EVER PUT US BACK IN!
- 39. NEXT STEPS Linked networks of knowledge — my museum is not in Ottawa Launch of our new infrastructure — as a global hub for digital culture, not as a physical entity New games — new partnerships (Ace Academy III) Introduction of AI into workplace — Open Heritage and historical data
- 40. Alex Benay President and CEO abenay@techno-science.ca techno-science.ca THANK YOU