What is Digital Now?

14 MINI-EVENTS OCT-NOV 2021 on Tuesdays–Wednesdays–Thursdays and Nov. 9–10, 2021

MCN 2021 VIRTUAL: What is Digital Now?

Acknowledging the immense hardship and recalibration we’ve had to endure, we invited the community to consider “What is Digital Now?” This question encompasses the anxiety and uncertainty of the present while making space for curiosity and generative possibilities around how the future for digital technologies might look in museums.

About this conference

• MCN 2021 VIRTUAL took place throughout October on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays + November 9 and 10 as 14 mini-events organized by tracks, each focusing on a specific practice area.
• For the first time ever, MCN featured 4 Global Region Spotlights each exploring ‘What is Digital Now?’ from unique regional perspectives: Asia/Pacific – Oct 6 (Oct 7 in that region) + Middle East/Africa – Oct 13 + Europe – Oct 20 + Latin America – Oct 27.   
• Networking and social events + SIGs Roundtables occurred throughout the conference.

Sponsors of MCN 2021

Check out MCN 2021 Ignite

Presented live on October 5, 2021

The Program

The most up-to-date information is always available on MCN Sched, below is a static representation of the conference schedule in Eastern Time that is accurate as of October 22, 2021.

Tuesday, October 5: Welcome to MCN 2021 VIRTUAL

• 12:00pm EDT: Welcome to MCN 2021, Get Inspired!
  Mitchell Sava • Yvonne Lee • Eric Longo
• 12:30pm EDT: Opening Keynote: Decolonizing the Museum: what does it mean to serve the community?
  heather ahtone
• 1:15pm EDT: AMA with Conference Program Co-Chairs
  Max Evjen • Jessica Warchall
• 1:15pm EDT: Networking Kickoff sponsored by LIVDEO
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg
• 3:00pm EDT: IGNITE
  adriel • Andrea Montiel de Shuman • nikhil trivedi • Eric Longo • Miranda Kerr • Kate Meyers Emery • Jeremy Munro • Emily Crum • Seema Rao

Wednesday, October 6: Asia and Pacific Region

• 8:00pm EDT: Welcome to Asia and Pacific Region
  Eric Longo • Fei Lu

• 8:15pm EDT: Exploring Digital Horizons With Asia’s Cultural Organizations
  Eric Longo, MCN and Fei Lu, Jing Culture & Commerce in conversation with Takashi Kudo, Communications Director, teamLab, Chris Lee, Assistant Chief Executive, National Gallery Singapore, and Leigh Tanner, Co-Founder, Museum 2050
• 8:15pm EDT: digitalpasifik.org – Reflections on designing and delivering a website that aims to serve as a bridge between worlds
  Tim Kong, Programme Manager – Pacific Virtual Museum Pilot, National Library New Zealand – Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa and Leone Samu Tui, ​​Associate Curator, Documentary Heritage (Pacific); Steering Group member of the Pacific Virtual Museum pilot project, Auckland Museum
• 9:15pm EDT: Expanding Digital Cultural Leadership
  Keir Winesmith, Head of Digital, National Gallery of Australia and Lizzie Muller, Associate Professor, University of New South Wales
• 10:15pm EDT: What did we learn in Asia and Pacific region? (Recap)
  Eric Longo, MCN

Thursday, October 7: Leadership & Strategy

• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: Human-Centered Design
  Cathy Sigmond • Madhav Tankha
• 12:00pm EDT: DEAI in MCN Roundtable
  Scarlett Hu • nikhil trivedi • Wided Khadraoui • Mimosa Shah
• 12:00pm EDT: New monetization strategies for digital collections
  Ciprian Melian
• 1:00pm EDT: Welcome to Leadership & Strategy
  Victoria Stasiuk • Chris Barr
• 1:15pm EDT: Bridging ‘soft’ skills with digital skills
  Lauren Vargas
• 1:15pm EDT: Virtual exhibition strategy: Leveraging digital to highlight new voices and expanded content
  Ryan Waggoner • Jennifer Talbott • Elizabeth Kanost • Joey Orr • Cassandra Mesick Braun
• 1:15pm EDT: Why and How We Digital
  Bruce Wyman • Corey Timpson • Robert Stein
• 2:15pm EDT: Audio Audacity: Bold Steps in Accessibility, Audience Impact & Strategy for Audio Content
  Jacques Haba • Emily Kotecki • Blaire Moskowitz • Meredith Peruzzi [she/her]
• 2:15pm EDT: Imagining the Future of Online Art Collections
  Kantara Souffrant, PhD • Robert Stein
• 2:15pm EDT: Streaming the Museum: Can Museums Compete with Big Streaming?
  Peder Wuth • Scott Tennent • Jonathan Munar
• 3:15pm EDT: Leadership & Strategy Recap
  Victoria Stasiuk • Chris Barr
• 4:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 1 sponsored by Collector Systems
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg

And at the end of the day book time with funders for special office hours, you need to sign up in advance using the Calendly link on the session description:

• Getty Foundation Office Hours
• Kress Foundation Office Hours 
• Thoma Foundation Office Hours

Tuesday, October 12: Business Models, Financial Sustainability & Capacity Building

• 9:00am EDT: Maximise visitor numbers without impacting visitor experience
  Duncan Mann • Harry Savvides
• 10:00am EDT: Timing, Budget, and Solution Considerations When Updating Your Website
  Sarah Bordson • Roy Chomko
• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: Imaging + IP + DAM
  Jessica Herczeg-Konecny • Christopher Ciccone • Rachael Winter Durant • Margaret C. McKee
• 12:00pm EDT: Help us Help you: How can L2 build tools that better serve the museum space?
  Sydney Lynch • Stephen Lynch
• 1:00pm EDT: Welcome to Business Models, Financial Sustainability & Capacity Building
  Martin Franzini • Lyn Hsieh
• 1:15pm EDT: A Tale of Two Journals: Collaboration and Sustainability in Digital Publishing
  Lauren Makholm • Sofie Andersen • Sarah Wambold • Madhav Tankha • Will Fenstermaker • Illya Moskvin 
• 1:15pm EDT: All Hands On Deck: Recognizing Rapid Digital Growth During COVID-19 and Planning for Future Sustainability
  Emma Fulce • Cassi Tucker
•  1:15pm EDT: If You Give a Museum an iPad: Capacity Building on 98 Timelines
  Eli McClain (he/him)
• 2:15pm EDT: Education Programming During Covid-19 Lockdown: Is Digital Sustainable?
  Grace Poole • Katherine Jones • Kathryn Petterson • Megan Ennes 
• 2:15pm EDT: The Effectiveness and Durability of Digital Preservation and Curation Systems
  Liam Sweeney
• 3:15pm EDT: Business Models, Financial Sustainability & Capacity Building Recap
  Martin Franzini • Lyn Hsieh
• 4:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 2 sponsored by Adage
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg

Wednesday, October 13: Middle East and Africa

• 10:00am EDT: Book Club: One by One
  Lauren Vargas
• 10:00am EDT: AMA: Translation for Cultural Institutions
  Eriksen Translations
• 10:30am EDT: Decades of DAM: Get to Know Capture
  Nick Caw
• 11:00am EDT: Welcome to the Middle East and Africa
  Eric Longo
• 11:00am EDT: Mercury Editor: Effortless, drag-and-drop publishing for Drupal
• 11:15am EDT: A conversation with colleagues from the Nigerian National Commission for Museums & Monuments
  Eric Longo • Louisa Onuoha • Mary Aharanwa • Nkechi Adedeji • Dapo Sijuade 
• 11:15am EDT: Cultural Preservation in Conflict Zones: Lessons from the Middle East and North Africa
  Alice Rubin • Abdelhamid Salah al-Sharief • Peter Herdrich
• 11:15am EDT: New horizons: reflecting on the digital cultural landscape of the Arabian Peninsula
  Rachel Teskey • Ghaida Sawalha • Christophe Buffet
• 12:15pm EDT: A conversation about digital engagement in Africa
  
• 12:15pm EDT: Building a locally global digital program in Qatar
  Shaikha Al-Thani • Matthijs Klinkert • Allegra Burnette
• 1:15pm EDT: What did we learn in the Middle East and Africa? (Recap)
  Eric Longo
• 2:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 3 sponsored by Eriksen Translations
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg
• 3:00pm EDT: AMA: Cultural Futures submissions
  Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli • Shauna Skalitzky

Thursday, October 14: Interpretation, Storytelling & Education

• 11:15am EDT: The Anti-Demo: Using real visitor data to evaluate the world of mobile guides.
  Mary Kostell • Suzie Dergham • Dana Duran
• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: Educational and Interpretive Media Media
  Kajva Armstrong • Chelsea Shannon
• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: IT
  Dave Zlatic • Janice Bowen
• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: Media Production & Branding
  Ryan Waggoner
• 1:00pm EDT: Welcome to Interpretation, Storytelling & Education
  Melanie Garcia Sympson • Vince Dziekan
• 1:15pm EDT: All It Takes is Staff Time: A Lightning Round of Low-to-No Budget Projects
  Casey Wooster • Jessica BrodeFrank • Colin Brooks • nikhil trivedi • Kelsy Edgerton • Kate Meyers Emery • Seema Rao • Amy Hondsmerk • Libby Jones
• 1:15pm EDT: Culture Bridge: Converting In-Gallery Experiences Into Online Teacher Resources
  Sean Pathasema • Angela May
• 1:15pm EDT: Hammer Channel: : An open source video platform
  Andy Cummins • Philip Leers • Neil Hawkins
• 2:15pm EDT: Digital Storytelling with Open Collections
  Douglas McCarthy • Aleksandra Strzelichowska • Medhavi Gandhi
• 2:15pm EDT: Hybrid Museum Experiences: The good, the bad, and the lessons learned
  Deborah Howes • Mark Osterman • Jessica Rosenthal • Chelsea Shannon • VIctoria Waldron • Kajva Armstrong
• 2:15pm EDT: Origins Immersive Theater: Bringing Tribal Origin Stories to Life
  Jessica Moore Harjo • Leslie Halfmoon
• 3:15pm EDT: Interpretation, Storytelling & Education Recap
  Melanie Garcia Sympson • Vince Dziekan
• 4:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 4 Sponsored by Nubart
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg

Tuesday, October 19: Ethical Responsibilities of Museums 

• 10:00am EDT: How to make a digital audio guide profitable for your venue
  Rosa Sala – Sponsored session by Nubart
• 11:00am EDT: How to encourage your visitors to interact with your venue using an audio guide
  Rosa Sala – Sponsored session by Nubart
• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: Data & Insights + Strategy
  Tricia Robson • Susan Wigodner • Chris Unitt • Katherine Nip
• 1:00pm EDT: Welcome to Ethical Responsibilities of Museums
  Marty Spellerberg • Suse Anderson
• 1:15pm EDT: Conflicts of interest: Ethics, risk, museums & self
  Aleia Brown • Jaclyn Roessel • Adriel Luis • Koven J. Smith • Suse Anderson
• 1:15pm EDT: Inclusive Design: A Methodology, Not a Budget Line
  Sina Bahram • Corey Timpson
• 2:15pm EDT: Building Accountability
  Juline Chevalier • Sara Phalen • Gretchen Jennings
• 2:15pm EDT: Embracing Minds of All Kinds: Making Digital Content Usable For People with Cognitive Disabilities
  Christina Deemer
• 2:15pm EDT: How to Unionize Your Museum
  Bryan Cook • Claire Blechman • Liz Jaff • Alexander Kauffman
• 3:15pm EDT: Ethical Responsibilities of Museums Recap
  Marty Spellerberg • Suse Anderson
• 4:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 5 Sponsored by Aten Design Group
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg

Wednesday, October 20: Europe

• 10:00am EDT: Let’s Talk Prospect2: email and marketing automation leveraging ActiveCampaign Stephen and Sydney Lynch • Sponsored session by L2 Interactive.
• 10:30am EDT: Decades of DAM: Get to Know Capture
  Nick Caw • Sponsored session by Capture.
• 11:00am EDT: Welcome to Europe
  Eric Longo • Antonella Poce
• 11:15am EDT: Natural History Museum of Denmark: An open source natural history collection
  Andy Cummins • Neil Hawkins • Anders Drud Jordan
• 11:15am EDT: The Hybrid Museum (Session 1 of 2)
  Giles Pooley • Torill Haugen • Michal Čudrnák • Sofie Andersen • Merete Sanderhoff • Nina Colosi
• 12:15pm EDT: Entering the Field: Museum Studies’ Students Perspectives on Digital Literacy
  Sarah Feinstein • Maria Paula Arias (she/her)
• 12:15pm EDT: The Hybrid Museum (Session 2 of 2)
  Torill Haugen • Giles Pooley • Filipe Pais • Jack Addis • Nicola Schauerman
• 1:15pm EDT: What did we learn in Europe? (Recap)
  Eric Longo • Antonella Poce
• 2:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 6 sponsored by cogapp
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg
• 3:00pm EDT: AMA: Cultural Futures submissions
  Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli • Shauna Skalitzky

Thursday, October 21: Experience Design & Immersive Technologies

• 11:00am EDT: Cogapp office hours – ask us anything
  Gavin Mallory • Alex Morrison • Andy Cummins
• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: IIIF
  Emmanuelle Delmas-Glass • Tristan Roddis
• 1:00pm EDT: Welcome to Experience Design & Immersive Technologies
  Robin White Owen • Barry Joseph • Sam Minelli
• 1:15pm EDT: Can’t Touch This: the Promise and Perils of Gestural Interaction
  Brett Renfer • Kimberly Gim
• 1:15pm EDT: Climate Change and the Digital Experience: Developing Arctic Adventure at the Museum of Science, Boston
  Leigh Ann Mesiti Caulfield • Cloé St-Cyr • Alana Parkes
• 1:15pm EDT: Learning from an Open Approach: Activating Smithsonian Open Access as a Commissioning Case Study
  Jackie Lee • Rachel Eve Ginsberg
• 2:15pm EDT: A Journey through Transition
  Kang Peng • Rob Tice • Peter Pavement • Crystal Ferrer • Wendy Rogers
• 2:15pm EDT: A Novel Approach: Literary Tools in Experience Design
  Katie Savage • Ksenia Dynkin
• 2:15pm EDT: Expanding and Enriching Metadata through Engagement with Communities
  Jessica BrodeFrank • Bri Watson • Isabel Brador • Mia Ridge
• 3:15pm EDT: Experience Design & Immersive Technologies Recap
  Robin White Owen • Barry Joseph • Sam Minelli
• 4:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 7 Sponsored by Guru
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg

And at the end of the day today, you can book time with funders for special Funders’ Office Hours sessions, you need to sign up in advance using the Calendly link found in the session description.

• Getty Foundation Office Hours 
• Institute of Museum and Library Services Office Hours 
• Kress Foundation Office Hours
• National Endowment for the Humanities Office Hours 
• Thoma Foundation Office Hours

And since we can’t meet up in the hotel lobby, we’ll close the week with a Happy Hour in Spatial Chat that starts at 5pm ET! 

Tuesday, October 26: Why Museums? 

• 12:00pm EDT: SIG Roundtable: Social Media: Emily Haight • Jonathan Munar
• 1:00pm EDT: Welcome to Why Museums?
  Wided Khadraoui • Carolina Betancur • Lindsey Green
• 1:15pm EDT: It’s not your fault: Stories of Resilience, Revisited. We’re going to need a better boat.
  Jessica BrodeFrank • Adrienne Adams (they/them) • Jessica Milby • Meredith Steinfels
• 1:15pm EDT: One brick less in the wall: the case of the Baden State Museum
  Johannes Bernhardt • Sonja Thiel • Christiane Lindner
• 1:15pm EDT: Stronger Together: Facing Retaliatory Tactics In Cultural Institutions
  Andrea Montiel de Shuman
• 2:15pm EDT: Collective Relevance: Curating Black Art & History Through Independent Praxis
  kYmberly Keeton
• 2:15pm EDT: Museums in 3021: Irrelevance? Or a Culture Built on Stewardship
  Jeremy Munro • Andrea Montiel de Shuman
• 3:15pm EDT: Why Museums? Recap
  Wided Khadraoui • Carolina Betancur • Lindsey Green
• 4:00pm EDT: Museum Trivia Network
  Barry Joseph • Ellice Engdahl • Paige Dansinger
• 4:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 8 Sponsored by Digital Transitions
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg

Wednesday, October 27: Latin America

• 10:00am EDT: Let’s Talk Donate2 Stream2 Flex2: cart-free transactions leveraging Stripe, Brightcove, and more
• 10:30am EDT: Decades of DAM: Get to Know Capturer
  Nick Caw
• 12:00 pm EDT: Welcome to Latin America
  Ana Martí • Eric Longo
• 12:15pm EDT: Small and Medium Museums Thriving on Digital
  Eric Longo • Ana Martí • Conxa Rodà
• 12:15pm EDT: Building Digital Capabilities at MALI (Museo de Arte de Lima)
  Raphaël Guyard
• 1:15pm EDT: Current Horizons of Latin American Museums
  Ana Martí • Andres Roldan • Florencia Croizet • Americo Castilla
• 2:00pm EDT: Intercept: the Open Source Solution to Event Management
  Jenna Van Oort
• 2:15pm EDT: What did we learn in Latin America? (Recap)
  Ana Martí • Eric Longo
• 3:00pm EDT: Speed Networking 9 sponsored by Capture
  Eric Longo • Anna Chiaretta Lavatelli

Thursday, October 28: Professional Development day

• 12:00pm EDT: Mentorship Office Hours
  Ashley Bowen • Courtney OCallaghan • Mark Osterman • Eric Longo
• 1:00pm EDT: An AMA with Museum Consultants
  Claudia Ocello • Chad Weinard • Lucy Redoglia • Emily Kotecki • Miranda Kerr
• 1:00pm EDT: Cover Letters and Interviews: What is the Job Market Now?
  Max Evjen
• 1:00pm EDT: Make that Network Werk, Werk, Werk for EMPs
  Sierra Van Ryck deGroot • Emily Esten
• 2:00pm EDT: Behind the Scenes: Understanding the Invisible Work of Museum Computing
  Katherine Jones • Paul Marty • Deborah Howes
• 2:00pm EDT: Stop, Cooperate, and LISTEN: Learning and Sharing in the Digital Workplace
  Rachel Ropeik (she/her) • Robert Weisberg • Kyle Bowen • Brittany Nazario (she/her) • Tamara Schwarz • Nathan Jones • Gretchen Henrich
• 3:00pm EDT: How to Train Staff to Support Social Media Efforts
  Lucy Redoglia • Emily Haight
• 3:00pm EDT: Developing and Managing a Successful Internship Program
  Krishnendu Adiyat • Caroline Culbert
• 4:00pm EDT: Introduction to Cultural-Futures
  Salome Asega • Eric Longo

Tuesday, November 9: Big Ideas!

• 12:00pm EST: Welcome to Big Ideas!
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg
• 12:15pm EST: Big Ideas Keynote
  Porchia Moore • nikhil trivedi
• 1:15pm EST: The Mythologies of Museums
  Susan Chun • Bruce Wyman • sherri wasserman
• 1:15pm EST: We can do more together: sharing a collection management system
  Carrie Evans (she/her/hers) • Erin Richardson • Isabel Cordova • Sydney Nguyen
• 1:15pm EST: “It’s not a companion.” One story. Two exhibitions.
  Silvina Fernandez-Duque • Han Xie • Alison Kitchens • Jennifer Koons • Jamison Harchar
• 2:15pm EST: Digital Collections as Product
  David Newbury • Daniel Brennan
• 2:15pm EST: Lost Jobs, Found Voices: A Documentary Theatre Exploration of Professional Loss
  Rachel Ropeik (she/her) • Alli Hartley-Kong • Mimosa Shah
• 2:15pm EST: Pandemic-Era Video Showcase and Critique
  Jonathan Munar • Ryan Waggoner • Sarah Wambold • Sarah Cowan
• 3:15pm EST: Big Ideas! Recap
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg
• 4:00pm EST: Speed Networking 10 Sponsored by Lucidea
  Eric Longo • Don Youngberg
• 8:00pm EST: Karaoke

Wednesday, November 10: Closing Keynote

• 12:00pm EST: Global Recap Panel
• Melanie Garcia Sympson • Lyn Hsieh • Lindsey Green • Victoria Stasiuk • Marty Spellerberg • Barry Joseph
• 1:00pm EST: Open Space Discussions, sponsored by L2 Interactive
• Don Youngberg
• 2:45pm EST: Closing Keynote
  Cyd Harrell
• 3:15pm EST: Closing Send Off
  Eric Longo • Seema Rao • Yvonne Lee