Chair
Chelsea Shannon, Manager of Interpretation, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Chelsea Shannon is the Manager of Interpretation at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. She oversees a team that plans, produces, and evaluates the Museum’s interpretive resources including audio guides and digital interactive experiences. Chelsea is also the co-author of Photography: A 21st Century Practice, the new comprehensive introductory photography textbook from Routledge’s Focal Press.
Co-chair
Kajva Armstrong, Associate, Site Operations, Room to Grow
Kajva Armstrong (they/them) is the current co-chair of the Educational and Interpretive Media SIG for MCN. They are an Associate, Site Operations for Room to Grow. Previously, they were Visitor Experience Associate and Exhibit Mentor at the Boston Children’s Museum, and also served on the Museum’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. They also do freelance art installation and handling at the SOWA Artist’s Guild in South Boston, and are particularly involved in other areas of MCN. Aside from co-chairing the SIG this year, 2020 marks their 5th MCN as a conference attendee and volunteer, and their 2nd year as a conference committee member. They are excited to continue working on making the SIG better and a hub of all things #museumed as we move beyond COVID into 2022!
Mission
Our mission is to create a community of practice and to build knowledge and skills around the planning and implementation of media and experiences that support visitor’s connections to collections and ideas. The group addresses role of digital interpretation and educational tools in the museum and the use of digital media for connecting with museum visitors across a wide array of platforms both in the museum and online.
Communication
- Monthly Google hangouts
- MCN Member Portal
- Other ways as determined by SIG chairs
Potential SIG Topics
This community seeks to support and foster conversation around the following topics:
- Methods for the digital interpretation of the collection
- Facilitating visitor engagement and learning with objects and ideas
- Making collections digitally accessible to the public
- Inclusive accessibility of interpretation in the museum
- Cross-departmental collaboration
- Best practices for digital interpretation
- Organizational structures for interpretive media- who is responsible?
- Evaluation for digital projects and interpretive media
- Leading content creation vs. content development as service
- Education and Interpretation crossover
- Who makes digital content? Pathways to museum interpretation
- Qualifications and skills of being in museum interpretation
- Storytelling and empathy