SO-CLOSE is rapidly approaching its third and final year and while we have already achieved many of our goals, some big milestones are yet to come. Next summer, our consortium will hold four Open Day Events, one at each of the cultural institution’s locations (MONTE, VDA, MUME, GFR) to present the three digital sharing tools to the public. Local citizens, refugees, and policy-makers will get the opportunity to test the tools, experience the spaces of the cultural institutions and engage in lively exchange about cultural heritage and forced migration.
Participatory virtual exhibition
Which was the collaborative design process?
As leaders of Work Package 4 Implementation and Validation, the team at Lund University is currently planning all relevant steps for next year’s Open day events to become a valuable and exciting experience for all involved. Within WP4, we will generate co-created content, fill the tools with said content, implement the tools at each of the cultural institutions, document the process of local adaptation, and evaluate the quality of the tools and the process.
Each cultural institution will implement two out of the three sharing tools developed in WP3. This requires specific skills and resources that are best summarized in the role of a curator. A curator must coordinate:
- – the gathering of relevant past and present content,
- – the selection and editing of content,
- – the contextualization and connection of both past and present content,
- – the embedding of content in engaging stories to fill the sharing tools with, and
- – the design of offline and online spaces/events for stakeholders to engage with the content and contribute with own perspectives and ideas.
The curation steps need to be understood from a holistic perspective in which each element informs the other. To fill the tools with compelling content and embed them in an engaging Open day event, we are currently planning a training event to implement guidelines for several necessary curation steps:
While both, recording and archiving are relevant steps to ensure access to visual and audio footage, it is equally important to reflect on editing, storytelling, accessibility, and – in the special case of SO-CLOSE – the historical connections between past and present content. SO-CLOSE experts from different fields have worked out various guidelines to support these steps. In an upcoming training event, the consortium will finalize these guidelines and begin implementing the content gathering plans.
This co-created training and guideline process will ensure that the tools at the end of So-Close’s project phase will offer creative and versatile solutions for cultural institutions in diverse contexts.
Stay tuned for more insights on the training event in November 2021, and our Open Day Events in Summer 2022!
