Improving Museums’ Storytelling Through Digital
Narratives
Offering new pathways to discover cultural heritage
Information sheet
Project description
Improving Museums’ Storytelling Through Digital Narratives will enable museums to use
creative storytelling techniques as a method for engaging new audiences and encouraging
participation in online and offline events. The project will provide support to 5 museums
across the Hampshire and Solent area over a period of one year.
The project will start in spring 2014 and finish in spring 2015. There is only one entry point to
the programme, which is an introductory workshop on April 7. We encourage you to
participate in the session, and enrol in the one-year programme to receive further support on
using digital and social media with clarity, confidence to create meaningful impact.
How will the project be delivered?
The project will be delivered through four phases that include a focus on:
1. Discovery and skills: Every museum is unique. In this phase we will prepare ourselves
to identify and share the stories that matter. We will also explore different techniques that
highlight both the people and collections in your museum in the right context.
2. Storytelling campaigns: Once we have identified the stories we want to share, we will
learn how to develop content for different social media channels to bring these stories to life.
In this phase we are taking a step towards using social media with clarity and confidence.
3. Building participation: Social media brings stories to life because we can build unique
communities online. Every community is a rich resource of discovery, anecdotes and
conversations. In this phase will start using social media to find new audiences and explore
ways of engaging them in virtual or physical events.
4. Building sustainability: Throughout the year we will explore different ideas and conduct
little experiments to come up with solutions that allow us to use social media on our own
terms. In this phase we will identify what worked and what didn’t. This information will be
used to create learning resources that you can use to continue sharing your stories online.
Your commitment:
The programme is designed to cater for different learning styles and organisational needs –
it is not a one size fits all approach. Each phase will have a strong training focus followed by
one-to-one support that will allow you to introduce new learning within your museum or solve
problems that are unique to your organisation.
Each organisation will need to commit approximately 8-10 days across the year to the
project. 4 of these days will be dedicated to group workshops which will include members
from all participating museums as well as from museums across the region.
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What are the benefits to your organisation?
This is unique opportunity to take part in a project that will allow you to develop an approach
to using social media with clarity, confidence and on your own terms. It will equip you with
skills to make the best of a medium that is constantly changing and evolving. Rather than
using social media just because, we will develop a bespoke plan of action that is unique to
your museums’ needs and matched to the available resources.
The project will:
1. Help you develop a unique Digital Identity for your museum
2. Give you an opportunity to showcase people and collections
3. Enable you to explore storytelling techniques using social media
4. Help you increase confidence to talk to audiences online
5. Support you to develop a long-term communication plan
The project will not:
1. Expect you to do more than is appropriate for your type of organisation
2. Give you a member of staff to run social media channels
3. Ask you to give up considerable amounts of time to run social media channels
Which organisations are eligible to apply?
To take part museums must be:
 Fully or provisionally accredited.
 Located in Hampshire, Portsmouth, Southampton or the Isle of Wight.
The following museums are not eligible to take part:
 National Museums
 Non-Accredited organisations
Who should be involved from our organisation?
This project is suitable for anyone from your organisation is either involved or interested in
using social and digital media. This includes curators, librarians and marketing and
communications staff.
What will be expected from participating organisations?
Applicants are required to:
1. Evidence the organisation’s support for participation in this programme and the ability to
respond to the advice and support you will receive as a result of this project.
2. Demonstrate a strong desire to build a unique digital footprint for your organisation using
social and digital, and the willingness to explore new ideas and share results with others.
3. Allocate appropriate resources and capacity to the project, and fully commit between 8-10
working days at intervals throughout the year.
4. Participate in the evaluation of the programme through case studies, conferences,
surveys and writing content for the project blog.
5. Provide a named lead individual who will be the main contact through the duration of the
project. However, you can nominate different individuals to participate in the workshops.
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6. Sign an agreement to confirm that the organisation will participate in the full programme of
training consultancy and network support.
Would you like to know more and take part?
Step 1: Download the information pack which is available on the South East Museum
Development website here. It includes: The Information Sheet, The Expression of Interest
Form and April 7 workshop information.
Step 2: Signup up for the ‘What is your Digital Identity?’ workshop on April 7. Coming to the
workshop does not commit you to take part in the full project but is an essential prerequisite.
Step 3: Make sure that you (and any other key decision makers) have digested the details
give in the information sheet and completed a draft of the Expression of Interest form in
advance of the workshop.
Step 4: Come to the workshop. Learn, explore and enjoy making connections.
Step 5: After the workshop you will have until 12 noon on Friday 11 April 2014 to submit
your Expression of Interest (EoI) form if you want to embark on the one year journey with all
its benefits. EoIs will be reviewed by the project consultants and museum development team
and a response given within 7 days.
Return your Expression of Interest form to Lucy Marder at mdo.office@hants.gov.uk
The deadline for submitting your application is 12 noon on Friday 11 April 2014.
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