QRator and the Grant Museum of Zoology Jack Ashby Museum Manager Grant Museum of Zoology University College

The “old” Grant Museum

The Grant Museum today

Delivering public engagement and impact Acting as a broker between external communities and the university. Providing established audiences for events Co-curation – swapping skills and knowledge Research venue

The challenge: Bring the Museum into 21 st century in museology and technology Add the visitor voice to the Museum Collaborate with CASA and DH Create something visitors want Innovate and experiment The Solution: QRator

Qrator is Questions on iPads For us – public engagement For partners – research, including a PhD For visitors – fun and thought- provoking

QRator does Asks questions linked to object-based displays on: How museums operate Science in society In order to Gather opinion Raise new ideas Invite thought

Potential pitfalls of community engagement Takes place behind closed doors Short-term Peripheral to key strategy Are exclusive Don’t necessarily represent “the community”

QRator: Social interpretation Meaningful for three groups –Active contributors –Passive readers –The Museum 100% of visitors are invited Entirely visible

Big challenge: Risks of partnership We do have different agendas We, the Museum, aren’t in control of it We all have something different to say about it The visitor doesn’t know it’s an experiment.

Major successes Visitors like it 4-5 years ahead of “adoption horizon” Social interpretation at IWM Museums and Heritage Award Museum of Brands

Jack Ashby Acknowledgements Claire Ross UCL Digital Humanities UCL CASA UCL Public Engagement Unit