Tapping into volunteer talent -- an unconference summary

Four of us gathered in a Commonwealth corner to join Bob Ketner of the Tech Museum in San Jose, CA to talk about how to tap into volunteer talent. At the Tech Museum, Ketner is part of an initiative that encourages the public to submit ideas for exhibit designs for the museum. Not only that, but there The Tech Virtual is called an online museum design community that hopes to tap into a worldwide pool of talented people who are not only willing to submit fresh ideas to the Tech Museum, but are passionate about the varying topics.

All five of us were from different areas, geographically and professionally.

Carys Morgan is from the National Library of Wales, and she is currently working on getting volunteers to contribute content to the library's history database. History of Wales, personal anecdotes, photos, etc. The initiative is pretty new, but content generation is the biggest priority, and she came to this session to figure out how to reach out to her institution's constituents.

Mimi Roberts and her colleague Lauren (sorry, I didn't catch her last name!), from the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs work with lots of volunteers in many capacities: college & high school students, interns, retirees, scientists, etc.

I am undergraduate student at Penn State Brandywine finishing up my junior year, and beginning the daunting thesis process. Majoring in educational technology & curriculum development, I decided to pursue a partnership with the Academy of Natural Sciences, here in Philadelphia, where I'll be working on a Google Earth project for their website. I wanted to step into this unconference to see what museums are looking for in volunteers, college students, and interns like myself.

Bob started by describing the Tech Museum's initiative: getting volunteers involved in exhibit and video creation, taking ownership of content while helping out the museum. It was a fresh idea that I'd never heard of (albeit I am just joining the museum world...) and was excited to hear more. Quality videos and exhibit proposals have been submitted and utilized in the museum, but Bob wanted to figure out how to reach out to more people to generate even more content. The Tech Museum plans on hosting an online event with several other institutions to promote and encourage public engagement with science.

My first thought, as a member of generation X, was SOCIAL MEDIA IS THE ANSWER! I've seen a lot of online initiatives that have generated curiosity -- contests in flickr, tumblr, twitter, etc., or changing an avatar on facebook or myspace to raise awareness, and in my own undergraduate studies, I'm about to participate in an online media blast with my Earth science class to raise awareness about the global water crisis (we'll be posting podcasts on tumblr, updating twitter, and utilizing delicious social bookmarking).College students (at least some of them!) are so involved in social media, and they are so hungry for opportunities to do research or submit something important to an organization with meaning!

Mimi pointed out that interns "care about the subject and can do something with completeness and quality." So how do museums tap into this rich resource of excited minds? Carys talked about her struggle to engage patrons in her historical documentation project. Although the library has received a great variety of content (photos, anecdotes, audio, video), she needed help with a call to action. Especially since a lot of the most rich information comes from an older demographic -- one who is not necessarily tech-savvy. Mimi suggested a partnership between older patrons and students.

She and Lauren went on to explain a similar partnership that flourished at their institution: one between scientists and students. Students were looking to convey the origin of life, and after a 2 hour face-to-face meeting with some scientists, they came up with an idea that perfectly illustrates not only how the geosphere and biosphere influenced each other and life's origin, but the brilliance of collaboration. "How students have been able to translate science visually is really amazing," Mimi said.

Bob pointed out that face-to-face meetings are not always easy to schedule. Problem solving? Skype! Personally, I don't think I would have been able to sign onto the project I'm doing with the Academy without face-to-face sessions, although Skype would be a sufficient alternative. Carys talked about finding groups with a particular interest in her cause, and how that provided fruitful results. However, she pointed out, the more groups you reach out to, the more people you have to keep in contact with, answering questions and trouble-shooting if they need extra support. It's a huge investment.

We also talked about crowd-sourcing... what does it really mean? Is it valuable? Getting one dedicated intern or volunteer is often more valuable than content from a large crowd. An intern's time investment can often produce a consistent, focused, quality piece of work that can be built upon. Crowd-sourcing requires a lot of time from museum professionals to filter, synththesize, and curate content.

As a Museums & the Web beginner, this was the richest experience I've had yet! It was interesting to pick everyone's brains and hear about the intriguing initiatives each of these organizations have created.

Ideas for generating volunteers:

• online events
• social media blasts
• contests
• partnerships w/ specific groups of people: students, retirees, teachers, etc.
• partnships w/ other museums