Webinars — or how online digital seminars are commonly designated — were offered occasionally in higher education (e.g. MOOCs) for some years. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic made them ubiquitous.

UMAC Post-Lockdown Series

Webinar I: Reopening to the Public

Has your university museum, botanic garden or science center reopened to the public or will reopen soon? What safety measures are you implementing in your exhibitions and public spaces? Will you reopen totally or partly? If you are on campus, how are you coping with the restrictions of a closed campus?

Moderators: Andrew Simpson (Australia), Marta Lourenco (Portugal)

5 June 2020, 2 videos (Part 1, Part 2)

The chats from these two videos are also available here.

Webinar II: Reopening Collections

Is your university museum resuming access to collections post-lockdown? What safety measures are you implementing? Do you plan to quarantine specimens, artefacts, manuscripts and books post-access? What impact did COVID have on your collections policy? Are you collecting COVID objects?

Moderators: Akiko Fukuno (Japan), Sébastien Soubiran (France)

12 June 2020, 2 videos (Part 1, Part 2)

The chats from these two videos are also available here.

Further information about COVID-19 and collections, from T. Rose Holdcraft, senior conservator at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University (USA):

“.….to evaluate and develop guidelines on how to handle materials, training, and cleaning in a lessened, but still persistent, COVID-19 presence. Other collecting institutions on the Steering Committee are the American Alliance for Museums, the Association of Science and Technology Centers, National Archives and Records Administration, the Children’s Museums Association, the Smithsonian Institution, and the American Library Association, among others.”
 

Further resources provided by Leslie Freund, Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley, USA:

Further resources provided by Isabel García Fernandez, Vice-Rector at the Universidad Complutense Madrid, Spain:

Further resources suggested by Katie Eagleton, Director Museums University of St Andrews, UK:

Webinar III: Lockdown Lessons: Going Digital

During lockdown, did your university museum, science center, botanic garden remain active online? Was your university museum prepared? What technological, logistical, content challenges did ‘going digital’ pose? What lessons did you learn for the future?

Moderators: Roland Wittje (India), Jill Deupi (USA)

19 June 2020, 2 videos (Part 1, Part 2)

The chats from these two videos are also available here.

Webinar III presentations:

  • Danielle Sim, Assistant Manager (Outreach & Education), NUS Baba House, NUS Museum, National University of Singapore PDF
  • Florian Knothe, Director, University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong PDF
  • Gustavo Ortiz Serrano, Director, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Bogota, Uniminuto PDF
  • Mark Osterman, Digital Experience Manager and Head of Education, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami PDF

Webinar IV: Lockdown Lessons: Online Teaching and Students

Was your university museum or collection being used for teaching? Were you teaching material culture or collections-based courses at graduate or post-graduate levels when the lockdown started? What were the challenges of moving object-based teaching online? Which platforms did you use? Did you create specific resources? How did students cope? How can we prepare for a future where online teaching appears to be predominant?

Moderators: Alistair Kwan (New Zealand), Kirsten Vincenz (Germany)

26 June 2020, 2 videos (Part 1, Part 2)

The chats from these two videos are also available here.

Webinar IV presentations:

  • Neil Curtis, Catherine Eagleton, Susannah Waters on behalf of UMIS, University Museums in Scotland (nine member museums)  PDF
  • Luz Gomez Piñerez, Tecnologico de Antioquia, Colombia PDF
  • Carlos Fernandes, Faraday Museum, Técnico, University of Lisbon, Portugal PDF

Webinar V: Lockdown Lessons: The Near Future

What is the immediate and mid-term impact of COVID in your university museum and collection? What consequences do you anticipate in terms of audiences, logistics, finances, access, even mission and strategy?

Moderators: David Ellis (Australia), Steph Scholten (UK)

3 July 2020, 2 videos (Part 1, Part 2)

The chats from these two videos are also available here.

Webinar V presentations:

  • Josh Yiu, Art Museum, the Chinese University of Hong Kong PDF
  • Mary Ann Lim, NUS Museum, National University of Singapore PDF
  • Zhao Ke, Electronic Science and Technology Museum, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China PDF

Further resources provided by:

Anna Jones, Museum of the English Rural Life, University of Reading (UK):

T. Rose Holdcraft, senior conservator at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University (USA)

See also UMAC YouTube channel.