Over the coming months, many of you will be attending Knowledge Sharing events hosted by the Museums Association.
Thanks to funding from the Monument Trust, the Monument Fellowships supported recently retired specialists to share their expertise with host organisations to enrich people’s engagement with collections and increase public benefit. Participants in the Sharing Knowledge events will gain practical tips from the experience of the fellowship scheme.
Museum research is driven by enquiry: deepening knowledge and generating new insights to animate collections, stimulating further investigation. Effective knowledge is essentially a process of learning – social, interactive and experiential.
Knowledge sharing, which is inclusive, and involves the full range of people who work in and with museums, generates new conversations and questions.
At Norton Priory, the Monument Fellow ran handling sessions for staff and volunteers and provided information on the medieval pottery collection. Staff working in the grounds were able to identify finds and talk to visitors about them.
In Norfolk, the Monument Fellow helped create new programmes with local schools, connected with specialist societies and enrolled volunteers to increase their understanding of printed ephemera and tools.
Sharing knowledge is not a “download” of information from “expert” to “lay”: it is dynamic and expansive, including “how do we know?” as well as “what do we know?”. Effective sharing gives confidence to others: to ask open questions and interrogate assumptions.
Let’s start with conversations in our own museums. Bring people together for an informal session with plenty of material to handle and discuss; share what’s known; hear others’ stories and insights; explore new thoughts and questions together.
Gaby Porter is a Museums Association board member, co-director of the Museum Leaders Programme and an independent consultant
Thanks to funding from the Monument Trust, the Monument Fellowships supported recently retired specialists to share their expertise with host organisations to enrich people’s engagement with collections and increase public benefit. Participants in the Sharing Knowledge events will gain practical tips from the experience of the fellowship scheme.
Museum research is driven by enquiry: deepening knowledge and generating new insights to animate collections, stimulating further investigation. Effective knowledge is essentially a process of learning – social, interactive and experiential.
Knowledge sharing, which is inclusive, and involves the full range of people who work in and with museums, generates new conversations and questions.
At Norton Priory, the Monument Fellow ran handling sessions for staff and volunteers and provided information on the medieval pottery collection. Staff working in the grounds were able to identify finds and talk to visitors about them.
In Norfolk, the Monument Fellow helped create new programmes with local schools, connected with specialist societies and enrolled volunteers to increase their understanding of printed ephemera and tools.
Sharing knowledge is not a “download” of information from “expert” to “lay”: it is dynamic and expansive, including “how do we know?” as well as “what do we know?”. Effective sharing gives confidence to others: to ask open questions and interrogate assumptions.
Let’s start with conversations in our own museums. Bring people together for an informal session with plenty of material to handle and discuss; share what’s known; hear others’ stories and insights; explore new thoughts and questions together.
Gaby Porter is a Museums Association board member, co-director of the Museum Leaders Programme and an independent consultant
