Session 4: Building Positive Resilience
Talking Threads at the Pitt Rivers Museum: Community Engagement and Documentation in a Pandemic
Talking Threads is a project that integrates museum documentation and community engagement. It aims to enhance photographic and written documentation of selected textile collections in ways that are helpful for weaving practitioners, specialists and interested members of originating communities. This presentation illustrates the tools, techniques and platforms that the project is utilising to keep the conversations engaging as well as meaningful. In light of the Covid-19 pandemic and global restrictions on travel and in-person visits, it was vital that the project adapted to the circumstances. By making use of digital communication technology that is accessible for the communities, the project team attempt to create an experience as close to an in-person research visit as possible. A multi-camera view complete with live-streaming microscope is set up, mostly using the existing equipment in the conservation lab. Simultaneously, it is important to consider the digital divide: the varying degrees of internet access in different communities, and have a flexible and adaptive attitude to these communication tools. The team have also seized the opportunity to get creative with producing informative, dynamic and engaging content on social media to highlight different aspects of the textiles collection, aiming to engage and capture the imagination of the wider public, especially during the closure of the museum.