Below is a list of select publications and presentations organized under the following headings:
Museology
Inclusive Design & Accessibility
Digital & Transmedia
Digital Systems & Infrastructure
Design & Creative
Links to slides, video, and publications and are included when possible.
November 2019
Digital Affordance: Rich Audience Engagement and Sustainable Museum Practices
This plenary, given in Seoul, South Korea, during a museums and digitalization symposium, looks at how digital media and technologyc an be used to increase audience engagement, while also providing sustainable operating practices. Link to slides.
April 2018
Disruption: Alternative Museum Practices That Yield Engaging & Strategic Results
This session of the CMA 2018 in Vancouver had people sitting on the floor and standing in the hall. After I provided a brief overview on the context of engagement in museum sectors today, myself and 2 museum colleagues presented a case study each that succinctly summarized the intention, success, and failure of participative and authority “yielding” projects from 3 of Canada’s national museums. An informed and facilitated discussion with the audience then took place around the 3 projects, their commonalities, and differences. Link to slides.
November 2017
Dialogue Museum: Storytelling at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights
The closing paper presented at the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM) conference in Rosario, Argentina saw me examine how an interactive storytelling approach can engage audiences, provoke empathy, and facilitate understanding amongst diverse audience demographics.
September 2017
Dialogue Museum: Intangible Heritage and Transmedia Storytelling
Through this paper and presentation I described the exhibition design approach of the CMHR – presenting intangible heritage through a transmedia storytelling in order to encourage reflection, facilitate dialogue, and build empathy. In 2016 I opened the Best in Heritage Conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia (specially invited speakers describing their award winning projects) by presenting the award-winning CMHR mobile app. In 2017 I closed the conference with this presentation. A back-to-back, extremely heart-felt, privilege.
May 2017
Planning the Digital Museum
Coinciding with the release of the new book (The Manual of Digital Museum Planning) this session at the American Alliance of Museums 2017 Conference (St. Louis) was an overview of 3 of the key chapters, delivered by 3 of the book’s contributors (myself, Rob Stein, and book editor Ali Hossaini).
May 2017
The Manual of Digital Museum Planning
Contributed a chapter for the book touted as “the comprehensive guide to digital planning for museums”. In the tradition of Lord Cultural Resource’s renowned manuals, this book gives practical advice on how digital can enhance and improve all aspects of the museum. Link to book here.
March 2017
The Idea Museum: Intangible Museum Collections and Dialogic Experience Design
Article published by Museum-iD Magazine (issue 20) on the practical outcomes of delivering an “idea museum” as it affects collections management and exhibition curation, design, and development. Link to online version.
November 2016
Strategic Analytics for Museum
One of 4 panelists at MCN2016 in New Orleans, demonstrating the potential strategic and integrated analytics holds for cultural institutions in order to make information-based decisions and increase sustainable operations, while simultaneously providing more personalized engagement opportunities for audiences.
April 2016
Learning From Our Mistakes
One of 4 Canadian museum leaders to participate in the Canadian Museum Association annual conference session in Halifax, presenting a failing so that other museum professionals could share and learn from one another.
April 2015
New National Museum, New Ways of Engagement
Panel presentation at the Canadian Museum Association Conference in Banff, analyzing areas of community, stakeholder, and visitor engagement, from the earliest phases of content development through to exhibition design and development.
November 2014
Case Study: Canadian Museum for Human Rights – Now Open
An MCN session in Dallas, in which I presented 10 highlights of innovation from the museum design and development project (related to technology). I invited 3 panelists who worked on the CMHR project (1 staff, 2 contractors) from different disciplines to describe and debate the success and failure of the various innovations. It was extremely well received by the audience as a great lessons learned, information sharing event.
November 2012
Closing Plenary
At MCN 2012 in Seattle my closing plenary involved recapping the greatest themes of the conference and tying them together into tangible take-aways for the conference attendees.
December 2011
The Future of Museums
A contribution for the Future of Museums feature of Museum-iD Magazine, issue 10. Published by Museum-iD.
March 2011
Placing Our Bets: Building a National Museum From Scratch
A chapter published in Creativity & Technology: Social Media, Mobiles, and Museums. Published by MuseumsEtc.
April 2009
Reaching School-based users with museum digital content: A comparative analysis of new initiatives in Australia and Canada
A paper published by Museums and the Web and a panel presentation at MW2009 in Indianapolis. Panel discussion was moderated by co-author Darren Peacock.
March 2009
Project Redesign — Engaging Our Audience
One of 3 panelists who will provide unscripted responses to questions on the subject of how a large-scale Web redesign project can affect established workflow and business processes. Canadian Museum Association (CMA) Conference in Toronto.
February 2006
Engaged Dialogism in Virtual Space (collected in: Theorizing Digital Cultural Heritage)
Chapter focusing on concepts of persuasion and linguistic theory as applied to engagement building in cultural settings. Published by MIT Press available here.
April 2004
Digitized Cultural Content: Understanding Our Audiences
Conference Workshop – Canadian Museum Association Conference (CMA 2004, Quebec, QC).
November 2003
Audience Research and Engagement in the Online Environment
Conference Session – Museum Computing Network Conference (MCN 2003, Las Vegas, NV) User Needs and Evaluation session.
INCLUSIVE DESIGN & ACCESSIBILITY
June 2020
Designing for Inclusive Experiences
Sina Bahram and I were invited to join frog designs’ session for San Francisco Design Week 2020. Over the course of this 90 minute session we elaborated our methodology, the key considerations of an inclusive approach, and described some use cases and examples of our work. We then participated in an examination of previous work from frog and contemplated how if undertaken today, the design approach might have changed in order to be more inclusive.
April 2020
Inclusive Design Question and Answer Hour
A 60 minute, unscripted Q&A session held at the MuseWeb conference in Boston saw Sina Bahram and I return to the previous year’s format and facilitate discussion based on topics raised by conference delegates. Topics included anything related to inclusive design and accessibility across the museum enterprise.
May 2019
Inclusion: Rich Experience Design for All
This session held at the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) general convention in New Orleans examined opportunities for increasing rich and multi-sensory experience design in service of greater inclusion and access.
April 2019
Inclusive Design Question and Answer Hour
A 60 minute, unscripted Q&A session held at the MuseWeb conference in Boston saw Sina Bahram and I field questions across the ecosystem of inclusive experience design, and document answers for distribution to the wider MuseWeb community.
March 2019
Arts Build Ontario – Best Practices for Accessibility
An online session/webinar examining the various roles and decision making aspects related to capital projects and where opportunities lie for increasing inclusion and accessibility across the entirety of a project.
May 2018
MTMG Executive: Inclusive Design Workshop
A 1/2 day workshop given to 25 cultural organizations in Milan, hosted at BASE Milano and organized by Meet The Media Guru. This intimate workshop saw me lead participants through a discussion on increasing inclusive and access at various museums, galleries, and art centres. I also provided a 45min lecture on best practices and considerations to apply to the various “problems” brought forward for discussion and workshopping. Slides from lecture portion.
March 2018
AODA Built Environment Forum
One of 30 universal design and accessibility practitioners participating by invite in a day-long forum on accessibility within built environments in Toronto. Hosted by the Accessibility Directorate of the Government of Ontario. The final stage of the forum had me present a closing plenary on inclusive design and accessibility within the cultural sector.
June 2017
Behind the Scenes: The Inclusive Museum (Members Event)
A 30 minute presentation to museum members on the history of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights inclusive design and accessibility practice – how it began and why, as well as presentation of challenges and journey of evolving this industry leading methodology. Followed by a talk-show style panel with 2 colleagues (Manager, Design and Production; Supervisor, Program Delivery and Service) who are heavily involved in executing my directions/vision and the museum’s ambitions in this area.
June 2017
The Accessible Museum: Manitoba Access Awareness Week
90-minute presentation on the history of establishing the inclusive design practices at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, as well as the projects currently in development. Delivered as part of the provincial event “Manitoba Access Awareness Week”, organized by the Government of Manitoba’s Office of Manitoba’s Disabilities Issues Office.
May 2017
Multi-sensory Technology for Accessibility & Inclusion
A panelist at the American Alliance of Museums Conference 2017 (St. Louis) on how technology can play a role in offering inclusive and accessible experiences. Presented with the Institute for Human Centered Design. My focus was on the role of technology in concert with other tactics, in order to provide a comprehensively robust and accessible experience for all.
April 2017
Inclusive Design Practices: Strategies and Skills for Museum Practitioners
A 1/2 day hands-on workshop created and delivered as part of the 2017 Canadian Museums Association Conference, with my colleague Gabrielle Trepanier from CMST. I gave a short lecture on best practices, then participants – armed with new knowledge, cheat sheets and set activities – were brought to the exhibition of the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, to evaluate the program from an inclusive/accessibility perspective. The participants returned to discuss and debate findings, then were grouped to create prototype solutions. Slide deck from the lecture can be viewed here.
December 2016
The Accessible Museum: Creating an Inclusive Experience For All
Paper published by IAUD (International Association for Universal Design) on the methodology created and employed at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and the outcomes of such a methodology.
December 2016
The Accessible Museum: The Canadian Museum for Human Rights
Presentation at the IAUD (International Association for Universal Design) annual conference in Nagoya, Japan illustrating the approach and practical outcomes of an inclusive design methodology applied to a cultural institution.
April 2016
Inclusive Design: From Approach to Execution
Paper written for MW2016 in Los Angeles. Was selected as the paper of the proceedings for MW2016 and was also included as one of the top 20 most important papers of the past 20 years for MWXX. Available here.
April 2016
3D Photoworks & Tactile Imaging
Participated as a guest speaker at the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) presentation by John Olson of 3DPhotoWorks demonstrating the technology and its impact.
March 2016
Inclusive and Universal Design for All
Lecture to the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WHRA) working group on universal design and access.
November 2015
The Inclusive Museum
Public presentation as part of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights evening public speaker series, presenting the inclusive design approach and innovation at the museum.
October 2015
The Great Canadian Quest for an Inclusively Rich Experience
Chapter in NAME’s Exhibition Journal (formerly The Exhibitionist Magazine) on the industry leading inclusive design and accessibility practice and innovations I established at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Published by AAM (American Alliance of Museums) and available here.
April 2014
Inclusive Design Panel & Crit Room
I once again chaired the Inclusive Design stream at Museums and Web in Baltimore. Chairing the crit session and hosting the Accessing Smartphones: Mobile for All in Museums presentation, by panelists from Antenna International, Seattle Art Museum, Art Beyond Sight, and Capp UK. Morgan Holzer (NY Public Library) and Sina Bahram (President, Prime Access) participated with me as critics.
April 2013
Establishing Sound Practice: Ensuring Inclusivity in Exhibitions
The paper was peer reviewed and published by MW and presented at the annual conference in Portland. It can be found digitally at the this link.
April 2018
Facing The Future: Natural User Interfaces And Transmedia Spaces In Museums
A paper and panel presentation at Museums and the Web 2018 in Vancouver, that explores using medium and material to create immersion, and action on the part of the visitor to develop increased engagement in exhibitions. The facilitator of these design tactics being tangible and natural interfaces within the trans and mixed-media setting. Paper | Slides
April 2017
Transmedia Storytelling
As part of a co-presentation/panel titled The Digital Museum: Inspiring Solutions, at the Canadian Museum Association 2017 conference in Ottawa, I gave a presentation on the role digital media and digital technology can play as complement to artefact, scenographic, and typical exhibition design.
September 2016
Mobile Ubiquity
Presented Mobile Ubiquity and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights multi-award winning mobile app, at the Best in Heritage conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia. One of 44 featured award winning cultural heritage projects from around the world. Presentation available here.
March 2014
Building a National Museum’s Media Strategy
An essay on the strategic approach to executing an scalable media strategy to engage visitors and ensure efficient, sustainable operations. Published by Museums Etc. in the book 10 Must Reads: Strategies
November 2012
Building a Museum from Scratch: Where to Begin, Where to Go, and How to Get There
Presentation at MCN 2012 in Seattle describing the strategic and creative design approaches to developing a national exhibition program from scratch.
January 2012
Conversations with Visitors: Social Media and Museums
The chapter included in Creativity & Technology: Social Media, Mobiles, and Museums was requested for republication. An updated version was included. Published by MuseumEtc.
September 2010
Social Media for Social Action
A 30-minute presentation at the Federation of International Human Rights Museums’ (FIHRM) inaugural conference in Liverpool at the International Slavery Museum that explored how social media could be used to instigate social action.
April 2010
Museums, Mobile Devices, and Social Media – Where are we today and what’s next?
Invited to give a plenary address at this event hosted by Rutgers University and the Liberty Science Centre in New Jersey. My plenary focused on building towards ubiquity and the perspective switch that there is no Web 2.0. I also hosted a panel presentation that addressed “a new kind of museum”.
April 2007 – present
GLAMi Awards Program Member and Judge (formerly Best of the Web)
Judging the Gallery Library Archive and Museum Innovation Awards competition involves determining eligibility, program guidelines, rating criteria, and performing a comprehensive analysis of submissions.
DIGITAL SYSTEMS & INFRASTRUCTURE
November, 2017
The Museum of (Digital) Things: Diverse Strategies for Managing Digital Experiences
This panel examined individual case studies from 4 leading digitally-rich museums, each with their own model for ensuring the rich, digital visitor interactions are managed in a sustainable, cost-effective, and scalable manner. My presentation focused on how the Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) I conceptualized for CMHR continues to allow the CMHR to operate its programs in an extremely responsive manner, while guaranteeing sustainable operations over time. The other case studies presented at this session in Pittsburg were from Cleveland Museum of Art (Gallery One), Ingenium (Canada Museum of Science and Innovation), and Science World British Columbia.
May 2017
Leveraging Insight with Analytics for Data Driven Decisions
A panel at the American Alliance of Museums Conference 2017 (St. Louis) that looked at examined how analytics can be integrated to digital systems and infrastructure in order to facilitate informed decision making across various business units and streams within cultural institutions.
April 2015
ECMS + ALM
A repeat of the presentation/lecture I gave in Sept 2015 to the ANSM, this time to the Nova Scotia Library Association workshop presentation on the creation of an innovative mixed content management and archive, library, and museum collection management system (Halifax).
September 2015
Enterprise Content Management For Museums and Libraries
Association of Nova Scotia Museum (ANSM) workshop presentation in Halifax on the creation of an innovative mixed content management and archive, library, and museum collection management system.
April 2014
Integrating Media – the Full 360°
One of 4 presenters on this topic at the Canadian Museum Association (CMA) conference in Toronto, where I described the rational and concept design of the Enterprise Content Management System that I designed for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, focusing on why it is relevant for all museums.
January 2010
The Web + Social Media
I delivered a 2-hour session on how an organization should strategically position itself when considering the evolution of the Web, at the Canadian Museum Association’s annual Museum Retail and Visitor Services symposium in Toronto.
February 2009
Search Engine Optimization and Web 2.0 Workshops
CHIN was engaged by an organization called the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to share our expertise with their stakeholders. A 3-day workshop on search engine optimization and social media to registered group of 30 people (the workshop was filled to maximum capacity) was held in London, England. While there I also participated in a forum with several other cultural and higher education institutions on the same subject.
April 2008
3D Artefacts: Enriching User Interaction with Your Collections
A paper published by Museums and the Web and a panel presentation at MW2008 in Montreal on three new imaging technologies we used in projects. Co-authored with 2 colleagues from Canada’s National Research Council (NRC).
March 2003
Designing a Sustainable Web Site: A Guide for Heritage Institutions
Article – Spectra (Museum Computing Network’s quarterly journal)
September 2002
The Virtual Museum of Canada: A Framework of Activities for Skills Development and Collaborative Creative Work
Conference Workshop – Museum Computing Network Conference (MCN 2002, Toronto, ON). Wrote and facilitated 1 of 5 chapters titled “The Visual Experience”.
November 2019
Multi-Sensory Design Towards Inclusion and Access
This session at Museum Computer Network (MCN) in San Diego saw Sina Bahram and I examine the application of multi-sensory environmental design tactics for rich experience creation. We highlighted where these affordances realized opportunities but also gaps in their attempts to increase engagement and inclusion. Slides are available here.
May 2018
Multi-Sensory Design, Transmedia Inclusive Storytelling (Meet The Media Guru)
It was my great pleasure to be invited to Milan as the feature speaker for Meet The Media Guru. Hosted at the Trienale di Milano, I spoke about my concepts of multi-sensory design, and participative and inclusive engagement to a sold out audience. Promo Vid (Eng w/ It subtitles) | Event Photos | Video Capture of Lecture (Eng) | Slides (w/o video)
January 2018
Nouvelles écritures : du contenu immersif dans l’espace public
As 1 of 3 panelists in this All Access Symposium session (presented by On Screen Manitoba) we were unscripted and interviewed in a French-language talk-show format presentation exploring new ways in which content can be presented in public spaces. Focusing on Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and mixed-form installation design, I challenged the audience to consider what the film/video/tv “screen” could actually be – far more than a 16×9 rectangle – and how great storytelling can be applied through trans and mixed-media.
November 2017
Exhibition Design: Transmedia Storytelling
As part of the Design Trends: A Glimpse Into the Future session at the Canadian Museums Association’s Future of Exhibition Design Symposium in Montreal. I presented key considerations on how to design with a transmedia storytelling approach, and what the impacts on visitor engagement and inclusion could and would be for any museum.
April 2017
Inspiring Agency: Trans and Mixed Media Storytelling
The opening plenary of Digifest 2017 (Toronto) saw me examine how stories have the power to inspire and good storytelling has the power to engage. Slides.
April 2016
Digital Engagement
Presentation at the Canadian Museum Association conference in Halifax on digital engagement of a different kind — bridging in-gallery and remote audiences and experience.
November 2013
User Testing for Dummies, Panel on Mobile, Program Committee
At MCN 2013 in Montreal, I co-hosted a ½ day workshop on user testing and user-centred design methodology. The workshop was sold out. I also chaired a panel on Mobile Technologies used in-gallery, with panelists from MoMA and the Ontario Science Centre. I was also a program committee member for the conference at large.
October 2010
Building an Interactive Experience
For those who know my work and my perspective, interactive means a lot more than pushing buttons on an interface. My session at the Museum Computer Network Conference in Austin Texas explored what building a truly interactive experience means and how technology can be a great facilitator of the dialogic experience.
November 2008
Virtual Museum of Canada — The Next Generation
A case study presentation given at the Museum Computing Network (MCN) conference 2008 in Washington. The format involved a short presentation of 10 minutes (on the conceptual and schematic designs of the new virtual museum) followed by a 60 minute question and answer session.
August 2007
Agora — A Collaborative Virtual Learning Environment
A concept paper published by ACM SIGGRAPH (Association for Computing Machinery’ Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques). Published in August 2007. Accompanying presentation took place at SIGGRAPH’s S2007 conference in San Diego (August 2007) – the world’s largest annual design conference. (link to abstract)
November 2004
Guest Lecture – BIT Program, Carleton University
Guest lecture to 1st year Information Technology students at Carleton University in Ottawa on my design methodology, and best practices, as well as my personal journey from law to design.
October 2004
Taiwanese Delegation Presentation
Presentation given to a diplomatic Taiwanese delegation on the design methodology and history of design at the Canadian Heritage Information and the Virtual Museum of Canada (Gatineau, Quebec, QC).
November 2002
Design, Intention, Engagement
Seminar – ACM CapCHI, (Association of Computing Mechanics, Special Interest Group on Computer Human Interaction, Ottawa Chapter, Ottawa, ON)