September 2017 Update

It is hard to believe that we have reached the end of September - where did the month go? We have been very busy this month.

NovaMuse celebrated its 5th birthday on September 13th! We had a contest planned that day on social media. Our Facebook audience was asked to join in on a scavenger hunt and find the following items on NovaMuse: 1) cake (of course!) 2) a birthday card 3) an outfit for the party. This was a fun and interactive contest that we received great feedback from, please let me know if you would like us to continue these sorts of contests in the future. Those who helped us locate the items shared their finds in the comments section of the post. Congratulations are in order for Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame, West Hants Historical Society Museum, and Shelburne County Museum whose names were drawn for a prize.

Zak - Museum Hack

On September 22nd we held our Annual General Meeting/Symposium at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool. Thanks to everyone who joined us that day and to our presenters! A special thanks to our key note speaker, Zac from Museum Hack who joined us all the way from New York.

Sheryl Stanton
& Rodney Chaisson

We would also like to congratulate Sheryl Stanton, Former Curator/Administrator of the Admiral Digby Museum (Digby, Nova Scotia) who received ANSM's Award for Excellence in Museum Practices.

We were also excited to relaunch the NovaMuse website that day! If you haven't already done so, please watch our latest YouTube video for an introduction.

We have many great features on the new and improved site! Be sure to check out the What's New section on the homepage to see recent uploads. We hope you also enjoy the new resources available. There are nifty sample activities under the For Teachers Tab. You will also notice that the search options are more user-friendly and straightforward.

The website is much more interactive and encourages users to share their favourite images of artifacts. This is why it is crucial that our partnering museums continue to upload high quality images of their artifacts.

Under the MyNovaMuse tab there is an option for users to create User Galleries, in which users can create groupings of their favourite artifacts. The galleries can be set to private or public. There will also be an option for Advisory Service sites to create Contributor Galleries. We are in the process of setting up the contributor galleries and will reach out to the museums shortly. In the meantime, have fun brainstorming how you will utilize this feature. Might I suggest, grouping items for research projects and exhibits? This is also the perfect place to group items for SMEs that you are working with in your community!

CollectiveAccess 

449 new records and 1717 new images were entered this month, which means we now collectively have 289069 artifacts documented with 148001 associated images. These are really great numbers. Well done!

Here's what the numbers look like at the regional level:
Southwest - 126524 artifacts, 60929 images
Central - 100001 artifacts, 42191 images
Northeast - 33077 artifacts, 30326 images
Cape Breton - 29467 artifacts, 14555 images

A big congratulations to the Central region for breaking the 100,000 mark for number of records in CollectiveAccess!

Tip this month - It's all about the details!

Before -  84.1516  

With the relaunch of NovaMuse, it is important that high quality images are uploaded in CollectiveAccess. Your NovaMuse audience may be seeing your artifact for the first time so it's important to upload more than one photograph. Think about capturing your artifact at different angles (i.e. front, back, side). Remember to also photograph details, such as manufacturer marks and interesting features on an item. Try to eliminate clutter in the background and include the scale in the bottom left-hand corner. Example on the left: a weight or stay for tethering horses.

After - 84.1516 

SME Work

Kassandra did a phenomenal job this summer leading the SME partnerships. We have worked through a lot of information with our dedicated SMEs and are continuing to make adjustments to records in CollectiveAccess. If any of your records have been adjusted, you will receive a full report from me once this work is completed. Thank you for your patience!

Want to partner with SME's in your own community and not sure where to start? Check out our Working with Subject Matter Experts document for tips. Working with SMEs is a great way for museums to offer volunteer opportunities and invite people into their space. SMEs love to share their knowledge about local businesses, craft, and more. Where can you find SMEs in your area?

#150Touchstones 

The Touchstones performance will hit the road soon! Exciting times ahead. We will be sharing photos from the road in November. Until then, check out the Touchstones gallery on NovaMuse!

"Touchstones is an interactive & interpretive social studies experience. Participants are engaged using creative technologies and team based play to experience, first-hand, the objects that help us tell stories about Nova Scotia. Imaginative invitations into the world of history take us from around the campfire to the decks of the sailing age and the coal mines of Nova Scotia industry. Examinations of social history center around the story of confederation and prompt participants to question the stories we tell and take part in reinventing them."

If you are busy like us this time of year, please utilize our new resources available on the ANSM website. The Collections Seasonal Work Calendar and Managing Your NovaMuse Presence will help you prepare for the fall/winter months.

That's all for now folks! Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns as you explore NovaMuse.