virtual museum

Spotlight on Melbourne Holocaust Museum

by Victoria Grace Walden In perhaps the most unusual way to return from maternity leave, my first day back involved a 24-hour journey from the UK to Melbourne, Australia (and yes, with the baby!). When I originally got in contact with Anna Hirsh – now Manager of Collections and Research at the museum and the fabulous host of my scholar-in-residence – she was working at what was then called Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre and in 2020 the site closed its doors for a major refurbishment and rebranding. A Long History of Multimedia At that time, staff created a virtual walkthrough of the main exhibition to archive its existence. Now it was closed (as it would have been – pandemic or not), school groups and other visitors could explore its content. This was not just a photo-realist experience of the exhibition space though; it was enhanced by extra video content such as behind-the-scenes moments with curators (Curators’ Corner series) and importantly mini-tours from survivors explaining some of the exhibited materials - much of this additional content came from existing digital projects. Jewish Holocaust Centre Melbourne Virtual Tour The centre was established by a survivor community, opening in March 1984. [...]

Addressing Our Research Recommendations: Funding Bids and Policy Guidelines

by Dr Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden Lab director Dr Victoria Grace Richardson-Walden details how we came to run a workshop together with the United Nations and the Holocaust Outreach Programme earlier this summer. The event provided a forum for world-leading Holocaust commemoration organisations, international funders, and UK Parliament to explore the impact they could have on the future of global digital Holocaust memory. Between 2022 and 2023, the Lab’s current research team – Dr Kate Marrison and me – ran a series of online co-creation workshops with our project partners. The project led to the publication of 6 recommendation reports providing guidance on digital interventions in Holocaust memory and education. The workshops were composed of more than 120 diverse stakeholders, from Holocaust organisations, the wider heritage sector, creative and technical professionals, and academics from broad range of disciplines. A recurring theme emerged: there was a lot of enthusiasm and imagination for developing digital work in the Holocaust sector, but funding bids and a lack of (inter)national policy guidelines hampered development. Representatives from Holocaust organisations expressed many frustrations including a lack of coherent digital strategy; long-term, project funding; and permanent staff with digital expertise. Problems which many felt could be tackled at [...]