First published 15 August 2023
Announced yesterday by Queensland Minister for the Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science and Minister for Multicultural Affairs Leanne Linard, QUT creative industries and screen industries academic Dr Ruari Elkington will receive $15,000 to travel to the United States to undertake his project.
A Chief Investigator with the QUT Digital Media Research Centre, Dr Elkington will work with online video creators (from outside the Smithsonian) to use video content creation to communicate those parts of the collection that deal with cultural heritage to new audiences via digital communication, with learnings applied to Queensland’s GLAM institutions (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums), such as the Queensland Museum.
Building on the outcomes of his 2019 Churchill Fellowship, Dr Elkington said his focus has been on addressing the challenges of aligning the content creation interests of online video creators with the goals of formal education institutions such as universities.
“This Queensland Smithsonian Fellowship extends my work beyond universities to consider how GLAM sector institutions can better communicate the public value of their arts and cultural heritage collections through digitally-enabled video content creation,” Dr Elkington said.
“There is great alignment in the collection-sharing mission of those in the cultural heritage sector and social video creators working outside these institutions. What is missing though, are clear strategies and informed staff to bridge those two groups and further enable the promotion and communication of the vast collections overseen in the GLAM sector.
“The Smithsonian Fellowship will leverage the work of QUT's School of Creative Practice's XR Screen Futures Hub which brings together cutting-edge digital capabilities, technology and research for immersive digital screen and digital performance futures.”
Dr Elkington said along with the 2.8 million 2D and 3D images, the Smithsonian Open Access collection included 173-years of staff-created data.
“By engaging with online video creators from outside the Smithsonian and applying well-established video content creation strategies and resourcing, this collection and others will be creatively communicated to new audiences to underscore the value of digital communication methods in engaging the public in cultural heritage preservation,” he said.
Dr Elkington is one on only two 2023 Queensland Smithsonian Fellowship recipients. The other is Dr Maddy McAllister, Senior Curator of Maritime Archaeology at Queensland Museum Network, based at the Museum of Tropical Queensland campus in Townsville.
Since 2001, the Queensland Government has provided $994,000 through the Smithsonian Fellowships to 56 Fellows from universities, museums and art galleries across Queensland.
The next round of the Smithsonian Fellowships will open later this year. More information is available here.
Photo: Dr Ruari Elkington. Photo: Richard Hearman
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