Developing audience involvement, engagement and participation

Sheila Sang

Our aims

• Building a virtuous circle of active advocates– Estimated 13 million nature lovers in UK alone

• Supporting ‘science of nature’ – A destination for those interested in finding out more about the

natural world

• Taking the opportunity to learn from our audiences– Understand and meet their needs, feed their interests

NaturePlus• Forums for

Museum scientists and people interested in the natural world

• Blogs by Museum scientists and staff – behind the scenes

• Content collections saved on visits to the Museum

• Shared bookmarks to discuss

NaturePlus in the Museum

Facebook, Twitter, YouTubeIncreasingly

integral• Supports news,

exhibitions• Behind the scenes

2-way conversations

• Seek response• Use input

Driving advocacy • Word of mouth• Relationship, Loyalty

Big Nature Debate

• Initiative to involve the Museum’s audiences in the issues around biodiversity in advance of Nagoya biodiversity conference

• Canvassing views and stimulating debate

• Blog posts written by scientific experts from International Year of Biodiversity partner organisations and journalists

• Streamed video debate, with questions seeded from social media channels

• Issues raised by individuals on these social media channels presented by Museum to Defra

Citizen science projects• Bluebells, seaweeds, cherries,

trees • Upload results with up to 3

images which are shown alongside their survey records

• Results are clustered to represent areas with eg 100+ results, 10-99 results

• Zooming in brings displays records at individual level

• Museum scientists offer support in forums

Learnings

Questions?