Burke Museum on Twitch: Bringing Behind the Scenes to Guests at Home

Authors:

• Tony Thomas, Museology Graduate Program
• Chair: Meena Selvakumar
• Anna Rebecca Lopez
• Timothy Kenney

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Abstract:

There are many existing virtual engagement tools that museums do not make use of. The Covid-19 pandemic illuminated museums' needs for engaging virtual tools for folks that could not come into the physical space. This project tested Twitch as an engagement tool at the Burke Museum. This project sought to understand 1. If virtual audiences are engaged through Twitch program events and 2. If virtual audiences enjoy these events and return for a follow up event. The data we found showed that virtual audiences were engaged during the Twitch streams but the engagement was impacted by the type of content and the virtual audiences did return for follow up events. The next steps for the project would be to test the parameters of the livestreams, to see what different types of content best serve the museum and their audience.

Poster:

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Project Deliverable:

Burke Museum on Twitch: Bringing Behind the Scenes to Guests at Home

Video Presentation