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Public vote now open for the Digital Leaders 100 Awards
A preview of the digital collaboration at the People's History Museum
Manchester Metropolitan University’s Creative AR & VR Hub has been shortlisted, in partnership with the People’s History Museum, for a national award.
Two new digital experiences at the People’s History Museum (PHM) in Manchester have been selected by the Digital Leaders 100 Awards as one of the top 10 Cross-Sector Digital Collaborations of the year.
The interactive displays - created by Manchester Metropolitan’s Creative AR & VR Hub with funding support from the AIM Biffa Award Programme’s History Makers Scheme - use digital technology to enable museum visitors to take part in experiences that help to bring to life the stories of the Match Girls’ Strike (1888) and the Grunwick strike (1976 – 1978).
A public vote will now determine which projects make it to the final DL100 list, which is published each year by the Digital Leaders Awards. Voting is now open and you can vote for the ‘History Makers’ project here: https://digileaders100.com/cross-sector-digital-collaboration
Although 90 years apart, the Match Girls’ Strike and the Grunwick strike both represent stories of working-class women fighting for rights and better conditions. The creative digital approaches have produced interesting and engaging ways of exploring what took place.
The first display places museum visitors on the production line of the Bryant & May match factory in east London, where most of the workers were girls under the age of 15. An arcade-style game, designed for all ages to experience, gives a snapshot of what working life for the match girls was like as well as an understanding of what would lead to strike action and the leading role of social reformer Annie Besant.
The second experience is an augmented reality (AR) installation, which enables visitors to investigate for themselves the story of Jayaben Desai and her role within the Grunwick strike. Lasting for almost two years, the dispute was sparked over an issue of working conditions, but quickly spread to wider questions of institutional racism and inequality.
AR technology enables a close-up exploration of the artefacts from this fascinating time in history and allows visitors to hear the voices of those involved, helping to paint the picture of what happened and why the Grunwick strike is recognised as such a turning point in for race relations in the workplace.
Dr Timothy Jung, Director of Creative AR & VR Hub at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “This is a fantastic news that we are shortlisted for the Digital Leaders Award and it shows a great example of the university’s knowledge exchange activity in collaboration with public organisations such as the People’s History Museum.
“In particular, we are pleased that our expertise knowledge in Creative AR & VR Hub contributed to the increasing public engagement by enhancing visitor experience using interactive, immersive technologies”
Alasdair Swenson, Lecturer in the Creative AR & VR Hub at Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “Our partnership with the People’s History Museum is an example of the impact that immersive technology can have in bringing visitor experiences to life.
“We are delighted to be shortlisted for this award and we look forward to seeing the difference that our expertise and installations continues to have on the fascinating displays in the museum.”
Sarah Miguel, Head of Business Development at the People’s History Museum, said: “Although our doors are closed at the moment the development of our digital capabilities is central to our work as a museum, both in terms of the experiences that we offer visitors in the future and to those that want to interact with our work and our collections online.
“So we are delighted that our partnership work with Manchester Metropolitan University has been acknowledged by pioneers within the digital sector as part of the Digital Leaders Awards and hope people will vote for us in the next stages.”
Tuesday, 2nd June 2020