The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) has launched a new crowd-sourcing campaign to allow past patrons to share and swap the stories of their visits.
The initiative--
ROM ReCollects--was launched to build momentum leading up to the museum's Centennial celebration beginning in March of 2014.
To share their own ROM memories, users login to the project’s
microsite and contribute to the online interactive timeline. The shared memories can take any number of forms, from a photograph, to an illustration, to full-prose stories.
Visitors to the site can also browse the current submissions, which include a 1930s era video about the ROM’s prize bulldog Bungy, and images from the museam's opening day, March 19, 1914.
The stories on the site--while interesting--come predominantly from ROM staff and "notable Torontonians" (the site was first launched in October 2013). But the hope, now that the site has started to fill-up with stories, is that past-visitors will begin to take part in the chronicling process.
"Over the years, people have told us that the ROM has played significant roles in their lives," says Janet Carding, ROM Director and CEO. "So we’ve invited our audience—our most valued partner—to help chronicle the Museum’s history. By participating in this unique project, our visitors have the opportunity to tell the story of the ROM as it moves into the next century."
Writer: Katia Snukal
Source: Royal Ontario Museum