Museum Hackathon: Improving the tourism potential of museums in Ghana
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January 27, 2019To celebrate World International Tourism Day, Ho Node Hub in partnership with Global Shapers Ho Hub, Museum and monuments board Ghana is running the Museum Hackathon, a 48 hour culture hackathon that seeks to bring developers, designers, artists, historians, and hardware engineers together with museum officials, and librarians to develop innovative solutions to the challenges facing museums in Ghana. Museum Hack 2018 will on the 26th, 27th and 28th of September at Ho Node Hub focusing on the Volta Regional Museum. This is the first in the series of museum hackathons across the country
The Volta Regional Museum
The Volta Regional museum opened its doors to the public in 1973, located in Ho, the capital city of the Region. The museum building formerly used as the Office of the Regional House of Chiefs was sold to the Ghana government in 1967. The museum houses key collections such as the Chair of State of the last colonial German governor of the Volta Region, local paintings, woodcraft and potter, Volta Region Kente designs, masks, chiefs’ stools, swords, and displays on Asante fetish shrines [1].
The museum, like most in Ghana, is in a state of neglect and in need of a major facelift. The number of visitors to the museum has also declined significantly over the years. In a recent visit of the German ambassador to Ghana with some German students to, the ambassador lamented on the deplorable state of the structure. He promised to renovate the building to ensure the collections tell the story of the relationship between Germany and the Volta region [2].
The Volta Regional museum needs new ideas to attract more local and international tourists to visit to increase their internally generated revenue urgently needed to maintain the building and collections.
Objectives of Hackathon • Increase awareness about the Museum to increase visitors • Find innovative ideas and engaging ways to bring the stories, history of people of the Volta region to life • Explore digital technologies to preserve the artifacts and oral stories of the museum. .
How does it work Museum Hack is a 2-day event organized in 4 phases Phase 1: Museum Open day & tour, Problem and Challenge definition At this, phase participants would be taken to a tour of the Volta Regional Museum. Historians and museum experts would also engage participants to discuss the key challenges and opportunities of the museum. All relevant data and resources needed to understand the challenges will be presented to participants of the hackathon. Phase 2: Ideation and Prototype At this stage, participants will form teams to brainstorm and ideate potent solution the challenges identified in phase 1. Each team will have a mentor that would help them validate their ideas and guide them in designing a quick prototype. Phase 3: Pitch competition A pitch coach will take the participants through developing a pitch deck as well as preparing participants for the pitch competition. A panel of judges will look out for the most innovative, practical and promising idea that can be implemented Phase 4: Presentation of Awards Winners will be presented with certificates, prize packages.
WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?
1. Any young person resident in the Ho municipality during the day of the hack can participate.
2. You must attend Museum Hack in person to be eligible to win.
The Museum Hack does not discriminate based on race, religion, gender, age, sexuality, gender identification, or physical ability. Applicants are encouraged to register as a team (3 Maximum in a team)
Sign Up
Interested person who wants to take part in the hackathon can register via this link https://bit.ly/2p9gxEY
Expected Outcome
Participants are expected to pitch the prototype of their solutions/idea. The winning solutions to the challenges would be presented to the museum managers for implementation.
Sponsorship/Media
To support or sponsor the hackathon, kindly contact Dzidefo on 0207597969/ Komla 054 510 1172 or send us an email to info@honode.org
