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History fuses with tech as Auckland Museum launches Twitter campaign

Auckland Museum has launched a weekly Twitter game to engage its followers and educate people about its collections, and Te Papa, Waikato Museum and The Nelson Provincial Museum are getting involved too.

The game, called “#OneThread” is a “spot the connection game”, according to Auckland Museum’s website, where participating galleries, libraries, archives and museums will post clues to their Twitter accounts. To play, the Twitter user has to post which date, idea, person or thing connects all the clues together, preceded or followed by the #OneThread hashtag.

The person behind the creation of the game is Auckland Museum’s digital content manager Gareth de Walters who says he was inspired by a 2013 National Digital Forum talk on linked open data, to create a light-weight Twitter game to highlight its [Auckland Museum’s] collection, and the links it shares with other “NZ GLAM” (galleries, libraries, archives, museums) collections.

“I rang around the NZ GLAMs after NDF 2014, and all those I approached were keen to take part. Two or three weeks ago we, Te Papa, Waikato, and Nelson took a first run at the game – as much to test out the format as anything else. We’ve been refining it as we go along, and intend to take it wider to involve more NZ GLAMs as the game matures.”

He says the game isn’t related to any specific campaign or exhibition, adding: “We’d check in with marketing before doing that. It links to our Future Museum and Digital Channel Strategy to highlight our collections in a fun and engaging way, and promote offsite/online access to, and enjoyment of, our collection”.

He says information on how to play is available on the Auckland Museum website for those new to the game. The web page also tracks previous games, which GLAMS are participating, and which players have correctly guessed the answer.

In terms of prizes, de Walters says that’s up to the individual participating GLAMS, but Auckland Museum is keeping a Leader board on its site so GLAMS have the option to reward players if they want, “That’s something I was going to investigate further after the game’s bedded-in”.

The games run from Wednesday to Friday, and at the end of the game the solution is revealed. The next game starts tomorrow on Wednesday, 4 March. 

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