Digital curation and new ways of science transfer in the BROMACKER paleo-science communication project

In the BROMACKER research project, the public is to be involved in this multidisciplinary and integrative research project through innovative communication and mediation measures in parallel to the scientific knowledge gained. This is achieved through a new, interdisciplinary transfer and communication approach: the opening up and presentation of real research processes so that the public can gain insights into the scientific process and the advancing findings during the course of the project. One highlight is the annual excavation in the middle of the Thuringian Forest, where early tetrapods, invertebrates, plants and traces of their lives and environment are excavated. At the same time, innovative communication measures are being tested and established with the participation of researchers. As the first digital curator at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, I will tell you about the exciting journey through the various formats and locations in which we have brought BROMACKER closer to the public: 360°-videos, virtual reality, augmented reality, planetarium, interactive online exhibition, social media. What do you do as a digital curator in the middle of a pandemic when there are no research results yet and research is only just beginning? It was important to us that the teams worked on an interdisciplinary basis and that the researchers themselves were involved in creating the media, sometimes having to improvise and learning many new things in the process. The ‘first-hand’ participation enriched the formats and the media products became very authentic as a result. It wasn't always easy, but it was worth it!