By Joann Stevens, Guest Blogger, and Jenna Jones, Blog Editor
There’s no telling what or who will be featured in each Wednesday’s Digital Digest to engage you with the Smithsonian’s treasures and learning. That’s the beauty of this visually and editorially engaging e-newsletter: the Digital Digest offers creative ways to visit and experience the Smithsonian.
Created during the early months of Covid to function with the immediacy of a weekly newspaper, the Digital Digest is produced by a team of five staff members from Associates’ marketing and programing groups. They meet every Tuesday to tease out timely Smithsonian ideas, artifacts, stories and events to create that week’s issue and draw you in.
As Bob Sacheli, the digest’s writer, explains, “the digest content is put together weekly by considering a number of factors, and it's more immediate than anything more formally planned on an extended editorial schedule. It was originally created as a means to retain our connection with Smithsonian Associates members and audiences after the pandemic closed our doors for live programming. The items in those first months were selected to keep people entertained and diverted while at home. The mix then evolved to also sharing wider SI messaging and initiatives that developed in response to national events and the pandemic. As we moved through the months, the ability to be responsive emerged as one of the digest's strengths.”
Cecelia Reed, Associates Writer, describes herself as a “roving reporter” for the Digital Digest: “Each week I snoop through print, digital, and audible media, looking for ideas that, while not always Smithsonian-centric, can be looped around a program we’re presenting or an initiative we’re promoting. I look for topics that are fun and informative on their own, or enhance Smithsonian-themed ideas.”
Program Coordinator Heather Jaran serves as the liaison for the Digest to the programming team. She suggests topics on upcoming programs that somehow connect to Digest items, shares articles and news for inclusion, and shares Affiliates content when applicable.
Lauren Lyons, Public Affairs Specialist for the Associates, adds, “We’ve all found our place in the group! My role is primarily to keep the team informed about SI wide initiatives, such as Smithsonian Open Access, which was one of our first spotlights, the Because of Her Story, American Women’s History Initiative, exhibitions, and other museum news.”
Digital Marketing Specialist Karli Landis also works with the team, sending it to roughly 15,000 email subscribers, mostly Smithsonian Associates members and volunteers, with a select few non-member subscribers as well. She notes that its open rate is consistently among the highest of all Associates’ digital communications.
Some recent Digital Digest stories include:
Ever left a note on Washington, DC’s Wishing Tree? Do you know about it?
The story describes a Kousa Dogwood tree donated to the Smithsonian by Yoko Ono in 2007. Located in the Hirshhorn Museum’s sunken garden, the tree has been a perennial favorite, collecting whispered and written wishes. Staffers periodically send the notes to Ono’s Image Peace Tower in Reykjavik, Iceland to join wishes collected worldwide. Through April 30, 2021, you are invited to hand-write your wish on a piece of paper, then videotape or photograph it to Instagram tagging @hirshorn, #Hirshorn, #WishTreeDC, and #YokoOno.
Foodies take note
On Wednesdays in May and June, CULINASIA: The Future of Asian Food in America, offers four free, online virtual conversations with chefs, home cooks, food writers, and cookbook authors to explore food legacies of the Asian diaspora in America. The series is a joint program of Smithsonian Associates, the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Program dates are: May 5, May 19, June 9 and June 23.
Find more details and other stories in this week’s issue of the Digital Digest and be sure to sign up there to receive Digital Digest in your inbox every Wednesday.
