Flagstaff 2020: A Clear Vision was always intended to be an online-only exhibit. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 forced many people, including student curator Marley Oakes, to start working from home. While there were many adjustments made and experiments conducted to complete the exhibit, the transition to remote work did little to disrupt the final exhibit launch or opening.
On July 2, 2020, one month after the publication of Flagstaff 2020: A Clear Vision, Marley Oakes facilitated a “virtual exhibit opening” event using Zoom. This event was streamed live over Cline Library’s Facebook page. It included a virtual tour of the website and a panel discussion facilitated by Oakes with original Flagstaff 2020 collaborators Dr. Kathy Turner, Steven Ames, and Dr. Fred Solop. Peter Runge, Head of Special Collections & Archives, offered introductory and closing remarks. Project manager Sam(antha) Meier and Kathleen Schmand, Director of Developments & Communications at Cline Library, handled outreach and provided technological support before and during the event.
You can watch the recorded version of the live launch on Cline Library’s YouTube page. Due to a technical error, the first 5 minutes of the virtual exhibit opening was not recorded and had to be added to YouTube later as a separate video.
Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library (FPL) invited Marley Oakes to participate in a similar event connected to Flagstaff 2020: A Clear Vision on July 17, 2020. You can watch that live event on FPL’s Facebook page. Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library also used the Flagstaff 2020 Mystery Game as a part of their 2020 Summer Reading Challenge. Marley Oakes and Cline Library’s Special Collections & Archives thank Flagstaff City-Coconino County Public Library for their support and contributions to Flagstaff 2020: A Clear Vision!
Both online events were made possible by Zoom, a video and audio conferencing software which has become extremely popular and necessary for many people following the transition to remote work and education because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The events were broadcast using Facebook, a social media platform founded in 2004 which launched live streaming in 2016.
Certainly, those living in 1996 during the original Flagstaff 2020 project could not have anticipated these technological developments for the year 2020!