This paper will take a closer look at the process of participation and community engagement in developing a major new gallery at the Science Museum. It focuses on the representation of Cameroonians and their culture in a museum context.

The Science Museum’s new gallery, Making Modern Communications puts people and their stories at the heart of its narrative. As part of this step change towards user-focused interpretation, we are also involving our audiences in the generation and framing of objects and content. One example of these stories is the emergence and resulting culture of mobile telecommunication in Cameroon. Many of the user stories, and unique perspectives on the experience of change, are held within the Cameroonian community. The museum decided to test a participatory methodology with the Cameroonian community in London to present this technological and cultural revolution in the most authentic way and deal with possible colonial preconceptions. This paper will explore the processes the museum went through with the community and participant group to build a collaborative team, and how the Museum’s project team worked with both the London and Cameroon based community. It will also explore how the museum shared and adapted the standard museum processes and finally, reflect on the findings and lessons learned which will inform best practices.