Virtual Museum: Queer Engineers as Pioneers and Role Models

The new virtual “Queer Engineers” museum of the UAS Technikum Wien is dedicated to the history of six historical and contemporary personalities who had an important influence in different technical fields and at the same time brings them before the curtain as role models for the LGBTQ+ community. The online museum presents the protagonists with their professional achievements and in the context of their private histories. Navigation through the metaverse space on the web platform spatial.io takes place simply via browser as an avatar; optionally, the use of a VR headset is also possible for an enhanced 3D experience.

The idea for this came about in the course of founding the “Queer Engineer” platform at the UAS Technikum Wien, a network for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students and staff. “We talked a lot about role models in this context, but we realized that there aren’t that many well-known examples, especially in the engineering field,” says Mark Adams, competence field leader for languages and contact person for the community at the university.

Adams began researching and compiled a selection for the museum. At the same time, he started working on the technical implementation. He worked intensively on the possibilities of VR technology, acquired the necessary software skills and finally created the virtual exhibition space completely on his own with a great deal of commitment. The Queer Engineers Museum now features historical figures such as the famous mathematician and cryptanalyst Alan Turing, who was persecuted for his homosexuality after World War II; or Frank Kameny, a physicist, astronomer and activist who was the first openly gay candidate for the US Congress in 1971. The virtual exhibition also features transgender activist and Usenet and Internet pioneer Mary-Ann Horton; Apple CEO Tim Cook, who came out as gay in 2014; Audrey Tang, minister of digitization and renowned software developer from Taiwan, who defines herself as “post-gender,” or non-binary; and astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, who lived for many years in a lesbian relationship.

The individuals featured are largely related to the disciplines taught at UAS Technikum Wien, and diversity also played an important role in Adams’ selection of personalities. “It was exciting for me to look at the history behind the people. What is normal for us today was often illegal 50 years ago. Some of the queer engineers had a lot of trouble because of that. We also want to use the examples we’ve chosen to show what you can achieve and that it doesn’t make a difference, whether you’re gay, lesbian, transgender or non-binary – or even hetero,” Adams says. He wants to expand the virtual museum in the future and is planning, for example, a separate area for “Queer Engineers of the Future.” In it, UASTW students will tell their own (outing) stories, thus encouraging others and at the same time setting a visible sign for an open culture at the university of applied sciences.

Link to the Museum: https://www.technikum-wien.at/queer-engineers-museum/

Download Screenshot here.

Credit: FHTW

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