CAROLYN ROYSTON (UK) Imperial War Museums, Head of Digital Media Carolyn Royston is Head of Digital Media at Imperial War Museums. She has transformed the museum's approach to digital engagement so that it is now central to organisational thinking and planning. Carolyn will share her experience of developing a digital strategy at IWM and then how to move from theory to practice to really embed digital at the heart of the organisation.

1. BUILDING A DIGITAL
STRATEGY
CAROLYN ROYSTON
IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS
&
LOIC TALLON
POCKET-PROOF
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2. Delivering a digital strategy - IWM’s
story
7 June 2013
Carolyn Royston
Head of Digital Media
Imperial War Museums
@caro_ft
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4. • 5 locations
• 600 staff
• 2.3 million visitors to our sites per year
• One of the biggest national museums
About the museum
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10. • Oldest film archive in the UK
• Second largest sound archive after the BBC
• Over 11 million photographs
• Second largest 20th Century art collection in the UK after Tate
• Millions of documents, diaries, papers
• Over 140,000 large objects
IWM Collection
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11. • No Digital Media department
• No investment in digital
• Old website and separate collections online no longer fit for
purpose
• Little social media presence or relationships with 3rd parties
• Very complex IP and copyright issues
• Lack of co-ordinated approach or strategy to managing digital
rights
• Extremely risk-adverse in approach to collections and digital
space
When I joined in 2009
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12. iwm.org.uk
iwmcollections.org.uk
iwmshop.org.uk
2009
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13. • Establish a department
• Try to work in news ways suited to digital development - not silo
• Deliver some key priority projects on time and to budget
• Raise the digital agenda
• Not fail!
2009 – key challenges
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14. • Department is growing
• Responsible for all public facing digital outputs :
•Website and collections search
•In-gallery multimedia
•Mobile
•Social media
•Strategic digital partnerships with 3rd parties
‘Digital is our most important channel going forward’ –
Director, November 2012
Digital Media department 2013
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15. How did we make change happen?
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16. • New department with new ideas and ways of doing things
• Significant corporate projects to deliver
• Involve staff throughout and be transparent about our process
• Open up thinking about what was possible
• Audience focussed
• We’re all in it together
Our approach
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17. Where do you start?
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18. 1. Knowledge gathering
• what digital projects are
happening around the
organisation?
• where are they
happening?
• who is working on them?
• how have they been
funded?
© IWM (C 1079)
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19. 2. Involve organisation
• Raise digital agenda
• Makes you visible
• Open up thinking
• Find out what staff
know about digital
• Demonstrate
leadership
© IWM (Q55176)
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20. • Involve as many people as you
can at all levels
• Ask open questions
Staff wanted our online visitors to
know about the amazing range
and quality of the collection
• To be able to showcase their work
and expertise
• Create a dialogue with our
audiences
3. Consult with staff
© IWM (H 39089)
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21. • Wanted to open up the collections – 250,000 more objects
available
• Let’s accept this might be messy
• Be more permissive and courageous with our copyright position
• Move from risk-adverse to risk-aware
And there was more…
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22. 4. Create a roadmap
• Aims and goals
• Priorities
• Resources needed
• Budget
• Timescale
• Directors sign off
© IWM (SE 2955)
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23. • I was able to publish a strategy
• At the heart was aspiration to open up our collections and
encourage active participation with our audiences
• Given permission from staff and Senior Management – had
organisational buy-in
After all that….
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24. Moving from theory to practice:
© IWM (TR134)
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33. Built up our social media presence
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34. Facebook
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35. • User engagement can strengthen our collection
Facebook
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38. • Opportunity to reach out to different audiences
• Piggyback on other people’s technologies
• Use our collections in different ways
• How can we maximise the IWM content in digital spaces
• Chance to be more entrepreneurial and find partners that can add
value
And built strategic partnerships
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45. • IWM moved from risk-adverse to risk-aware – this has
opened up the organisation’s thinking about digital
possibilities
• Busted myths – e.g. about collection sales and post-
moderated comments
• IP and copyright has become more permissive
• Introduced processes to manage risk so we can be
more entrepreneurial and risk-taking
• Ongoing advocacy so organisation can see benefits of
digital activity
By end of 2012:
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46. The work never ends
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47. Digital activity increasing across the organisation
•How does this affect the way we plan and programme work?
•How do we develop the skills and confidence of staff to transform
digital capability in the organisation?
•How do we embed digital in our work?
•We’re updating our digital strategy
In 2013 – new key challenges
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48. Computer Club
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49. • A new, informal place for staff to develop digital skills
• Monthly lunchtime sessions
• A place to experiment, get excited about digital
• Launched in May
• Everyone in museum is welcome
Computer Club
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50. 1. Learning to use Twitter
2. Games and gesture control – playing with the Xbox
3. Blogging, Wordpress, Tumblr and Pinterest
4. Using tablets, apps – difference between android and iOS
5. Facebook – set up, privacy settings, liking, commenting, tagging
6. Make a movie on an iPad and upload to YouTube
Staff will help us decide on the next 6….
First six sessions
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51. There are badges!
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52. Takeaways / where to start
PLANNING
•Knowledge share
•Involve organisation
•Consult with staff
•Create a road map
•Get director sign-off
croyston@iwm.org.uk
IMPLEMENTATION
•Take small but confident steps
•Be risk aware, not risk adverse
•Work closely with your colleagues: help
them understand what is happening.
AND MORE…
•The work never ends
•It takes energy
•It is possible
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