Presentation to the Museums Association conference 2009 on the subject of Aggregation, Federation & Syndication for Museums.

1. IT’S NOT ABOUT YOUR MUSEUM WEBSITE ANYMORE NICK POOLE, CEO, COLLECTIONS TRUST MA CONFERENCE 2009

3. 10 years in development... 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012

4. 10 years in development... 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 The transition from manual systems towards electronic documentation well advanced. Structural and procedural standards beginning to emerge

5. 10 years in development... 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Early development of museum ‘brochureware’ websites Some innovative work presenting virtual experiences based on collections The heyday of digitisation begins

6. 10 years in development... 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Increasingly sophisticated and complex interactive websites Collections data increasingly integrated into the user experience Starting to blur the boundaries via federated search, RSS feeds, mobile platforms

7. 10 years in development... 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 Less and less about ‘your’ website and increasingly about multi-platform, multi-channel content Reaching a larger and non-traditional audience by syndicating content to media partners Moving from content proliferation to content on-demand, and scalable economic models

8. First, a story...

9. OBJECT RECORD

10. OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD OBJECT RECORD

11. DATABASE OBJECT RECORD

12. DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DISPLAY LABEL <TEXT> ONLINE COLLECTION DATABASE

13. DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DISPLAY LABEL <TEXT> ONLINE COLLECTION DATABASE GALLERY INTERACTIVE

14. DATABASE OBJECT RECORD WEBSITE

15. DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD WEBSITE WEBSITE WEBSITE WEBSITE WEBSITE ?

16. WEBSITE WEBSITE WEBSITE WEBSITE WEBSITE DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD FEDERATION

17. DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD DATABASE OBJECT RECORD AGGREGATION FEDERATION/SYNDICATION G O O G L E B B C SEARCH BROADCAST EDUCATION BLOGS APPLICATIONS

18. OBJECT RECORD

19. Beyond your Website: Aggregation and Syndication Publish once, re-use many times That re-use is no longer limited to your website Enables us to move from being single-channel to multi-channel BUT You no longer control the context in which users consume your information Puts us in the same competitive environment as publishers and broadcasters

20. Challenges These developments are all about the trade off between relinquishing control now in the belief that it will drive greater usage of your content in the future. Website statistics are a blunt instrument, but at least they exist. The world of aggregation and syndication is very light on evidence. There is a belief among funders that the value of investment in ‘digital culture’ is locked away in storage (sound familiar?). Aggregation and syndication are regarded as the way to unlock this value. These developments always raise issues of organisational change, including lack of trust, loss of confidence, perceived loss of connection to the ‘real’ stuff. The pace at which we have moved from ‘stock control’ to ‘content’ is faster than our ability to keep up – with the result that much of our content isn’t ready to be aggregated

21. Opportunities Reach a lot more people Reduce the operational overhead on information creation and management Reduce the operational overhead on maintenance and infrastructure Open up new sources of funding and new partnerships The potential to explore a Web 2.0 style collaborative approach to meaning

22. Thank you! Nick Poole Chief Executive Collections Trust www.collectionstrust.org.uk www.collectionslink.org.uk http://openculture.collectionstrustblogs.org.uk Twitter: www.twitter.com/collectiontrust (#collectionstrust)