Presentation to the Collections Trust Skills Seminar on 'Going Digital'

1. Digital & your museum
Nick Poole, CEO, Collections Trust
These slides are online at http://www.slideshare.net/nickpoole
Contact me @NickPoole1

2. Welcome!

3. Contents
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Technology and you
Where to fit ‘Digital’ into your museum
Think big, start small...
Benchmarking your museum
Sharing Collections online
Built to last – planning for digital sustainability
Funding Digital projects
Sources of help and advice

4. Put your hands up if you...

5. Put your hands up if you...
• Use a set-top-box to record and watch telly

6. Put your hands up if you...
• Use a set-top-box to record and watch telly
• Own a smartphone

7. Put your hands up if you...
• Use a set-top-box to record and watch telly
• Own a smartphone
• Have a Facebook account

8. Put your hands up if you...
• Use a set-top-box to record and watch telly
• Own a smartphone
• Have a Facebook account
• Have edited a website

9. Put your hands up if you...
• Use a set-top-box to record and watch telly
• Own a smartphone
• Have a Facebook account
• Have edited a website
• Have edited wikipedia

10. Put your hands up if you...
• Use a set-top-box to record and watch telly
• Own a smartphone
• Have a Facebook account
• Have edited a website
• Have edited wikipedia
• Spend a lot of your evenings looking like this..

12. “Where do I put ‘digital’ into my
museum so that it is most effective?
Does it sit with marketing or curatorial?”

14. MISSION

15. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS

16. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
FACILITIES

17. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
COLLECTIONS
FACILITIES

18. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
STAFF
COLLECTIONS
FACILITIES

19. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
STAFF
SERVICES
COLLECTIONS
FACILITIES

20. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
STAFF
SERVICES
BUSINESS MODEL
COLLECTIONS
FACILITIES

21. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
STAFF
SERVICES
BUSINESS MODEL
COMMUNICATIONS
COLLECTIONS
FACILITIES

22. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
STAFF
SERVICES
BUSINESS MODEL
COMMUNICATIONS
COLLECTIONS
FACILITIES
CULTURE

23. MISSION
POLICIES & PLANS
STAFF
SERVICES
BUSINESS MODEL
COMMUNICATIONS
COLLECTIONS
FACILITIES
CULTURE
DIGITAL!

24. A great digital museum is simply a great
museum that is designed around the
way people live now.

25. Think big, start small
Get started
Get started
Find where you
Find where you
are
are
Quick Wins
Quick Wins
Promote
Promote
yourself online
yourself online
Open up
Open up
collections
collections
online
online
Create great
Create great
content
content
Think about
Think about
Systems
Systems
Generate
Generate
income
income
Go social
Go social
Embrace
Embrace
Participation &
Participation &
Engagement
Engagement
Manage Digital
Manage Digital
Assets
Assets
Sort out Digital
Sort out Digital
Copyright
Copyright
Grapple with
Grapple with
the Technical
the Technical
Stuff
Stuff
Measure
Measure
Success
Success
Create
Create
Sustainable
Sustainable
Digital Content
Digital Content
Plan for the
Plan for the
Future!
Future!

26. Digital Benchmarks
• A simple diagnostic tool
• Mapping progress
• Celebrating success
• Planning development
• An integrated approach

28. Digital Benchmark “Range Statements”
Strategy
Level
0
1
2
3
4
5
Description
• The organisation has no strategic plan or statement of mission or purpose *
• The organisation has a strategic plan or mission which does not reference engagement
through technology
• The organisation has a strategic plan, which includes projects and programmes, some of
which make use of technology.
• Digital is not fully integrated into the strategy, which is not regularly reviewed.
• The organisation has a strategic plan, which includes projects and programmes, some of
which make use of technology.
• Digital is integrated into the strategy, which is regularly reviewed.
• The organisation has a strategic plan/mission in place which references the use of digital
technologies to support core delivery, or it has a separate (but connected) digital strategy
in place.
• There is at least one digital champion within the senior management of the organisation.
• The strategic plan is regularly reviewed and updated.
•
•
•
•
•
The organisation has a strategic plan/mission in place which integrates the use of digital
technologies to support core delivery.
The digital elements of the plan are owned and championed at a senior (Board &
management) level and supported by appropriate budgets.
Digital technologies are embedded across all teams/departments of the organisation.
Digital delivery and engagement through technology are embedded within the
organisation’s performance framework.
The strategic plan is regularly reviewed and updated.

29. Mid-sized regional museum

30. Smaller museum

31. Showing progress

32. Willing volunteers please!

33. Putting your Collections online
• Having things online does not automatically lead to access
• It is a significant investment of time and effort
• It is important to be clear about why you want to do it and what
you want people to be able to do with them
• Think big, but start small!

34. What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
A BIT
A LOT
METADATA

35. What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
FUN
A BIT
A LOT
METADATA

36. What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
FUN
A BIT
A LOT
RESEARCH
METADATA

37. What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
FUN
OUTREACH
LEARNING
A BIT
A LOT
RESEARCH
METADATA

38. What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
FUN
OUTREACH
LEARNING
A BIT
A LOT
AGGREGATION
RESEARCH
COLLECTIONS
MANAGEMENT
38
METADATA
DATA MINING

39. What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
FUN
OUTREACH
LEARNING
Digitize relatively few things & spend your
money on quality and context
A BIT
A LOT
AGGREGATION
RESEARCH
COLLECTIONS
MANAGEMENT
39
METADATA
DATA MINING

40. What people want from online collections…
CONTENT
FUN
OUTREACH
Digitize relatively few things & spend your
money on quality and context
LEARNING
A BIT
A LOT
AGGREGATION
Digitize lots of things, use standards and
don’t worry too much about promotion
RESEARCH
COLLECTIONS
MANAGEMENT
METADATA
DATA MINING

41. “Get your content ready to go anywhere, because it’s
going to go everywhere”
Be digitally promiscuous!

42. Culture Grid
Click on
this…
www.culturegrid.org.uk

43. Google Cultural Institute
http://g-cultural-institute.appspot.com/signup
and this

44. Wikimedia Commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org
and this

45. Without some kind of structure for metrics and
evaluation in place, it can be very hard to see when
you’re making progress.

46. C24 Let’s Get Real
Set up
analytics…
http://weareculture24.org.uk/lets-get-real-resources/

47. Planning for digital sustainability
• Failing to plan = planning to fail!
• Digital is not a separate project
• Always think ‘what would I do if this were made of wood’
• Use industry standards
• Don’t be an amateur developer!

48. Funding Digital projects
• Heritage Lottery Fund Funding Framework
– http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/programmes/hlf
– http://www.hlf.org.uk
• Arts Council England funding programmes
– http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/apply-for-funding/
• Arts Council England Digital R&D Fund
– http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/funding/our-investment/fundingprogrammes/digital-randd-fund-for-arts-and-culture/

49. Funding Digital projects
• Arts & Humanities Research Council
– http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/Funding-Opportunities/Pages/FundingOpportunities.aspx
• Join a Collections Trust project!
– http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/programmes/european-projects
• CORDIS EU Programme Funding
– http://cordis.europa.eu/home_en.html

50. Further information & resources
• www.collectionslink.org.uk - networks, advice, examples, tools
• www.jiscdigitalmedia.ac.uk - digitisation
• http://pro.europeana.eu – advice, expertise, copyright in Europe
• www.museumsandtheweb.com – example projects
• http://www.londonmuseumsgroup.org/share-london/ - resources
• http://www.si.edu/bestofbothworlds - inspiration!

51. Networks & communities

52. Digital Engagement Framework
http://www.digitalengagementframework.com/

53. Thank you!
These slides online at
http://www.slideshare.net/nickpoole