The document discusses the Powerhouse Museum's shift from closed websites to an open web presence that integrates digital collections. It emphasizes putting content where online audiences are through approaches like Flickr to build collaborative communities around the collections. This has led to a large increase in views, interactions, and tags from the online community rather than traditional museum visitors. The goal is to make the digital collections more accessible and discoverable through community involvement rather than treating the web as a peripheral marketing channel.

1. the future museum: connected, social, open
paula bray sebastian chan
manager, image services head of digital services and research
powerhouse museum powerhouse museum
aimia
nov 2008
sebc@phm.gov.au
www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog

3. qr codes
interactive media
social search
public facing blogs
we do folksonomies
pod/vodcasts
social network seeding
location-based content

4. risk averse?
125+ years old
public sector
government
we are
loved by most visitors
provide real value
under-utilised, under-visited

5. today

6. powerhouse
online

7. our informational sites

8. full of the
usual content

13. specialist sites

16. open content

17. launched May 2005

25. source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joschmaltz/2336836962/

26. web ʻpresenceʼ

30. participation
involves giving
up some control

31. value-add

32. node in a
global network
source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/generated/2457576800/

33. improved findability
making digital collections usable

35. taxonomies

37. and folksonomies

40. transparency

41. putting our
collection elsewhere
content + community + social environment

45. last year
31,000 views
51% from Google search
18% direct traffic from PHM
15% from Picture Australia/NLA

46. our commons
experience
content + community + social environment

51. four weeks
40,000 views 75% from Flickr community
230 ʻcontactsʼ
2500+ tags

52. four weeks
thatʼs nearly 17x as much as before

53. six months
208,000 views 64% from Flickr community
875 ʻcontactsʼ
4500+ tags

54. creating
communities

60. making
discoveries

68. bob meade had
only visited the
museum once in
the last ten years

69. reingesting tags

73. sharing collections

79. connecting our collection
connecting to other digitised content

85. the museum without walls
maps, places and mobile

93. summary:
closed websites to integrated open web presence
approaching digital content differently to the
physical museum: new models, structures
putting digital content where audiences are
and ensuring ʻfindabilityʼ
listening to and building collaborative
communities with audiences (not just marketing!)
the web and the visitor at the centre, not peripheral to the
museum and business strategy

94. questions?
thank you.
sebastian chan paula bray
head of digital services & research manager, image services
powerhouse museum powerhouse museum
sebc@phm.gov.au paulab@phm.gov.au
Fresh + New blog
www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog
all images except where noted by Powerhouse Museum