getting collections online

nice people talking sense about the web | [email protected] | 0800 808 54 38 | © Thirty8 Digital 2015

Getting your collection online

SW Digital Champions Forum

26th March 2015


I’m Mike Ellis from Thirty8 Digital.

We work with museums, galleries and others to help them get the most from the web.

We:

> train people on how to use things like social media effectively> offer consultancy, particularly around web strategy and content> build beautiful mobile-friendly, editor-friendly, user-friendly websites

hello


What I’m going to talk about today…

1. The strategy behind your online collection approach

> what are you doing and why?> who is your audience?> how will you know it’s being successful?

2. Implementation: actually getting objects online

> integrating with your collections management system> some [free] tools which you can use

3. Making the decision

> five principles to bear in mind when deciding how to get your collections items onto the web

courses.thirty8.co.uk


number of slides >

pain10

bearable


number of slides >

pain

bearable

n

coma

probably dead

10


Don’t panic!

All slides will be available at

slideshare.net/dmje/presentations

(Also: please stop me and ask if you need to)

http://slideshare.net/dmje/presentations


The Strategy


Why are you putting your collection online?

> to fulfil a wider access remit> to make a funder happy> to make your director happy> because you want accreditation> just …because

The Strategy //


Who is your [online collection] audience?

The Strategy //

…how big or important are these segments to you..?

> potential museum visitors> researchers / academics> interested non-museum-visitors / “stumblers”


Researcher

Stumbler

Visitor

The Strategy //


How do you find out about your audience…?

Talk to them!

…face to face…on your website…via social media…ask your mum…ask a focus group

…just talk to them…

The Strategy //


What is “success”?

GET ALL OUR COLLECTIONS ONLINE

The Strategy //


What is “success”?

The Strategy //

more visits to collections pages

more shares of object stories

increased throughput from/to rest of site

more signups to blog

increased sales

increased time on site

more “buzz”

more likes / mentions


Measuring success

The Strategy //


The Strategy //


The Strategy //

Google Analytics is awesome…

….but only if it is installed on your collections pages :-)

out.thirty8.co.uk/ga101


out.thirty8.co.uk/digitalstrategy


Implementation


Existing collections management systems

Implementation //

> Generally of 3 types:

1. A CM vendor: > Adlib, TMS, eHive, CALM, Modes…. etc

2. An in-house, bespoke system of some kind:> Excel, Access, MySQL, some kind of web system or other “database”

3. None


Your choices are limited by what you have

Implementation //

> how much do you like the existing system?> how much effort have you invested?> how familiar / happy are people in the organisation with the tool you’re using?> how much does it do what you need it to do?


Implementation //

Your collections data

On the web

In-house

Public website


Implementation //

Your collections data

On the web

In-house

Public website

The biggest question is how this bit happens


You probably want to curate this journey..

Implementation //

> choose which object records to put on the web> choose which fields to put on the web> add some other stuff for “web only” or other contextual viewing


Data portability is absolutely crucial

Implementation //

> Can you save your collections data out of your CM system in a useful, usable structured format? (xml, json, csv…)

> Even better: is there an API (a way of doing this programatically without you having to manually save stuff)


Implementation //

The journey from “in-house” to “web”

1. Your collections management vendor provides a “plug and play” way of getting collections onto the web

Positives Negatives

• Easy

• Often integrates directly with your collections management system

• Known costs

• Limited functionality / design

• Normally an annual license fee

• Terrible for Google

• Usually happens on a separate website / web address


Implementation //


2. You get someone to build something bespoke which uses the CM system API

Positives Negatives

• You end up with something that is designed and built just for you

• Integration with your existing site can be much deeper and richer

• Often technically hard

• ..hence: expensive..

• Requires ongoing effort to maintain and grow


Implementation //


3. You use an existing hosted service, for instance Flickr

Positives Negatives

• Really easy to do

• Usually free

• Well known services usually have great functionality and good Google juice

• You’re probably going to have to copy and paste

• Risks of service changing / going bust / starting to charge

• Limited museum-specific functionality


> Massive 1TB storage size - free> Museum precedent with Flickr Commons > Photographic collection focused> Nice upload / download tools> Huge audience> No means to put in more than basic fields> Owned by Yahoo! …possible suspect future?

Flickr

Implementation //


Flickr

Implementation //


> Tumblr, Medium, Blogger, wordpress.com> Free> Many design and layout options> Not designed around museum objects, so again you’re hacking something to do what it isn’t really made for - no object fields, filtering, search, etc> But..great for telling object stories as opposed to hosting your object catalogue

“Micro-blogging”

Implementation //


Implementation //


> Zoho or KnackHQ (create any kind of database quickly, “in the cloud”)> Possibly Google Docs (using Google Forms to populate a spreadsheet, and then doing some magic to display this)> Sometimes there is a cost involved (Zoho starts at $5 per user per month)> Holding and structuring data is ok, displaying it much trickier

Hosted databases

Implementation //


Zoho “creator”

https://www.zoho.com/creator/


Implementation //


4. Build or adapt an existing (open source) system

Positives Negatives

• Relatively easy to do with some technical input

• Total flexibility over how to format and display records

• Open Source is hugely powerful

• Requires some technical expertise to get started

• Open Source is “free” but not …free


Implementation //

> Much more flexible than wordpress.com> Highly configurable - both for complex data storage but also for how it looks> (things like mobile-friendly = easy)> Like wordpress.com: really easy for editors> Open Source - data I/O is easy> Free, but requires development time and effort to set up> Cost (albeit minimal) for hosting

out.thirty8.co.uk/wordpress101

WordPress.org


americanuseum.org


> a free, open-source plugin for WordPress which imports collections data from your collections management system into a WordPress website> currently supported: AdLib, CultureGrid, kEmu, SouthWest Collections Explorer> coming soon: Modes, Index+ and others

cultureobject.co.uk

Culture Object

Implementation //


> free, open source, web based> funded by Andrew Mellon Foundation> comprehensive, flexible, well-documented system> has an API

www.collectionspace.org

Collection Space

Implementation //


> free, open source, web based> pitched specifically at museums> web CMS / collections management hybrid> supported by Andrew Mellon Foundation and others> not as big a developer / open source base as WP

www.omeka.org

Omega

Implementation //


Implementation //


5. “Other”

Positives Negatives

• …depends :-) • …also depends…


> Working to aggregate thousands of collections sources> Various ways to get data in: data upload, harvest, or via an online form> Contact them for more info

www.culturegrid.org.uk

Culture Grid / Europeana

Implementation //


> Excellent for individual, detailed records> Probably the best for traffic> Some options to see stats on visits> No option to tie together categories, searching within dataset, etc> No object-specific fields> Clumsy (impossible?) for large dataset

Wikipedia

Implementation //


> use something like PHP or .Net with a database full of object records in it> total flexibility in determining what you want, both at field level but also in terms of look and feel> but… bespoke build for something like this is often very risky from a sustainability point of view

Dynamic, bespoke built website

Implementation //


> either hand-code or use something like Dreamweaver where you can create some notion of an “object template”> (once upon a time I built catalogues using MS Word and mail-merge… #truestory)> relatively easy to do> …but: no database, so searching and filtering are unlikely

Static website (i.e just HTML, no scripting)

Implementation //


Making the decision


> different reasons for doing what you’re doing> different budgets> different technologies> different stakeholders> different funders> different relationships

… and different objects…

Every single scenario is different

Making the decision //


…there are five principles, no matter what you have

But…



> Know why you’re doing what you’re doing> Think about what “success” is> Know how to measure this> Try and put yourself in a position where you can fund any changes that are needed> Fail, quickly

Principle #1: Be strategic



where are you now?

where do you want to be?

how do you know when you get there?

what should you change next time?


Principle #1: Be strategic


> “Can I get my data in and out again in a useful format?”> “Is my content backed up?”> “What ongoing costs - licensing, hosting, updates - are there?”> “What standards are being applied?”> “What other risks are there?”> “How are these risks being mitigated?”

Principle #2: Always know the answers to fundamental questions



> Open data formats - XML, JSON, etc> Open Source> Open and transparent development roadmap> Open relationships with tech partners


Principle #3: Understand the power of “open” as an ideal


> Some kind of bespoke-ness is probably unavoidable if you want a solution that fits you…> …but beware systems that have been built from the ground up by an individual or vendor> …think about what would happen if that person or company ceased to exist. If you’re happy with the answer, that’s ok.


Principle #4: Be wary of bespoke

“Our web developer built us this collections site which was fine for a while but now he’s got married and moved to Australia and is giving up web work. We don’t have any documentation or knowledge about how it works. Can you help us?”


> Putting 10 or 100 really good, really well written, detailed records online is probably better than 10,000 which aren’t any good…> …depending on your audience…> A phased approach is good> Don’t underestimate the power of images!


Principle #5: Be measured


Number of object records

Qu

ali

ty o

f re

cord

xNational Museums

Users want this

Museums (Funders?) want this



Don’t be afraid to ask! Lots of people have done this or are trying to do it…

> Ask vendors and anyone else you do work with> Ask your colleagues> Ask the internet> Ask special interest groups like MCG or MCN> Ask me :-)


Thanks…

Any thoughts, questions, etc…?

@m1ke_ellis

[email protected]

thirty8.co.uk

mailto:[email protected]

http://thirty8.co.uk

getting collections online

Government & Nonprofit

thirty8 digital

web strategy

uknice people

tonice people

train people

online collection audience

potential audience

online collection approach