Increasing Our Reach: Developing a Digital Content Engine at The Henry Ford
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A September 30, 2016 presentation at Network Detroit on increasing and engaging The Henry Ford's community through new digital content efforts.
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Increasing Our Reach: Developing a Digital Content Engine at The Henry Ford
- 1. Increasing Our Reach: Developing a Digital Content Engine at The Henry Ford Ellice Engdahl, Digital Collections & Content Manager Network Detroit September 30, 2016 @ErisuEEE
- 2. The Edison Institute, Founded 1929 Francis Jehl, Thomas Edison, President Herbert Hoover, and Henry Ford at Menlo Park Laboratory in Greenfield Village, 1929 (P.O.4556)
- 3. Five Venues Henry Ford Museum Greenfield Village Benson Ford Research Center Giant Screen Experience Ford Rouge Factory Tour Henry Ford Museum, 1953 (P.B.3002) Old Car Festival, 1959 (2005.0.9.18)
- 4. • ~250,000 objects • ~25 million archival documents and photographs • Historic audio and video • 200+ objects on loan to dozens of institutions • ~21,700 artifacts on display in Museum and Village (~5- 10% of non-archives collection) • More than 30 distinct collections storage areas totaling nearly 200,000 sq. ft. Eye Portrait, circa 1800 (61.151.40) Our Collections: “The Bottomless Pit of Wonderfulness”
- 5. Our Mission The Henry Ford provides unique educational experiences based on authentic objects, stories, and lives from America’s traditions of ingenuity, resourcefulness, and innovation. Our purpose is to inspire people to learn from these traditions to help shape a better future.
- 6. Digital Vision: 2020 • Embrace the Connected Consumer – Deliver world class user experiences and exclusive content to consumers on all screen sizes and device types • Drive Global Accessibility – Curate digital-first content that effectively blends with physical experience to drive global access to America's most important history collection • Consumer Experience & Data Focused – Cultivate a consumer experience focused and data driven culture. Leverage data driven insights to optimize a consumer experience that effectively blends the physical and digital worlds • Monetization – Leverage digital technology and distribution models to optimize and create new and innovative revenue streams Advertising Photograph, Model with 1979 Ford Mustang interior Door and Seat (88.400.52)
- 7. New Digital Collections Interface • Findable • Responsive • Robust • User-friendly • Improved backend infrastructure
- 9. Explore
- 10. Skills • Content strategy & program management • Collections imaging (museum & archives) • Web implementation • Digital design • Cataloging • Collections management • Content authoring & project management • Conservation • Video production • Social media Women Employees Receiving Approved Coverall Uniforms at Willow Run Bomber Plant, 1942 (P.833.76946.F)
- 11. Process • Idea generation • Initial discussion • SME follow-ups • Idea finalization • Content creation – by or in collaboration with SME(s) • Content vetting – by or in collaboration with SME(s) • Content publication • Content distribution 1924 Ford Motor Company Institutional Message Advertising Campaign, "Organized Economies“ (64.167.19.601)
- 12. Content Types/Destinations for Storytelling • NEW – Connect3 videos – What If stories – Exhibit stories – Curating/Preserving stories – On-the-floor digital kiosks • REVAMPED – Expert Sets – Popular Research Topics • EXISTING – Other videos – Blog posts – Online exhibits (Google Arts & Culture) – Social media posts – TV show episode pages – On-the-floor digital kiosks • FOUNDATIONAL – *Digitization (can include 360˚ views, narratives, extended narratives, specs, etc) Grand Panorama of Cinderella, circa 1890 (59.48.2)
- 13. What If? Stories
- 14. Connect 3 Videos
- 15. Some Results So Far • ~10% of our unique pageviews March-August 2016 are for content or Digital Collections pages • 6% year over year growth in visits to thf.org for July 2016 • 123% year over year growth in usage of Digital Collections for July 2016 • Referrals from social and search engines growing • Rosa Parks What If is a top draw • Low usage of Connect3s
- 16. Themes Made Visible • Content takes more time & staff than anyone might think • Much of our collection is not as well-understood as we’d like • Collections content provides opportunities • Our collections really are the “bottomless pit of wonderfulness” • We have many institutional messaging needs • Analyze, analyze, analyze • Our collections are the root of our institution Boys in Brooklyn Children's Museum, 1899-1915 (32.351.38)
- 17. Thank you! Ellice Engdahl Digital Collections & Content Manager, The Henry Ford @ErisuEEE
Editor's Notes
- Talking about development of a new Digital Content Engine at THF
- Currently known as The Henry Ford, but founded 1929 by Henry Ford as Edison Institute, on 50th anniversary of Thomas Edison’s invention of electric light Henry interested in significant achievements of industrial history (like Edison’s) but also everyday life for Americans before changes from automobile and industrialization
- Two large venues: Henry Ford Museum Museum = 600,000 sq. ft. Greenfield Village, open-air historical village Village (developed) = 81 acres ~80 historic structures Also have Benson Ford Research Center = portal to our collex, incl. reading room Giant Screen Experience theater (45,000 sq. ft.) Run Ford Rouge Plant factory tour for FMC In addition have on campus Henry Ford Academy, a public charter high school with 485 students
- Quote at top from Curator of Public Life Donna Braden– gets at both good & bad things about vast collection About ¼ million objects--estimates vary depending on how you count, but that’s estimate for accreditation Vast archives and lots of material in storage
- Developed by Digital & Emerging Media Director (my boss) as an extension of 2020 institutional strategic plan goals Four key points Embrace Connected Consumer Recognize that most people now have smartphones, tablets, etc, and that this has changed their expectations Drive Global Accessibility Become a digital content publisher & distributor ->really the point of the Digital Content Engine Ties to strategic goal around collections access—recognizing that not everyone will ever visit, but web can increase our reach worldwide Consumer Experience & Data Focused Our goal not only to create great experiences, but use analytics & other data to determine where they aren’t working and improve based on data Monetization We only draw about 40% of our annual budget from revenue from our endowment—about 60% is earned through ticket sales, retail, events, etc. This is a big deal for us—we brag about it often—so finding new ways to maintain that ratio as the world changes around us is important. Potential content licensing, branded content, plus revenue conversions through drawing people into our site Key on this plan and the next slide: Note marketing-centric nature. DEM director has marketing background; though it springs from collections access, this was sold largely on its marketing potential.
- New institutional website launched February 2016 Whole site has great SEO/findability, is responsive (works on any size device) Includes new digital collections interface Robust – good indexing, advanced search, related objects, new multimedia types, high-res image ecommerce New backend infrastructure Automated daily harvests from our collections mgmt. system – no need for manual intervention used to not harvest when DBA was not here, now the digitization team controls Images pre-processed; pre-cropped for speed and best appearance
- Another key feature of the new website to mention Artifact cards – automatically created for every artifact in our Digital Collections Compact, portable, sharable versions of our digital collections objects Designed to be embeddable—in your blog, or in our website Hope to draw in those who might not visit Digital Collections database; also hope to encourage social sharing of collections in a fun and interesting way
- Play one minute video Storytelling hub -- home for most DCE content Designed to be browsable & suck you in Explore section contains new types of content developed just for DCE plus repurposed existing content such as blog, video oral histories, etc—more on those soon
- All the different skills we need to pull this off Need someone to manage the priorities and process – me Need resources that continue to work on digitization – conservation, registrars, archives, photography Need folks to write and manage putting the content together Need folks to design and implement content on the web (or other digital interface) Need production staff to put videos together Need social media & marketing resources to share the content Across all those roles added 6 new FTEs seems like a lot but spread across all those needs doesn’t go as far as you’d think increased 2 staff from PT to FT Moved 4 staff from soft money to hard money; this wasn’t a net increase in bodies because all came with existing work but it at least means they are permanent Reminder: Funding for all of this came via the promise that this effort can become self-sustaining from a revenue standpoint some day
- Process for digital content development - work in progress but right now… Ideas for possible digital content are submitted in theory by anyone but mostly from marketing, education, & historical resources Discussed by stakeholders to assess potential strategic value (from interesting story through potential promotional tie-ins) – discussing the topics for discussion, not formats Follow-up discussions with subject matter experts (usually the curators) to refine & determine format(s) for the topic Content authored by DCE resources in collaboration with the SME – or by SME as time permits (DCE resources still often do project management/implementation/web requests) – always vetted by the SME at several steps in the process to ensure historical accuracy Then published & shared – still working on refining these pieces as we do “the first one” of everything
- Wanted DCE to have a “wow” but also recognize even with added staff can’t do everything At bottom—digitized collection records as the foundation Next – repurpose (and/or continue to create) existing content where that makes sense Types of content we already created or must maintain (like kiosks on the floor), plus partnerships like Google Arts & Culture Rethink/revamp Presenting existing content in different ways, covering more broadly, or including expanded functionality Brand new New type of video – will show you one in a bit New type of narrative story based around a “what if” question – more later Behind the scenes stories showcasing the way we care for artifacts, put exhibits together So new we’ve just begun discussing – new ways to develop content for digital kiosk experiences on the floor
- Example of a What If story on Bucky Fuller & the Dymaxion House behind me in Museum Currently have 8 What If stories in production, one more on the Wright brothers nearing completion Take a very narrow focus of a key moment around one or more artifacts and tell 800-1400 word story (5-7 minutes reading time) Richly designed pages, lots of multimedia and in some cases interactive elements
- Connect3 videos – other content type we’re proud of Collections experts pick three artifacts that might not have a clear connection and elaborate on one Play two-minute video Our hope is that these are pretty quick, simple, templatized to put together, but we’re finding the more intriguing the idea, the more thinking they require. Still working on productionizing these and getting more than three online.
- Some early findings since the new site launched. Chart shows content-based unique pageviews in relation to rest of site Most visitors come to site for visit info, but 6% of pageviews for Explore and 5% for Collections & Research, which contains Digital Collections Seeing more visits to our website in general and LOTS more to content pages Increasing referrals from search and social channels as content is shared Really great results from Rosa Parks What If Very low views for Connect3s—want to figure out how to improve this (may improve as we create more)
- Content takes more time & staff than anyone might think Challenge: Track & explain time Much of our collection is not as well-understood as we’d like Challenge: Reveal hidden stories Collections content provides opportunities Challenge: Understand opportunity benefits & costs Our collections really are the “bottomless pit of wonderfulness” Challenge: Pick topics wisely We have many institutional messaging needs Challenge: Create content that serves multiple purposes Our collections are the root of our institution
- And that’s it!