Brief overview of digital activity at the Royal Pavilion and Museums, Brighton & Hove, and strategic thinking behind this. Delivered at the 'Welcome to the Digital Age' event at the Royal Engineers' Museum, 9 July 2013. Largely notable for obscure cake metaphors and use of the phrase 'counter-curatorial'.

1. ‘Doing digital’ in Brighton
The digital evolution of the Royal
Pavilion and Museums
Kevin Bacon
Digital Development Officer

2. I will not…
• Be an expert
• Show off

3. Who are we?
Royal Pavilion
Preston Manor
Booth Museum
of Natural
History
Hove Museum &
Art Gallery
Brighton Museum &
Art Gallery

4. What do we have?
World Art
Decorative Art
Local History
Fine Art
Natural History
Film and
Media
Costume
Archaeology

5. A digital timeline
• 1995-2000: small scale digitisation / digital engagement projects eg. Brighton & Hove
in Pictures, My Brighton
• c2000: first website, shared with Brighton libraries
• 2003/4: first major programme of digitisation, combined with collection management
system
• 2009: Introduction of existing website
• 2009: Online booking introduced
• 2010: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr
• 2010: Introduction of Asset Bank DAMS and online Image Store
• 2011: Appointment of Digital Development Officer
• 2011: BrightonMuseums smartphone app
• 2012: Map the Museum crowdsourcing project
• 2012: You Tube channel
• 2012-2015: ACE Renaissance Major Partner museum, with strong digital programme

6. Where are we now?

7. The uncooked middle
• Existing website is poor…
• … but completing evaluation as preparation for tender
process
• Online collections site is inadequate…
• … but working with Orangeleaf on new online collections
to launch in August

8. Lessons learned
• Need for agility in structures that support web presence
eg. coherent partnerships, clear ICT support, good
developer relationship
• Need to develop on basis of evidence
• Battleship vs speedboats

9. What drives digital
development?

10. Digital Strategy
• No standalone explicit digital strategy
• Embedded in Forward Plan: Culture Connects
• Working on formal digital strategy this autumn

11. Towards 2020: Culture Connects
‘The Royal Pavilion & Museums, Brighton & Hove aims to inspire,
illuminate and challenge its visitors and virtual users. It does this by
caring for and interpreting its outstanding collections and historic
sites to support discovery, enjoyment and learning….
… It operates in a digital world making collections and knowledge
available on line and providing a platform for user generated content
and debate.’

12. Strategic Aims
• Connecting people with museums and changing lives
• Developing and caring for cultural, scientific and natural
resources (collections & buildings)
• Building a sustainable and resilient organisation
• Exercising leadership

13. Connecting people with
museums
• Roll-out of wifi across sites
• Digital engagement projects with focus on young people
and communities
• Promotion of open data and re-use of digital assets
• Evolving social media use

14. Developing collections and
buildings
• Digitisation, particularly material stored at The Keep
• Collection of user generated knowledge
• Digital systems for archiving and record keeping

15. Building a sustainable
organisation
• Staff training eg. DAMS, social media
• Marketing
• Online fundraising
• Heritage Learning Consortium

16. Leadership
• Work with Museum Development Service to support
digital work in region
• Digital Development Assistant can offer onsite advice
• Sharing information, informal advice

17. http://bit.ly/18Ioqo1
BrightonMuseums app
• Basic brochure app
• Free app available for Android and iPhone
• Aimed at weekend visitors and regular users
• Features promotion for £1 off Royal Pavilion
admission
• Developing as platform for gallery content eg.
LGBT tour

18. http://bit.ly/18Ioqo1
BrightonMuseums app
What works?
• Over 5000 downloads in 2012-13
• 30% conversion rate into paying customers
• Good user feedback
What doesn’t work?
• Android development a struggle
• No data on how people use the app
• Encouraging use as a gallery aid is difficult

19. www.mapthemuseum.org.uk/
Map the Museum

20. http://bit.ly/18Ioqo1
Map the Museum
What works?
• Kickstarted internal conversation about open data and crowdsourcing
• Some professional interest eg Museum ID article, conference piece
• Demonstrated that fast, hacky, iterative development can work for us
What doesn’t work?
• … disappointing level of engagement
• 90% of users from outside Brighton & Hove!

21. http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/category/digital/new-cabinets-
for-new-curiosities/
New Cabinets for New
Curioisities

22. http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/category/digital/new-cabinets-
for-new-curiosities/
New Cabinets for New
Curiosities
What worked?
• Pushed through first release of Airfix model open data and image sets
• Developed professional links supporting Brighton Digital Festival
• First piece of data driven digital art from collections
What didn’t work?
• Only one submission!
• Highlighted language and conceptual issues around museums and digital
assets eg.’what are digitised collections?’

23. Blogger in Residence
‘I’m tapping away at the laptop when
this dude comes up in a dark blue
three-cornered hat, like a comedy
Napoleon.... what we talk about is why
the Royal Pavilion wasn’t built facing
out to sea and what that means about
George IV’s disinterest in nature,
versus people’
Chris T-T
http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/category/authors/guest-
author/chris-t-t/

24. http://rpmcollections.wordpress.com/category/authors/guest-
author/chris-t-t/
Blogger in Residence
What works?
• Reach to non-traditional audiences through non-curatorial voice
• 4/5 top blog posts written by Chris
• Produced our first podcasts
• Huge interest in opportunity when offered
What doesn’t work?
• Some complaints about content
• Internal divisions over approach

25. www.murderinthemanor.org.uk
Murder in the Manor

26. www.murderinthemanor.org.uk
Murder in the Manor
What works?
• Very good response from young writers
• Extremely good level of engagement: 30 mins average dwell time on tour,
compared with 3 – 4.5 mins on other sites
• Site is used by schools
What doesn’t work?
• No hard evidence of success as marketing initiative
• Internal disputes over fictive content
• Visitor numbers a little disappointing although stable

27. Story Drop

28. How have we changed?
1. More data driven
• Increasing use of Google Analytics data in
development decisions
• Moving away from focus on systems (eg. Mimsy XG)
to thinking about more fluid use of data
• New online collections will have an API for data re-use.
Encouraging use with Game Jam in September.

29. How have we changed?
2. More mobile friendly
• All websites now built on ‘mobile first’ basis
• Roll out of wifi to support mobile based social media
use in gallery
• Mobile enhanced content in galleries

30. How have we changed?
3. More open to other voices
• Ongoing blogger in residence programme
• Developing model of young people creating rich, fun experiences
to promote to schools
• Collection of user generated content through online collections
• Use of web media as a space for dialogue

31. How have we changed?
4. More playful
• Use of digital media to converge artistic practices
around our collections and buildings
• Use of fictive approach in creating new content
• We consider the counter-curatorial!

32. Thank you
Kevin Bacon
kevin.bacon@brighton-hove.gov.uk
@fauxtoegrafik