Getting collections online

nice people talking sense about the web | hello@thirty8.co.uk | 0800 808 54 38 | © Thirty8 Digital 2015
Getting your
collection online
SW Digital Champions Forum

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 >
pain
10
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)

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
Qualityofrecord
x
National 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
mike@thirty8.co.uk
thirty8.co.uk

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