Today’s museums are awash in data. With so many sources of information available, an organization can be drowning in numbers, but starved for real insight. Robert Stein, former Deputy Director of the Dallas Museum of Art (DMA), will examine how museums can begin to collect and analyze data to illuminate their practice and enhance their impact on visitors. Using a unique visitor loyalty program at the DMA as a case study, he will raise questions about what “big data” in the cultural sector looks like and what insights it might provide.

1. Supporting Exploration,
Innovation, and Audience
Engagement in the
Cultural Sector
Robert Stein
@rjstein
MUSEUMS &
BIG DATA

2. A BIT ABOUT ME

3. SCALE
What does it mean to think about audiences that

4. HOW CAN THE MUSEUM
REACH THE ENTIRE
AUDIENCE?

5. SCALE
Large systems exhibit unique properties that change
context for the individual

6. Tara Donovan, Untitled, 2014. acrylic and adhesive

7. Tara Donovan, Untitled, 2014. acrylic and adhesive

8. Tara Donovan, Untitled, 2014. acrylic and adhesive

9. Tara Donovan, Untitled, 2014. acrylic and adhesive

10. MUSEUM UNIVERSE
DATA FILE

11. 33,072 MUSEUMS

12. 33,072 MUSEUMS

13. Museums with total income in excess of $5M represent only 2.7% of all
museums in the data regardless of discipline.

14. Annual Statistical Survey
220 Museums Responding
300 pages of statistics for the year
1 super-giant Excel document

15. AAMD Survey Data
• Tableau Public
How much should I spend on Digital Advertising?

16. Where do high attendance museums devote their
budgets?

17. Where do high attendance museums devote their
budgets?

18. WHAT MAKES ONE
ORGANIZATION MORE
EFFECTIVE THAN
ANOTHER?

19. NATIONALCENTERFOR
ARTS RESEARCH

20. The National Center for Arts
Research at SMU
NCAR explores and analyzes issues surrounding
patronage and fiscal health of our nations arts
organizations.
NCAR provides data-based insights that enable arts and
cultural leaders to overcome challenges and increase their
impact.
NCAR has created among the largest database of arts
information ever collected, delivering findings to arts
leaders, funders, policymakers, researchers, and the
general public.

21. KIPIKey Intangible Performance Indicator

22. The National Center for Arts
Research at SMU
NCAR is exploring 128 indices drawn from data provided
by several national data partners
– Cultural Data Project
– National Assembly of State Art Agencies
– National Center for Charitable Statistics
– National Endowment for the Arts
– Theatre Communications Group
– League of American Orchestras
Access the complete findings and reports at: http://mcs.smu.edu/artsresearch/

23. Welcome Super-Special Cultural Organization

24. Super-Special Cultural Org INC

25. Super-Special Cultural Org INC

26. PREDICTION

27. THE ART OF
PREDICTION IN MUSEUMS

31. 35% IMPROVEMENT OVER
PRIOR MODEL

32. SCALE
The emergent behavior of groups is
composed from the actions of individuals

33. SCALE
One European Starling

34. SCALE
Five European Starlings

35. Vimeo Credit ~flight404
SCALE
One Hundred Thousand European Starlings

36. MUSEUMS EXCEL AT
CREATING GREAT
EXPERIENCES FOR
INDIVIDUALS

37. BUT WE OFTEN FAIL TO
THINK ABOUT EXTENDING
THAT TO THE WHOLE
AUDIENCE

38. CAN DATA HELP CREATE
A SMART MUSEUM THAT IS
AGILE AND RESPONSIVE?

40. BEHOLD… THE PEN

41. AND TABLES AND STUFF

43. Visualizing the Cooper-Hewitt Pen Data
http://github.com/cooperhewitt/the-pen-data

44. More than 3.4M interactions and 2.5M collection objects
have been saved during 108K visits since March 2015

45. The median number of objects collected is stable at
around 18 objects / visit.

46. And the winner is… staircases.

47. MAKING
FRIENDS

48. KIOSK EXPERIENCE

49. ACTIVITIES AND BADGES

50. REWARDS

51. A VERY LARGE SAMPLE

54. BIG DATA… eh maybe
2M+ Rows of activity data
> 111k Users
> 20 Fields Each
… Big for Museums Anyways

55. SO WHAT DO
YOU DO
WITH ALL
THESE
NUMBERS?

58. +50%
485
540
680
730
0 400 800
FY12
FY13
FY14
FY15
Thousands
ATTENDANCE

59. FIRST TIME VISITORS
+35%From 4% in 2008 to 39% in 2016

60. MOST COMMON AGES
18-2946% of Visitors are between the ages of 18-29
In 2008, most visitors were between the ages of 54-64

61. INCREASED MINORITY
PARTICIPATION
+23%Including a 20% increase in participation among Hispanic audiences

62. Flickr Credit ~Donkeyhotey
WHAT MIGHT A GLOBAL ENGAGEMENT
NETWORK LOOK LIKE?

66. Image courtesy of seoultown.blogspot.com

67. THANKS!
@rjstein
Tara Donovan, Untitled, 2014. styrene index cards, metal, wood, paint and glue