Nationalmuseum Sweden is the Swedish museum of art and design founded in 1866 with a collection of 700,000 works. It has placed all reproductions of two-dimensional works in the public domain and made 70,000 works available online. Images on Wikimedia Commons from Nationalmuseum received over 44 million views in 2020. The museum aims to preserve cultural heritage and promote art through open access and engaging digital experiences for visitors.

1. 1
What we do and why -
Turning digital access
into visitor engagement
at Nationalmuseum
Sweden
Foto: Bruno Ehrs/Nationalmuseum, CC-BY-ND
Presentation for “Driving engagement – participatory approaches to digital cultural heritage”, 2021-12-02, CC-BY-SA
Karin Glasemann, Digital Coordinator
karin.glasemann@nationalmuseum.se
kringln

2. 2
Who are we?
Foto: Bruno Ehrs/Nationalmuseum, CC-BY-ND
Sweden’s museum of
Art and Design.
Founded in 1866,
a growing collection of
700 000 works of art:
paintings, sculptures,
prints and drawings,
applied art and design.
Due to renovation
closed since 2013.
Reopened
October 13th,
2018
Closed due to Covid-
19 on March 20th
Reopened on June
15th
Closed due to Covid-
19 in November 2020
Reopened on April
6th

3. 3
What access/reuse possibilities do our users have?
Detail of Jean Siméon Chardin, The Washerwoman, Foto: Erik Cornelius/Nationalmuseum, Public Domain
All reproductions of two-dimensional works of art
placed in the Public Domain
All available images of paintings and art on paper
in the Public Domain provided as IIIF-resources in
the online collection (now c. 70 000)
Ca. 6000 highres images available on Wikimedia
Commons

4. 4
In the first week of being online, our images
on Wikimedia Commons were used in more
than 100 articles and they were viewed 104 000
times.
In 6 weeks they had 400 000 views.
Now, they are in over 6 000 articles.
They have had 44 million views in 2020.

5. 5
Our governmentally funded mission is to preserve cultural heritage and
promote art, interest in art and knowledge of art. We are supposed to
especially keep alive the older forms of art and their connection to
contemporary art and to the development of society. The museum shall work for
artistic and cultural regeneration
Alexander Roslin, Konstnären och hans hustru Marie Suzanne Giroust målande Henrik Wilhelm Peills porträtt (detalj), Foto: Nationalmuseum/Anna Danielsson, Public Domain

6. 6
Why we need open licenses.
Because the collections and our
knowledge on those collections needs to
be where the users are.
Pietro Antonio Rotari, Girl Looking through a Telescope, Foto: Nationalmuseum, Public Domain

7. 7
Where does all the data
come from?
Foto: Nationalmuseum, CC-BY
- Initial move of 400 000
objects in the collection
- Instllalation of 5 000
objects in the new
collection presentation
- In depth cataloguing of
about 7000 objects

8. 8
Digitisation och documentation during
renovation
• All digitisation connected to the new exhibtions
prioritised
• Thematic choice and curatorial information
documented in the collection management system
• Production of exhibition labels from the collection
management system.
• Development of API to the collection management
system for a new visitor guide app and web content.

9. 9

10. 10
Launch october 2018

11. 11
API now what?

12. 12
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe/ Überseemuseum/ Nationalmuseum
Follow us at https://medium.com/neocollections

13. 13
Had we missed something?
Joseph Ducreux, Selfportrait, called La Surprise (The surprise), Foto: Erik Cornelius/Nationalmuseum, Public Domain

14. 14

15. 15

16. 16
They want more! • practical help
• guidance
• background and curiosa
• personal connection
Also: MORE SNOW.
Alfred Bergström, Winter Scene from the Stockholm Waterfront, 1899 Foto: Erik Cornelius/Nationalmuseum, Public Domain

17. 17
They also want less.
less text..
Julius Paulsen, The Tree, Foto: Linn Ahlgren/Nationalmuseum, Public Domain

18. 18
Getting collaborative.
• Storytelling
workshops with
more cross-
departemental staff
• Providing a
modular, visitor-
curated highlights
tour
Ivar Arosenius, Noah’s Ark, Foto: Cecilia Heisser/Nationalmuseum, Public Domain

19. 19
Let’s wrap this up.
• Collaborate internally.
• Catalogue.
• Use open licenses.
• Do user research.
• Really. Find, and ask your
users what they think.
• Find scaleable solutions, but
focus on quality, not quantity.

20. 20
Thank you!
Karin Glasemann, Digital Coordinator
Nationalmuseum ( @ kringln)
medium.com/@karin.glasemann
Johan Johnsen, Fruktstycke med monogrampokal, NM 4791 Foto: Nationalmuseum/Anna Danielsson, Public Domain