Building a Digital Strategy by Carolyn Royston from Imperial War Museums (UK)

BUILDING A DIGITAL STRATEGY

CAROLYN ROYSTONIMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS

& LOIC TALLON

POCKET-PROOF

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Delivering a digital strategy - IWM’s story 7 June 2013

Carolyn RoystonHead of Digital MediaImperial War Museums@caro_ft

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• 5 locations• 600 staff• 2.3 million visitors to our sites per year• One of the biggest national museums

About the museum

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• Oldest film archive in the UK• Second largest sound archive after the BBC• Over 11 million photographs• Second largest 20th Century art collection in the UK after Tate• Millions of documents, diaries, papers• Over 140,000 large objects

IWM Collection

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• No Digital Media department • No investment in digital • Old website and separate collections online no longer fit for

purpose• Little social media presence or relationships with 3rd parties• Very complex IP and copyright issues• Lack of co-ordinated approach or strategy to managing digital

rights• Extremely risk-adverse in approach to collections and digital

space

When I joined in 2009

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iwm.org.ukiwmcollections.org.uk

iwmshop.org.uk2009

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• Establish a department• Try to work in news ways suited to digital development - not silo• Deliver some key priority projects on time and to budget• Raise the digital agenda• Not fail!

2009 – key challenges

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• Department is growing • Responsible for all public facing digital outputs :

•Website and collections search•In-gallery multimedia•Mobile•Social media•Strategic digital partnerships with 3rd parties

‘Digital is our most important channel going forward’ – Director, November 2012

Digital Media department 2013

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How did we make change happen?

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• New department with new ideas and ways of doing things• Significant corporate projects to deliver• Involve staff throughout and be transparent about our process• Open up thinking about what was possible• Audience focussed• We’re all in it together

Our approach

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Where do you start?

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1. Knowledge gathering

• what digital projects are happening around the organisation?

• where are they happening?

• who is working on them?• how have they been

funded?

© IWM (C 1079)

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2. Involve organisation

• Raise digital agenda• Makes you visible• Open up thinking• Find out what staff

know about digital• Demonstrate

leadership

© IWM (Q55176)

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• Involve as many people as you can at all levels

• Ask open questions

Staff wanted our online visitors to know about the amazing range and quality of the collection

• To be able to showcase their work and expertise

• Create a dialogue with our audiences

3. Consult with staff

© IWM (H 39089)

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• Wanted to open up the collections – 250,000 more objects available

• Let’s accept this might be messy • Be more permissive and courageous with our copyright position• Move from risk-adverse to risk-aware

And there was more…

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4. Create a roadmap

• Aims and goals• Priorities• Resources needed• Budget• Timescale• Directors sign off

© IWM (SE 2955)

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• I was able to publish a strategy • At the heart was aspiration to open up our collections and

encourage active participation with our audiences• Given permission from staff and Senior Management – had

organisational buy-in

After all that….

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Moving from theory to practice:

© IWM (TR134)

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Built up our social media presence

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Facebook

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• User engagement can strengthen our collection

Facebook

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• Opportunity to reach out to different audiences• Piggyback on other people’s technologies• Use our collections in different ways• How can we maximise the IWM content in digital spaces• Chance to be more entrepreneurial and find partners that can add

value

And built strategic partnerships

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• IWM moved from risk-adverse to risk-aware – this has opened up the organisation’s thinking about digital possibilities

• Busted myths – e.g. about collection sales and post-moderated comments

• IP and copyright has become more permissive • Introduced processes to manage risk so we can be

more entrepreneurial and risk-taking• Ongoing advocacy so organisation can see benefits of

digital activity

By end of 2012:

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The work never ends

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Digital activity increasing across the organisation

•How does this affect the way we plan and programme work?•How do we develop the skills and confidence of staff to transform digital capability in the organisation?•How do we embed digital in our work?

•We’re updating our digital strategy

In 2013 – new key challenges

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Computer Club

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• A new, informal place for staff to develop digital skills• Monthly lunchtime sessions • A place to experiment, get excited about digital• Launched in May• Everyone in museum is welcome

Computer Club

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1. Learning to use Twitter2. Games and gesture control – playing with the Xbox3. Blogging, Wordpress, Tumblr and Pinterest4. Using tablets, apps – difference between android and iOS5. Facebook – set up, privacy settings, liking, commenting, tagging6. Make a movie on an iPad and upload to YouTube

Staff will help us decide on the next 6….

First six sessions

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There are badges!

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Takeaways / where to startPLANNING•Knowledge share•Involve organisation•Consult with staff•Create a road map•Get director sign-off

croyston@iwm.org.uk

IMPLEMENTATION•Take small but confident steps•Be risk aware, not risk adverse•Work closely with your colleagues: help them understand what is happening.

AND MORE…•The work never ends•It takes energy•It is possible

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