The Difficult Second Date

The Difficult Second DateMuseum Computer Network2 November 2016

Merete SanderhoffCurator / Senior Advisor

slideshare.net/meretesanderhoff@MSanderhoff

Merete SanderhoffCurator / Senior Advisorslideshare.net/meretesanderhoff@msanderhoff

Artworks by Jamie Seaboch / EyeQ Innovations

remixing public domain art from SMK CC BY-SA 4.0

unless otherwise stated

The National Gallery of DenmarkWestern art from 1300 to the present260,000 artworks

State funded since 1848

Our collection belongs to the publicWe are here to serve everyone

2008 – the first date

SMK Digital, 5 year dev project

Applied: 22 mill DKK ~ 3.2 mill USDPotential: 30 mill DKK ~ 4.4 mill USD

A great match

We support the good life

Immature organization

No real understanding of digitalNo experience with defining and achieving KPIs in digital projectsNo sense of UX designNaïve approach to user engagementNo updated infrastructure or resources to run the supertanker we had set out to build

All the classic mistakes

Everything at once Vague definition of target usersFocus on products, not on processes Shiny things that weren’t viableLack of overall management Hired the wrong kind of peopleSpent large part sums on external consultantsNo basic infrastructureNo operational budget

Stuff that happensin a project period

5 times maternity leave

4 key managers left for other jobs

Social media, mobile, and tablets changed the game

A fail forward project

Breaking the waves• Open source• Open licensing• User engagement• Collaboration

“SMK has introduced a paradigm shiftin the Danish museum sector, by invitingus to collaborate instead of competing, and by opening up the archives and democratizing the collections.”

Colleague museum interviewed by the external evaluator

A very expensive pilot

“SMK Digital might have benefitted from a pre-project that could have clarified whether SMK was ready to run a big digital development project and had the right competencies in place.”

From the external evaluation report

Some of the really great things that came out of SMK Digital were not in the original project description

• Open licensing / public domain • Sharing is Caring conference• Wikimedia collaboration

2012-16 Trying to go on a second date

Evaluations, critical questions, endless iterations on new application

Why was it so difficult second time around?

How a projectdevelopsin practice

How a project is perceived in the project plan

Tidying up Kandinsky, by Ursus Wehrli

The nature of digital – rapid change, disruption, perpetual beta – can be difficult to align, not only with a museum mindset, but also with that of a foundation Foundations expect value for their money, project plans that are followed minutely, annual reports on progress, and evident ROI

Finally, the second date

2016 – SMK Open

Applied: 21.5 mill DKK ~ 3.1 mill USD Granted: 11.7 mill DKK ~ 1.7 mill USD Support for the development of basic infrastructure

More than a funder – a valued partner

Forcing SMK to take responsibility for what we had started

Necessary to ensure operational costs and proper implementation to obtain new funding

The collaboration has sharpened the museum’s digital mission

Mutual learning process

Digital development is subject to rapid change

Focus on processes rather than products

Difficult to pin down ROI and impact

Projects will change direction

More viable to invest in infrastructure than shiny things

The hows and whys of maintaining a close, multiannual collaboration centered on digital

developments with a private foundation

How

Build trust – be patient

Sustained dialogue and information flow

Understand the nature of digital museum practice together

Demonstrate impact beyond your own institution

Why

Learn from the approach of a private foundation who thinks in investment and return User-centred approach – we support the good life

Mutual learning process to thebenefit of the entire sector

Let’s share!#MCN2016

Merete SanderhoffCurator / Senior Advisor

slideshare.net/meretesanderhoff@MSanderhoff

Merete SanderhoffCurator / Senior Advisorslideshare.net/meretesanderhoff@msanderhoff