10 key trends for Collections in 2012

Copyright Collections Trust 2011. Published under a CC license

10 key trends for 2012

Nick Poole, CEO, Collections Trust


Where next for Collections Trust?

• Support museums, archives, libraries and galleries in unlocking the potential of their collections, by:

– Providing know-how– Developing and promoting excellence– Challenging existing practices– Pioneering new ideas– Bringing experts together


Our work

• 5 Programmes

– OpenCulture– Collections Link– Culture Grid– Excellence in Collections– International

• ‘Excellence in Collections’ brings together standards-related activity including SPECTRUM, BSI PAS 197,PAS 198 and Museum Accreditation


Collections Link

• Social & professional networking for the Collections community – create groups, share knowledge and expertise, connect with professionals in the UK and Europe

• Preserves expertise, avoids short-termism, ensures that the sector is learning from each other and remains fit for purpose

• http://www.collectionslink.org.uk


Culture Grid

• Unlocking the potential of digital Collections for online audiences

• Brokering culture-sector content to media partners

• Developing new applications for cultural content

• 1.3m objects available for open re-use

• Incubating digital business models

• http://www.culturegrid.org.uk


10 Key trends for 2012


1. Museum Accreditation

A simplified standard designed to provide a minimal indication of the key elements of delivering a successful museum service.

Each section closely integrated with the others as part of a continuum.

Centred around the defining principle of a strategic Mission – hence improvement is relative to the Mission, not to other museums.


Museum Accreditation Scheme

• Not a radical departure from previous version

• Creates requirements around audience engagement, which include online access to Collections

• A presumption towards open access online

• Self-assessment and reporting

• Due for launch at MA Conference on 3rd October

• Collections Trust workshop on Accreditation & Collections, 4th October


2. SPECTRUM 4.0

• Intended to simplify and clarify SPECTRUM

• Designed to support the rationalisation & improvement of Collections processes in your museum

• Developed via the Collections Link Standards Wiki –http://standards.collectionslink.org.uk & supported by CG Vocab Bank – http://www.vocman.com/culturegrid

• Developed in partnership with MODES & other SPECTRUM Partners

• Emphasis on SPECTRUM as a procedural standard, supported by a framework of information/structural standards/protocols


http://standards.collectionslink.org.uk


http://www.vocman.com/cultureGrid


3. Visualisation

• Connecting datasets, with less emphasis on structural interoperability and greater emphasis on using data to support management processes.

• Applications include:

– Data quality visualisation– Integrated pest mapping & monitoring– Collections care/environmental control– Participation/use– Strategic planning– Collections Mobility/loans

• Increasing number of visualisation-based platforms under development in 2011-12


4. Narrative Middleware

• Increasing number of 3rd party and integrated tools which interface with multiple data sources to create ‘narrative’ packages, such as learning objects, exhibition plans or research resources.

• Drawing together:

– Collections object records– Digital assets– Internal learning/educational material– Other research resources– Data from Wikipedia, dbpedia & others– JORUM and other learning resources

• To watch: ResearchSpace from British Museum & Mellon Foundation


5. They (we) want your data

• An abbreviated list of people who want your object records & pictures of your Collections in 2012:

– Culture Grid– Europeana– BBC Digital Public Space– Technology Strategy Board Digital Marketplace– Public Catalogue Foundation– Google Art Project– Wikipedia– JISC/MIMAS– ArtFinder– DC-NET– Many, many others!


6. Collections Mobility

• The Government, the Arts Council, your Local Authority, the Museums Association and the European Commission are coming after your Collections in store

• Simplifying loan agreements, relaxing provisions for long-term loans and funding exchange programmes in UK and Europe

• Ensuring that when an object goes on loan, the documentation is persistent between the donor and recipient museums

• Automating repeat loans/basic loan documentation


7. Cloud

• Increasing emphasis on Cloud-based Collections Management applications

• Storing datasets in ‘the Cloud’ and interfacing with them via a browser

• Increasing number of entry-level Cloud-based offers during 2012

• BUT issues around data integrity, security, connectivity

• Increasing number of flexible/hybrid solutions (including MODES Complete!) and the rise of the integrated API/management interface


8. Digital Sustainability

• We’re making a lot of Digital stuff, and funders are getting nervous about how much of it will be here in 10 years time - closely tied to organisational sustainability!

• Fundamentally depends on not adopting any one particular approach, but on fine-tuning inputs and process to deliver a product which satisfies defined needs

• To watch:

– Digitisation Standards/Strategies– Funder requirements– Digital Content Supply Chain– The rise of ‘boutique’ (as opposed to ‘mass’) Digitisation


9. Workflow

• Systems which know how far through a process you are

• Systems which prompt you to complete specific tasks

• Systems which include messaging/transport layer which ensures that all of the participants in a particular process are up-to-date

• Making more efficient use of resources such as conservator time and using opportunities such as transport/packaging & relocation to prompt sub-processes like conditional checking or inventory

• Self-documenting systems which publish your Procedural Manual dynamically


10. Write once/repurpose ∞

• Your Collections data needs to support an ever-increasing number of outputs, from web to print, kiosk, learning package, aggregator, user interface, commercial product, open educational resource etc…

• A fundamental principle of the design of MODES XML and now MODES Complete

• Creating new outputs or products is a question of writing a new transform, not of rewriting the whole record

• BUT – inventory-level data is going to be hard-pushed to support this multiplicity of outputs. Next-gen cataloguing may need to include eg. photo library keywording, folksonomic classification and multiple licensing according to use


Key trends for 2012

• Accreditation• SPECTRUM 4.0• Visualisation• Narrative middleware• They want your data• Collections Mobility• Cloud• Digital Sustainability• Workflow/process automation• Write once/repurpose many times• + Digital Asset Management, Data Cleaning, Digital Repositories & many more!


Conclusions

• Many of these applications are under development, but will take time to filter into the featureset of Collections Management Systems

• Futureproofing is vital – which is a core principle of MODES Complete

• Your collections data is a product, with a real value, but the chances are it’s not (yet) up to the job

• Collections Management is one of the at-risk areas in museums – we have to demonstrate how all of this effort delivers value for the museum’s mission

• Tell me what I have got wrong!


OpenCulture 2012

• Annual Great Collections Management Exhibition and Conference

• June 19th & 20th 2012

• At the Oval, London

• Come and find out whether I was right about 2012!

• www.collectionslink.org.uk/openculture2012


Contact

Nick PooleCollections Trust

[email protected]

@NickPoole1

http://www.collectionstrust.org.uk

10 key trends for Collections in 2012

Business

Transcript of 10 key trends for Collections in 2012