Digipublishing in Museums - Evaluating SFMoMA's first digital catalogue

Frankly, Green + WebbCreated for: Presented by: Date issued:

MCN Laura Mann 20h November 2014

Frankly, Green + Webb

Making a 21st-Century Combine:

SFMOMA’s First Online

Collections Catalogue

2014 MCN Conference

November 20, 2014

Frankly, Green + Webb Photo by Amanda Graham on Flickr


1.Who is using the RRP?

2.How is it being used?

3.How is it perceived?

4.Is it replicable by SFMOMA?


What We Did

1.Online survey

2.Interviews with users and

stakeholders

3.Usability testing

4.Google Analytics


Let’s start with some good news

1.Reaching the primary audience

2.Used for research and

teaching

3.A trusted source

4.A new form


Q: What best describes you?

The RRP is reaching its primary target audience

69% Primary Audiences

• 25% Graduate

students

• 18% Professors

• 16% Curators

• 6% Independent

scholars

• 4% Librarians

N=51

69%

Primary

Audiences

12%

Secondary

Audiences

20%

Other

Audiences


Q: What best describes you?

It’s also reaching secondary and wider audiences

69% Primary Audiences

• 25% Graduate

students

• 18% Professors

• 16% Curators

• 6% Independent

scholars

• 4% Librarians

12% Secondary Audiences

• 10% Museum educators

• 2% Undergraduates

N=51

69%

Primary

Audiences

12%

Secondary

Audiences

20%

Other

Audiences


Greater and more diverse reach than

a comparable print catalogue

700Museum, university and

library network domains

from around the world

24,792Unique visitors in first

six months


Google is the key to the

discoverability of the RRP

>48%Traffic referred by Google

I'm Googling for …some random

fact about Rauschenberg in

1953…and I often find that

that takes me back to an essay

in the RRP.

Graduate student


Where do scholars expect to find

the RRP?

…in academic databases?



the RRP?



the RRP?

…at the library

…it's parallel to a

huge book…I might expect to

see to it listed instead in

the actual [university]

library where they're

cataloguing books…

Graduate student


But…there’s no

standardized

process for

adding digital

publications to

library

catalogues


What does this

mean for you?

• SEO is critical to the

findability of your online

scholarly catalogue

• Get an ISBN number for your

online publication

• Getting online publications

into university libraries will

require outreach to art

librarians


How is the RRP being used?

N=81

Q: What were your reasons for visiting/using the Rauschenberg Research Project

online? (Please select all that apply)

35%

20%

19%

14%

12%

1%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Interest in online catalogues

General research

Looking for materials and

resources to support teaching

Researching Robert

Rauschenberg

Looking for images of

Rauschenberg’s work

Looking for conservation

research



N=81



35%

20%

19%

14%

12%

1%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%


General research



Researching Robert

Rauschenberg




research

Visitors who are

interested in the

catalogue’s form,

rather than its

content



N=81



35%

20%

19%

14%

12%

1%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%


General research



Researching Robert

Rauschenberg




research

Visitors who are

interested in the

catalogue’s form,

rather than its

content

15% of RRP

visitors have

been to the

site 9-200

times


Primary audiences rate RRP content very highly

Q: “How do you rate the content of the Rauschenberg Research Project on a

scale of 1-5 where 1 is not at all useful and 5 is extremely useful? N=35

4.54

4.54

4.51

4.43

4.26

4.63

1 2 3 4 5

Images of the artworks

Scholarly essays and

curatorial commentary

Exhibition histories

Curatorial documents

Conservation documents

Videos

Extremel

y useful

Very

useful

Fairly

useful

Not very

useful

Not at all

useful


There was universal praise for the usefulness, quality, depth

and breadth of RRP content

The [RRP] was a huge

asset for my [Masters]

paper…

Graduate student

comprehensive.

I cite it as a model

Graduate student

98% of the primary audience said they

were likely to use the RRP for any

future research on Rauschenberg

The research…is

just phenomenal

Curator


The audience also trusted RRP as a scholarly source

37% of the primary audience that had

used the RRP said they planned to

cite it in future research

The RRP presents

itself as something

that makes me trust

it to a very high

standard.

Curator

…generally…I don't cite

online material…but because

of the rigor that was used

in this project, I felt

comfortable citing it.

Graduate student


A deeper level of access to museum information

It’s like the museum

opened up their databases to

me. I wish I could find this

kind of resource for the

artists I work on.

Curator


Features for the academic audience

1.Video transcripts and sharing

2.Citation tools

3.Downloadability

[Recommended format for citation

is] super super important…in terms

of training our students in

research and documentation”

Professor


Features for the academic audience

1.Video transcripts and sharing

2.Citation tools

3.Downloadability

I downloaded pretty

much everything …because

I wanted to use it offline

where I didn't have WiFi.

Graduate student


But many also saw the RRP as offering a new type of scholarship

The RRP seems somewhat unique

in the aggregation of very high

quality images...detailed object

information and particular

essays geared toward those

objects.

Graduate student

The…content of the essays

was …the most surprising and interesting

thing for me. The essays by SFMOMA curators

had insights about the physical objects,

their histories, that don't appear in

traditional art historical scholarship

written by people who have limited access

to the objects…

Graduate student

The RRP appears to be a

new kind of thing…a unique

publication… It's a new kind

of form

Graduate student


What does this

mean for you?

• Online catalogues need some

specialized functionality to

meet the needs of a scholarly

audience

• The features reflect working

process and signify academic

authority

• Online scholarly catalogues

offer opportunities for

innovation in content and form


Challenges

1.Boundaries

2.Permanence

3.Status

4.Replicability


Boundaries: where does an online

publication begin and end?


Where is the container

that makes this into a separate

publication? Does it bleed

out into the rest of the

website?...where does the publication

begin and where does it end? And how

do you tell when you're in it or not

in it?

Graduate student

Boundaries: where does an online

publication begin and end?


Permanence: will this be here

in 20 years?


Permanence: will this be here

in 20 years?

But if you cite

something there's the

possibility that it

would disappear.

There's a lot of

scholarly nervousness

about that.

Graduate student

Do we have a way

to ensure that... 20 years from now,

will we be able to read this data?

…If it's in a library catalogue…will

that URL be stable?

Graduate student


Status: what is the value of

an online scholarly catalogue?




It doesn't feel as

prestigious [as a printed

catalogue] but I think

that's changing…I wouldn't

hesitate to sign on to a

project that was digital.

Curator

The physical heft of

a book is in some ways how

we translate the

intellectual weight

Graduate student




I have published in museum

publications before. And… what I've

been told is that they don't count

towards tenure review…they go on my

CV, but they…aren't considered tenure-

worthy. But..the RRP that's some new

territory I think…

Graduate student




It changed my opinion... it

served for me as an example of

what's possible.

Graduate student

I saw that one could be done

in a very comprehensive and

scholarly manner. I'm not

sure I was a big believer

prior to that.

Curator and RRP contributor


What does this

mean for you?

• Clear boundaries translate to

audience trust

• Can online catalogues be

permanent, updatable and

archival?

• Perceptions of online

catalogues are shaped by

larger issues of status and

publication record in the

academic community

I


Is the RRP replicable?


Technology isn’t

the only issue


• Technical framework

• Integration of museum

systems

• Roles and

responsibilities

• Resources and workflow


What does this

mean for you?

• Technology integrations

• New museum workflows

• New roles and responsibilities

• Quantifying scope and effort

for appropriate resources


e:

[email protected]

t:

@lhmann

Images thanks to Flickr Commons:

The hidden treasures of the Worlds

Public Archives

http://www.flickr.com/commons

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Digipublishing in Museums - Evaluating SFMoMA's first digital catalogue

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