Light a Fire Time
My point is not to talk about "exciting new things" (though I've done a bit of that). The real purpose behind this is to convince you that WE ARE NOT DOING ENOUGH.
I mean that with all respect.
Yesterday's "cutting edge" features are today's "got to haves". There was a time when an email account for a museum or gallery was novel; now a collection online is expected and folksonomies are novel.
And hey, if you're interested in folksonomies, you've got to check out steve.museum
We have to be (at least) in that "soft spot" for 2 reasons: Your public demands it and it's worth it.
1. Your Public Demands It
Museum visitors are web savvy people. In a CHIN 2004 survey, 81% of museum visitors are regular internet users. This compares to a national average of 68% of Canadians. And the number goes up to 89% for frequent museum visitors (visit a museum once a month or more).
In this same survey, visitors to museum and gallery web sites looked to those sites for the following types of information:
- General information about the museum
- Schedule of special events
- Collections information
- e-boutique
- Images of objects in the collection
- Web-based activities
- Virtual exhibitions
- Learning resources
- Discount offers
21% of those visitors living in Canada and 27% of those living outside of Canada used the Internet in preparing for their visit to a museum - more than one in five visitors will check out your virtual site before they check out your brick and mortar site.
The survey found that "there is a strong positive tie between visits to museums' web spaces and in-person visits to museums. The more one visits museum web spaces, the more likely one is to visit museums in person."
Sources:
http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/060815/d060815b.htm
http://www.chin.gc.ca/English/Digital_Content/2004Survey/index.html
2. It's Worth It
For Little...
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
- A summer student / co-op term every couple of years
- Approx 1 day / 3 weeks for I.T. Admin average
Langley Centennial Museum
- External contracts averaging a couple of thousand dollars every other year (after initial site developent)
...Lots in Return
- 40-50,000 visitors monthly on aggv.bc.ca; 30,000 on langleymuseum.org
- revenue stream through licensing images
- "self-help" for visitors frees up staff time (though also generates more questions)
- each step forward can leverage funding (eg CHIN Agora Pilot project; printmaking mini-exhibit)
- it's core mandate stuff