The question isn't "should we be maximising income?". Of course we should. The question is "HOW do we maximise income?".
In terms of real-world evidence, we need to find ways of understanding whether the same memes that are (possibly) emerging about scale and scarcity with regard to music, books, newspaper, etc also apply to our sector. They may not, in which case let's carry on doing what we're doing. On the other hand (and this is the view I personally subscribe to), this might be a paradigm shift rather than a minor blip that requires more than a "keep chasing the thieves, lock it down harder, ostrich the issues raised by a global network of access".
The music industry has been broken by it, the newspaper industry is in the process of being demolished, the book industry is suffering, journals are having to reassess the ways in which they provide open access. IMO the institutions that will survive and thrive are the ones that are *open* to new ideas and willing to take some risks, not the ones trying desperately to hang on to the old, tried and tested business models.
In terms of real steps - as I suggested a loooong time ago (nothing happened then, and I'm wondering if anyone will step up to the plate now..):
"What would be fantastic (if unlikely) would be if a museum or gallery agreed to take part in a quantitative study: take one selection of images and hide them away behind watermarking, DRM and thumbnails; take another and make these widely and hugely available via Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, blogging, etc. Offer both sets for purchase in hi-res, then sit back and measure over a period of time."
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A2=ind0804&L=MCG&P=R7602
Anyone up for an experiment?
Mike
Mike Ellis
Professional Services Group
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-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of J DAVIS
Sent: 16 July 2009 11:15
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: NPG / Wikimedia
And there has been increasing pressure from Government for the publicly-funded heritage organisations to make as much income as possible for at least 2 decades. I could write at great length on that saga (if I had the energy).
If museums et al cannot make money, some will just go below sustainability and have to shut; others would have to cut back on opening hours; and yet more would have to reduce exhibitions programme even further.
Heritage is really struggling financially, probably more so currently than at any other time during the last 20 years. Further threats to income, even when they threaten only a small proportion of overall net income, need to be regarded as serious.
Janet
Janet E Davis
--- On Thu, 16/7/09, Nick Poole wrote:
> ...There are very few (possibly no) purely publicly-funded
> domains left, so even if the museum can't pay its whole
> salary bill through trading, the value of the activity in
> its own right is nonetheless significant.
>
> Nick
> Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device
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