Ah yes, completely forgot Icons. City Heritage Guides wasn't in my
consciousness as a collections-based project.
I was too rushed to check my facts.
But my point still stands. The feeling from the MLA sector was that a
lot of time by many institutions was spent preparing bids over a 1-3
year period that weren't funded. The process was not a simple
application/rejection one, but a slow cycle of many meetings, and a
commissioning process that was unfamiliar and unpredictable.
Bridget
On 27/06/2011 17:51, Jon Pratty wrote:
> Bridget
> There were a number of other MLA sector Culture Online projects in addition to Every Object, including Icons and, of course, 24 Hour Museum's award-winning City Heritage Guides. CoL commissioned content for City Heritage Guides still lives on in the respective regional zones on Culture24.
> Icons of England, another MLA sector CoL site, was set up by CoL themselves, via Cogapp, then published under contract by C24. That site is still live too.
> Happy days (kind of)
> Jon
>
> Sent From My Blackberry Handheld.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Museums Computer Group<[log in to unmask]>
> To: [log in to unmask]<[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Mon Jun 27 15:13:00 2011
> Subject: Re: MCG historical query - criticisms of Culture Online programme?
>
> Hello
> Good question.
> I think Janet is right that there were no official reports
> specifically criticising Culture Online as a funding model, and Wendy
> is right that the Demos report
> http://www.demos.co.uk/publications/loggingon which, though critical
> in some ways, is overtly positive in its stance and didn't fully
> penetrate the criticisms that were circulating unofficially.
>
> I do recall reading a report or article that mentioned the short life
> of the V&As Every Object Tells a Story, funded by Culture Online but
> couldn't locate it. There may have been others. I may have written
> critically about it myself in a few reports (e.g.
> http://www.hlf.org.uk/aboutus/howwework/Documents/HLF_digital_review.pdf
> )
> but can't remember.
>
> I'm not sure what the wider cultural sector thought of Culture Online,
> but think that people/orgs involved in cultural programming (i.e. arts
> & digital media) were more in favour and benefited more, than the
> cultural collections/content/MLA sector. Because Culture Online was
> led by people from a broadcast programming background there was a
> drive to prove that culture online should be about creating cultural
> engagements appropriate to the web, experimentally, rather than
> replicating or digitising pre-existing culture. So, digitisation of
> content was not funded by it, and also only one MLA sector project was
> funded (Every Picture...). Because the commissioning process
> engendered competitive bids and wasn't prefaced by strategic
> negotiation with the MLA sector (and it predated the strong use of
> online communities like this for sector discussion) we didn't use it
> as an opportunity to advocate a sector response to their terms of
> reference. This was prior to the thinking that is more prevalent now,
> that digitised cultural content doesn't have to be locked into dull
> online catalogues, that it can be an endless resource for creativity
> and networked learning if we set it free.
>
> In England, we now have a similar opportunity to Culture Online in the
> NESTA/ACE Digital Innovations fund for the 'arts and cultural sector'.
> Because ACE is now embracing MLA functions, this fund is a great
> chance for an exploration of how digital innovation funds can connect
> the programming of culture as suited to online and the creative
> possibilities of remaking cultural archives online, and draw them
> together into the best services for use& enjoyment.
>
> Bridget
>
>
> Quoting "Chan, Sebastian"<[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> Hi all
>>
>> Back in the early 2000s there was a funding scheme in the UK called
>> Culture Online that funded a lot of 'collaborations' (maybe better
>> described as public/private partnerships) between digital agencies
>> and the cultural sector.
>>
>> I seem to remember that there were a number of reports that were
>> quite critical of the funding model, especially around the
>> sustainability of the project outputs themselves (how many of those
>> sites are still online now?) and also the sustainability of a sudden
>> funding injection into the digital agencies (how many of those
>> agencies got burned?).
>>
>> Anyway, I know that a lot of the older folk on the MCG list will
>> have memories of this period and those projects and I seem to
>> remember there being heated discussion of them on-list and
>> importantly, some reports that were published.
>>
>> If you remember or better still have copies of any of these reports
>> I'd really welcome a copy.
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>> Seb
>>
>>
>> Sebastian Chan
>> A/g Head of Digital, Social and Emerging Technologies
>> Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia
>> s - 500 Harris St Ultimo | p - PO Box K346, Haymarket, NSW 1238
>> t - +61 2 9217 0109 | m - +61 (0) 413 457 126
>> e - [log in to unmask] | w - www.powerhousemuseum.com/dmsblog
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> This email and attachments are for the use of the intended
>> recipient(s) only and may contain confidential or legally privileged
>> information or material that is copyright of Powerhouse Museum or a
>> third party. If you have received this email in error, please notify
>> the sender immediately and then delete it. If you are not the
>> intended recipient, you must not use, disclose or distribute this
>> e-mail without the author's prior permission. Any views expressed in
>> this message and attachments are those of the individual sender and
>> the Powerhouse Museum accepts no liability for the content of this
>> message.
>>
>> ****************************************************************
>> website: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/
>> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ukmcg
>> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/museumscomputergroup
>> [un]subscribe: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/
>> ****************************************************************
>>
> ****************************************************************
> website: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/
> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ukmcg
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/museumscomputergroup
> [un]subscribe: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/
> ****************************************************************
>
> http://www.artscouncil.org.uk
>
> Arts Council England is the trading name of the Arts Council of England registered charity no. 1036733
>
> The information in this e-mail is for the named recipient(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this email in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing, or copying of this email is strictly prohibited.
>
> The contents of this message will not be in any way binding upon Arts Council England. Opinions, conclusions, contractual obligations and other information in this message, in so far as they relate to the official business of Arts Council England must be specifically confirmed in writing.
>
> Additionally, the information contained in this email may be subject to public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
>
> Arts Council England does not accept liability for any virus, spyware or malware introduced by this e-mail.
> _
> _____________________________________________________________________
> This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
> For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email
> ______________________________________________________________________
>
> ****************************************************************
> website: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/
> Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ukmcg
> Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/museumscomputergroup
> [un]subscribe: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/
> ****************************************************************
****************************************************************
website: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ukmcg
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/museumscomputergroup
[un]subscribe: http://museumscomputergroup.org.uk/email-list/
****************************************************************
|