Great Points Mike - I'd like to add, however, that I was pointing out that Google Image search and the rest are not threats but that the profile of usage and audience flow from them means we just need to think about new business models for image use, accepting that the landscape has now changed.
In fact image highjacking via MySpace, Google Image search etc has had an interesting and entirely positive effect on 24 HM use too. As far back as 2003 (when we switched on our RSS feed) we began to record a turnaround in the relationship between visitor sessions and page impressions - you would normally expect page imps to be at least two or more to each visit. As a result of the new audience usage patterns, this has reversed! You can track this relationship by monitoring 'hit' counts; so out old friend the hit still has some use... But we're happy, because, as you say, it's all about getting culture out there into the digital landscape.
The more we merge content or content particles into meta-environments like MySpace, Flickr (particularly) and the like, the more it's going to be interesting to see how we can work in new ways, with unexpected audiences. Look at the great stuff Tom Goskar is doing with Wessex Archaeology in Flickr, and the Brooklyn Museum people - fantastic. Look at this: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/community/
Jon
Jon Pratty
Editor
[log in to unmask]
01273 623336 (direct)
01273 623266 (main office number)
07739 287392 (mobile)
The 24 Hour Museum
Your best guide to museums, galleries, arts and heritage
www.24hourmuseum.org.uk
www.show.me.uk - great stuff for kids from UK museums and galleries
Office 4
28 Kensington Street
Brighton
BN1 4AJ
Winner, Best of the Web award, Museums and the Web 2004
New Statesman New Media Awards 2002, 2005
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ellis Mike
Sent: 27 July 2007 08:56
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: E-commerce in Digital Images & Collections Online: Business Evidence
Jon
While you're undoubtedly right that the landscape is changing (and possibly right that CC is a threat to image library sales), it's worth pointing out that the technologies provided by Google et al are massive opportunities at traffic driving, rather than threats. If, for instance, 9% of Science Museum website referrers at some points in time are coming from MySpace (sorry, I know I keep banging on about this figure, but it is extraordinary..) - and almost entirely from people "stealing" our images and embedding them elsewhere, then this is a huge quantity of coverage from an audience which previously didn't even exist. Audience masses = exposure = traffic and eventually increased commerce.
The statement quoted by Guenter is painfully true and absolutely along the lines I've experience in the sector. Museums don't *expect* to make money, and historically have been terribly, terribly bad at doing it effectively. Now, thankfully, we seem to be employing people who understand that cultural products can very effectively and comfortably sit alongside "commercial" products and that interest in one can drive traffic to the other.
<tangent>
In my first week at the Science Museum (7, ouch, years ago) - freshly arrived from a commercial background working for Waterstone's Online - I remember putting a ScienceMuseumStore product on our homepage. By the end of the day I'd had 5 staff emailing or phoning and telling me this wasn't appropriate...
Luckily we've moved on now and we're actually getting pretty good at spotting these opportunities and making them relevant to our cultural offering, but the remnants of those fears still exist
</tangent>
Jude, I'll forward your query on to our picture library and see if they've got anything they can release to you or the list.
Cheers
Mike
_________________
Head of Web
NMSI
07970 846 059
The members of the NMSI family include:
> Science Museum
> National Media Museum
> National Railway Museum
> Locomotion
http://www.nmsi.ac.uk <http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/> http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk <http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/>
http://www.nmem.org.uk <http://www.nmem.org.uk/> http://www.nrm.org.uk <http://www.nrm.org.uk/> <http://www.nmem.org.uk/>
________________________________
From: Museums Computer Group on behalf of Jon Pratty
Sent: Thu 26/07/2007 10:29
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: E-commerce in Digital Images & Collections Online: Business Evidence
This is a fascinating enquiry. Andy Sawyer's post highlighted the great project that Debbie Richards and co conjured up in Leicester, detailed in a readable account in the last but one MCG newsletter in case study form, as well as that powerpoint Andy linked us to.
However, it's worth pointing out, I think, that we may need to update our expectations and business models about image sale and re-use in the light of the rise in use of image searching facilities by search engines like Google.
Surely Google image search has distorted the economic models we had previously developed to make the case for sale of such digital items online? Also, what influence do socially-minded IPR management systems (or non-management systems) like Creative Commons have on the economics of selling imagery online?
While funders (understandably) expect us to be thinking in terms of developing new business models for cultural activity, web advances move the economic goalposts all the time...
Jon
Jon Pratty
Editor
[log in to unmask]
01273 623336 (direct)
01273 623266 (main office number)
07739 287392 (mobile)
The 24 Hour Museum
Your best guide to museums, galleries, arts and heritage www.24hourmuseum.org.uk
www.show.me.uk - great stuff for kids from UK museums and galleries
Office 4
28 Kensington Street
Brighton
BN1 4AJ
Winner, Best of the Web award, Museums and the Web 2004 New Statesman New Media Awards 2002, 2005
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Dicken, Jude
Sent: 26 July 2007 08:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: E-commerce in Digital Images & Collections Online: Business Evidence
Hello,
Is recent evidence available which clearly demonstrates the power of e-commerce in relation to the supply of digital images and other digital resources through web collections online?
Of those museums/heritage organisations which are currently generating income through the online sale of digital resources/prints on demand, have any provided a statement on
- the level/scale of business
- average income generated
Apologies for the general nature of this enquiry but the supply of facts and figures of this kind I think helps build a strong revenue and sustainability argument for any collections online project.
(I'm happy to summarise findings for the list with the permission of
respondents.)
Many thanks,
Jude.
Jude Dicken (Miss)
Curator: Documentation Officer
Manx National Heritage
Kingswood Grove
Douglas, Isle of Man IM1 3LY
Tel: +44(0)1624 648000
Fax: +44(0)1624 648001
Website: www.gov.im/mnh <http://www.gov.im/mnh>
Isle of Man. Giving you freedom to flourish
WARNING: This email message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be subject to legal privilege. You must not copy or deliver it to any other person or use the contents in any unauthorised manner without the express permission of the sender. If you are not the intended addressee of this e-mail, please delete it and notify the sender as soon as possible.
No employee or agent is authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of any of the Departments or Statutory Boards of the Isle of Man Government with any party by e-mail without express written confirmation by a Manager of the relevant Department or Statutory Board.
RAAUE: S'preevaadjagh yn çhaghteraght post-l shoh chammah's coadanyn erbee currit marish as ta shoh coadit ec y leigh. Cha nhegin diu coipal ny cur eh da peiagh erbee elley ny ymmydey yn chooid t'ayn er aght erbee dyn kied leayr veih'n choyrtagh. Mannagh nee shiu yn enmyssagh kiarit jeh'n phost-l shoh, doll-shiu magh eh, my sailliu, as cur-shiu fys da'n choyrtagh cha leah as oddys shiu.
Cha nel kied currit da failleydagh ny jantagh erbee conaant y yannoo rish peiagh ny possan erbee lesh post-l er son Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh erbee jeh Reiltys Ellan Vannin dyn co-niartaghey scruit leayr veih Reireyder y Rheynn ny Boayrd Slattyssagh t'eh bentyn rish.
**************************************************
For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk <http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk/>
**************************************************
**************************************************
For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk <http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk/>
**************************************************
________________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned on behalf of NMSI for all viruses by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
If you want to help inspire the next generation of scientists, creators and inventors back NMSI's transformational new project, Inspired. More than a museum, Inspired will be a hothouse of invention and innovation, making science serious fun for all.
It's your future: be Inspired
Visit www.voteinspired.org.uk or text 'SMS Inspired' to 88833 for more information.
This e-mail and attachments are intended for the named addressee only and are confidential. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately, delete the message from your computer system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender and may not reflect the views of the National Museum of Science & Industry. This email has been scanned for all viruses by the MessageLabs Email Security System.
**************************************************
For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
**************************************************
**************************************************
For mcg information and to manage your subscription to the list, visit the website at http://www.museumscomputergroup.org.uk
**************************************************
