Presentation for the seminar Open Collections, arranged by the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, on the occasion of the launh of their Public Domain policy, 7 October 2016

1. Sharing is Caring
Societal impact of open collections?
Föreläsning: Open Collections
Nationalmuseum og Världskulturmuseet
7 October 2016, Stockholm
Merete Sanderhoff
Curator / Senior Advisor
slideshare.net/MereteSanderhoff
@MSanderhoff
Artemis.txt, 2013. CC BY-SA 4.0 Filip Vest

2. ”With our digitised collections, we can support
people in being reflective, creative human beings.
But the precondition is that cultural heritage is
common property, and that each and every one of
us can use it for exactly what we dream of.”
Mikkel Bogh
Director, SMK
http://bit.ly/1dMX0BJ

3. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
The National Gallery of Denmark
Western art from 1300 to the present
260,000 artworks
66 % in the public domain
27 % digitised

4. What’s the greatest challenge
working with open data and
open collections/image archives?

5. Getting all of it digitised
in high quality
Indiana Jonas, Raiders of the Lost Ark, 1981

6. The new role
as facilitator
http://jeannelking.com/services/graphic-facilitation/

8. CCBY 4.0 ULK
The art pilots
www.ulk.dk

9. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Wiki Labs
Monthly meetups with Wikipedians,
art historians and amateurs

10. Open collections in schools

11. Need to
raise awareness
tailor content
offer training

12. https://medium.com/code-words-technology-and-theory-in-the-museum/wanna-play-8f8e2e8cb2fe

13. What prerequisites does an
institution need to get started?
(what’s more important,
the technique or the policy?)

14. For us, policy first.
Because of perpetual beta.

15. SMK’s first digital strategy, 2009
We want to be a
catalyst for
users’ creativity

16. Working bottom up
Johannes Simon Holzbecker, Hyacints, from Gottorfer Codex, 1649-59, KKSgb2947/26. Public Domain.
Museums need time
to consider change
Salvator Rosa, Demokritus in Meditation, 1650-51. KMS4112. Public Domain
What will happen if we let go of control?
Will we lose revenue?
Will people stop going to the museum
if they can just visit us online?

17. Think Big,
Start Small,
Move Fast
Michael Edson, Director of Web and New Media Strategy, Smithsonian
Advisory meeting with the SMK management team, November 2011

19. 160 high res images
in 2012

20. Pilot experiences

21. Pilot experiences

22. Pilot experiences

23. Pilot experiences

24. Pilot experiences

25. Pilot experiences

26. http://collection.smk.dk/

27. 25,000 mixed res images
in 2015

28. Is the OpenGLAM movement inevitable/unstoppable?

29. https://twitter.com/PUBDOMAINHULK

30. Nefertiti
http://www.private-guide-berlin.com/private-tour-berlin/neues-museum-berlin-private-tour/

31. Discovered in Amarna, Egypt, in 1912 by German
archaeologists
On display at Neues Museum Berlin since 1923
Egypt has reclaimed the bust as national heritage,
in vain
The bust is not allowed to travel due to security
The museum’s official 3D scan is kept from the public
http://www.private-guide-berlin.com/private-tour-berlin/neues-museum-berlin-private-tour/

32. The Other Nefertiti
http://boingboing.net/2016/02/23/scanning-artists-de-loot-stole.html

33. Covertly scanned with a Kinect in Neues Museum
Berlin, October 2015
Released as a torrent at Chaos Communication
Congress, December 2015
Downloaded and seeded thousands of times
within 24 hours
Requests from universities and businesses
to re-use the scan
http://boingboing.net/2016/02/23/scanning-artists-de-loot-stole.html

34. Nora Al-Badri and Jan Nikolai Nelles
with the 3D printed bust in Cairo
http://hyperallergic.com/274635/artists-covertly-scan-bust-of-nefertiti-and-release-the-data-for-free-online/

35. “The head of Nefertiti represents all
the other millions of stolen and
looted artifacts all over the world
currently happening, for example, in
Syria, Iraq, and in Egypt.”
http://hyperallergic.com/274635/artists-covertly-scan-bust-of-nefertiti-and-release-the-data-for-free-online/

36. “Archaeological artifacts as a cultural
memory originate for the most part
from the Global South; however, a
vast number of important objects
can be found in Western museums
and private collections.”
http://hyperallergic.com/274635/artists-covertly-scan-bust-of-nefertiti-and-release-the-data-for-free-online/

37. “…there are ways where we don’t
even need any topdown effort from
institutions or museums, but where
the people can reclaim the
museums as their public space
through alternative virtual realities,
fiction, or captivating the objects
like we did.”
http://hyperallergic.com/274635/artists-covertly-scan-bust-of-nefertiti-and-release-the-data-for-free-online/

38. “Our primary mission is to ‘tell the truth’. We put
as much quality in our work as possible. That is why
we share the best quality we have. If people google
‘The Milkmaid’ by Vermeer then we want them to
find our good quality image, not all the bad and
deformed versions of this beautiful painting.”
Lizzy Jongma
Former data manager, Rijksmuseum

39. Loss of control

40. Regaining control
by sharing

41. “If they want to have a Vermeer on their toilet paper,
I’d rather have a very high-quality image of Vermeer
on toilet paper than a very bad reproduction.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/29/arts/design/museums-mull-public-use-of-online-art-images.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
Taco Dibbits
Director, Rijksmuseum

42. Rijksmuseum’s quality images
are preferred online

43. Rijksmuseum is key reference
for its own collection

44. “So far 6,499 images from the Rijksmuseum have
been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons (...)
2,175 of these images are currently used in various
Wikipedia articles.
These images have been shown 10,322,754 times to
users visiting the articles where the material is used.”
The Impact of Open Access on Galleries, Libraries, Museums and Archives, Effie Kapsalis,
Smithsonian Emerging Leaders Development Program, April 2016

45. What is the most important step to take towards a
change, keeping in mind that all institutions cannot
take big steps forward in the near future?

46. Galleries
Libraries
Archives
Museums
http://openglam.org/
OpenGLAM mindset

47. Galleries
Libraries
Archives
Museums
http://openglam.org/
OpenGLAM mindset
Open access to the museums’ digitised assets
An open and welcoming attitude towards
the users’ approaches and contributions
to the work of GLAM institutions
sharingiscaring.smk.dk/en

48. Works that are in the Public Domain in
analogue form continue to be in the Public
Domain once they have been digitised.
http://pro.europeana.eu/files/Europeana_Professional/Publications/Public%20Domain%20Charter%20-%20EN.pdf

49. Copyright is “a little coral reef
of private right jutting up from
the ocean of Public Domain.”
Paul Torremans, Copyright law: a handbook of contemporary research, 2007
Adam Olearius, "Oftt begehrte Beschreibung Der Newen Orienthalischen Reise [...]",
Schleswig 1647, KKSgb10873/28, SMK. Public Domain

50. Look into what others
have learned

51. Peer experiences
What greatly benefitted the Rijksmuseum is that other people started making new
creative works with the material and therefore promoting the museum on a larger
scale than they had ever been able to do themselves.

52. Peer experiences
What greatly benefitted the Rijksmuseum is that other people started making new
creative works with the material and therefore promoting the museum on a larger
scale than they had ever been able to do themselves.
Wikipedia editors prefer to use trusted material provided by the cultural institutions
themselves to illustrate the articles they are editing. This greatly benefits both the
users who have a richer experience, and the cultural institution that reaches out to a
public far beyond the scope of its own website

53. Peer experiences
What greatly benefitted the Rijksmuseum is that other people started making new
creative works with the material and therefore promoting the museum on a larger
scale than they had ever been able to do themselves.
Wikipedia editors prefer to use trusted material provided by the cultural institutions
themselves to illustrate the articles they are editing. This greatly benefits both the
users who have a richer experience, and the cultural institution that reaches out to a
public far beyond the scope of its own website.
We have lost almost all control, and it has been vital to our success.
Images of Works of Art in Museum Collections: The Experience of Open Access. A Study of
Eleven Museums. Prepared for the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation by Kristin Kelly, April 2013
Democratising the Rijksmuseum. Why did the Rijksmuseum make available their highest
quality material without restrictions, and what are the results? Joris Pekel, Europeana
Foundation, July 2014

54. There’s a dark side too.

58. Liberal photo policy – also show museumofselfies
and instawalks

60. We have a liberal photo policy,
so this is just fine

61. But this is not ok!

62. But this is not ok!
But this is not.

63. But this is not ok!
But this is not.
You cannot watermark
a CC0 image of a public
domain artwork

64. Do you think there is a danger in focusing too much on
digital activities / neglecting the museum IRL?

65. Digital and physical are not mutually exclusive.
Stronger together.

66. CCBY 3.0 Frida Gregersen
Cool Constructions

67. CCBY 3.0 Frida Gregersen
Collaboration between the
Copenhagen Metro Company,
local citizens, and SMK art pilots

68. CCBY 3.0 Frida Gregersen
Collections gain new value
outside the museum
in the hands of the public

69. Makeover of injection room
Skyen / ‘The Cloud’
CCBY 4.0 ULK

70. A space for drug users,
central Copenhagen
Open 23 hours
a day
700 drug intakes
a day
CCBY 4.0 ULK

72. CCBY 4.0 ULK
Re-creating places / spaces
that the drug users dream of

73. CCBY 4.0 ULK

74. CCBY 4.0 ULK
The art pilots facilitate
improved social conditions
for the users

75. Remix exhibition
May 2015
13 artists and
designers were
invited to mix up
SMK’s collections

76. The artists got to hack
the museum for a weekend
CC BY-SA 4.0 Merete Sanderhoff

77. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Their remixes ranged
from lasercut installations…
Neea Laakso, Free?

78. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
…over tapestries,
fashion clothes, collages…
Signe Emdal, Astrids Rose

79. Harald Slott-Møller, Danish landscape, 1891
Product of Public Domain

81. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Jamie Seaboch, Collage

82. Filip Vest, 22 Skies
CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
…to a projection of
22 golden age skies

83. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
…and a pop-up version of Hammershøi
with motorized moving light

84. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Kati Hyyppä, As light goes by

85. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup
Drew audienes into the galleries
- offered fresh perspectives

86. CC BY-SA 4.0 Ida Tietgen Høyrup

87. “Prioritize Web and New Media
programs in proportion to their
impact on the mission.”
Michael Edson, Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy, Version 1.0, 2009
http://www.si.edu/content/pdf/about/web-new-media-strategy_v1.0.pdf
Michael Edson /VanGoYourself

88. SMK images got 20 million
page views on Wikipedia in 2015

89. What’s the societal good of open
cultural heritage?
How do we measure the impact
of open collections?

90. http://pro.europeana.eu/blogpost/a-fresh-perspective-on-exploring-impact

91. ”I wish we would measure cultural
heritage on learning and happiness.”
https://charlotteshj.dk/2016/05/26/gid-vi-maalte-kulturarv-paa-laering-og-lykke/
Charlotte S H Jensen
State Archives/National Museum

92. “Now that museums are beginning to have the tools and
expertise at their disposal to monitor, track, record, and analyze
all the various ways that the public benefits from their work, the
real task begins to redesign the process and program of
museums and to embed impact-driven data collection into
every aspect of our efforts.”
Rob Stein
Chief Program Officer, AAM
https://medium.com/code-words-technology-and-theory-in-the-museum/museums-so-what-
7b4594e72283#.rgnlbz2tj

93. SMK Open 2016-2020
http://www.smk.dk/en/about-smk/press/press-releases/artikel/translate-to-english-117-mio-kr-til-demokratisering-af-hele-danmarks-kunstsamling/

94. Digitisation and societal impact?
Aarhus, 20-21 November 2017
sharecare.nu / #sharecare17

95. Artemis.txt, 2013. CC BY-SA 4.0 Filip Vest
How would your mission change with open access?
What kind of impact could your work have?
What are your biggest concerns about
opening up your collections?