Digipublishing in Museums - Evaluating SFMoMA's first digital catalogue

Frankly, Green + Webb Created for: Presented by: Date issued:
MCN Laura Mann 20h November 2014

Making a 21st-Century Combine:
Frankly, Green + Webb
SFMOMA’s First Online
Collections Catalogue
2014 MCN Conference
November 20, 2014

Frankly, Green + Webb Photo by Amanda Graham on Flickr

1. Who is using the RRP?
2. How is it being used?
3. How is it perceived?
4. Is it replicable by SFMOMA?

What We Did
1. Online survey
2. Interviews with users and
stakeholders
3. Usability testing
4. Google Analytics

Let’s start with some good news
1. Reaching the primary audience
2. Used for research and
teaching
3. A trusted source
4. A new form

The RRP is reaching its primary target audience
20%
Other
Audiences
Q: What best describes you?
69% Primary Audiences
• 25% Graduate
students
• 18% Professors
• 16% Curators
• 6% Independent
scholars
• 4% Librarians
N=51
69%
Primary
Audiences
12%
Secondary
Audiences

It’s also reaching secondary and wider audiences
20%
Other
Audiences
Q: What best describes you?
69% Primary Audiences
• 25% Graduate
students
• 18% Professors
• 16% Curators
• 6% Independent
scholars
• 4% Librarians
12% Secondary Audiences
• 10% Museum educators
• 2% Undergraduates
N=51
69%
Primary
Audiences
12%
Secondary
Audiences

Greater and more diverse reach than
a comparable print catalogue
700
Museum, university and
library network domains
from around the world
24,792
Unique visitors in first
six months

Google is the key to the
discoverability of the RRP
>48%
Traffic referred by Google
I'm Googling for …some random
fact about Rauschenberg in
1953…and I often find that
that takes me back to an essay
in the RRP.
Graduate student

Where do scholars expect to find
the RRP?
…in academic databases?

the RRP?

the RRP?
…at the library
…it's parallel to a
huge book…I might expect to
see to it listed instead in
the actual [university]
library where they're
cataloguing books…
Graduate student

But…there’s no
standardized
process for
adding digital
publications to
library
catalogues

What does this
mean for you?
• SEO is critical to the
findability of your online
scholarly catalogue
• Get an ISBN number for your
online publication
• Getting online publications
into university libraries will
require outreach to art
librarians

How is the RRP being used?
Looking for conservation
research
Looking for images of
Rauschenberg’s work
Researching Robert
Rauschenberg
Looking for materials and
resources to support teaching
General research
Interest in online catalogues
N=81
35%
19%
20%
12%
14%
1%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
Q: What were your reasons for visiting/using the Rauschenberg Research Project
online? (Please select all that apply)

research
Researching Robert
Rauschenberg
General research
Visitors who are
interested in the
catalogue’s form,
rather than its
content
N=81
35%
19%
20%
12%
14%
1%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

research
Researching Robert
Rauschenberg
General research
15% of RRP
visitors have
been to the
site 9-200
times
Visitors who are
interested in the
catalogue’s form,
rather than its
content
N=81
35%
19%
20%
12%
14%
1%
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Primary audiences rate RRP content very highly
4.63
4.26
4.43
4.51
4.54
Videos
Conservation documents
Curatorial documents
Exhibition histories
Scholarly essays and
curatorial commentary
Q: “How do you rate the content of the Rauschenberg Research Project on a
scale of 1-5 where 1 is not at all useful and 5 is extremely useful? N=35
4.54
1 2 3 4 5
Images of the artworks
Extremel
y useful
Very
useful
Fairly
useful
Not very
useful
Not at all
useful

There was universal praise for the usefulness, quality, depth
and breadth of RRP content
98%
of the primary audience said they
were likely to use the RRP for any
future research on Rauschenberg
The [RRP] was a huge
asset for my [Masters]
paper…
Graduate student
comprehensive.
I cite it as a model
Graduate student
The research…is
just phenomenal
Curator

The audience also trusted RRP as a scholarly source
37%
of the primary audience that had
used the RRP said they planned to
cite it in future research
The RRP presents
itself as something
that makes me trust
it to a very high
standard.
Curator
…generally…I don't cite
online material…but because
of the rigor that was used
in this project, I felt
comfortable citing it.
Graduate student

A deeper level of access to museum information
It’s like the museum
opened up their databases to
me. I wish I could find this
kind of resource for the
artists I work on.
Curator

Features for the academic audience
1. Video transcripts and sharing
2. Citation tools
3. Downloadability
[Recommended format for citation
is] super super important…in terms
of training our students in
research and documentation”
Professor

Features for the academic audience
1. Video transcripts and sharing
2. Citation tools
3. Downloadability
I downloaded pretty
much everything …because
I wanted to use it offline
where I didn't have WiFi.
Graduate student

But many also saw the RRP as offering a new type of scholarship
The RRP seems somewhat unique
in the aggregation of very high
quality images...detailed object
information and particular
essays geared toward those
objects.
Graduate student
The…content of the essays
was …the most surprising and interesting
thing for me. The essays by SFMOMA curators
had insights about the physical objects,
their histories, that don't appear in
traditional art historical scholarship
written by people who have limited access
to the objects…
Graduate student
The RRP appears to be a
new kind of thing…a unique
publication… It's a new kind
of form
Graduate student

What does this
mean for you?
• Online catalogues need some
specialized functionality to
meet the needs of a scholarly
audience
• The features reflect working
process and signify academic
authority
• Online scholarly catalogues
offer opportunities for
innovation in content and form

Challenges
1. Boundaries
2. Permanence
3. Status
4. Replicability

Boundaries: where does an online
publication begin and end?

Boundaries: where does an online
publication begin and end?
Where is the container
that makes this into a separate
publication? Does it bleed
out into the rest of the
website?...where does the publication
begin and where does it end? And how
do you tell when you're in it or not
in it?
Graduate student

Permanence: will this be here
in 20 years?

Permanence: will this be here
in 20 years?
But if you cite
something there's the
possibility that it
would disappear.
There's a lot of
scholarly nervousness
about that.
Graduate student
Do we have a way
to ensure that... 20 years from now,
will we be able to read this data?
…If it's in a library catalogue…will
that URL be stable?
Graduate student

Status: what is the value of
an online scholarly catalogue?

It doesn't feel as
prestigious [as a printed
catalogue] but I think
that's changing…I wouldn't
hesitate to sign on to a
project that was digital.
Curator
The physical heft of
a book is in some ways how
we translate the
intellectual weight
Graduate student

I have published in museum
publications before. And… what I've
been told is that they don't count
towards tenure review…they go on my
CV, but they…aren't considered tenure-worthy.
But..the RRP that's some new
territory I think…
Graduate student

It changed my opinion... it
served for me as an example of
what's possible.
Graduate student
I saw that one could be done
in a very comprehensive and
scholarly manner. I'm not
sure I was a big believer
prior to that.
Curator and RRP contributor

What does this
mean for you?
• Clear boundaries translate to
audience trust
• Can online catalogues be
permanent, updatable and
archival?
• Perceptions of online
catalogues are shaped by
larger issues of status and
publication record in the
academic community
I

Is the RRP replicable?

Technology isn’t
the only issue

• Technical framework
• Integration of museum
systems
• Roles and
responsibilities
• Resources and workflow

What does this
mean for you?
• Technology integrations
• New museum workflows
• New roles and responsibilities
• Quantifying scope and effort
for appropriate resources

e:
laura@franklygreenwebb.com
t:
@lhmann
Images thanks to Flickr Commons:
The hidden treasures of the Worlds
Public Archives
http://www.flickr.com/commons

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