Presentation during the BeMuseum conference of 2019 about digital strategy and how the digital and digital transformation now permeates 'all' aspects of work at heritage institutions. How can we adapt to this change?

1. Digital Strategy
Bart Magnus (PACKED / VIAA)
Timothy Naessens (LUKAS / VIAA)
Katrien Steelandt (Musea Brugge)
Rony Vissers (PACKED / VIAA)

2. WHO ARE WE?
● Lukas is responsible for the digital image management and the worldwide distribution of
photographic reproductions of Flemish museum and heritage collections.
○ see: https://lukasweb.be/nl
● PACKED (Centre of Expertise in Digital Heritage) supports heritage and arts
organisations in the creation, sharing and preservation of digital cultural content.
○ see: https://www.packed.be/
● VIAA (Flemish Institute for Archiving) digitises, stores and discloses audiovisual material
together with its partners (cultural heritage organisations, arts organisations, national
and regional broadcasters, government institutions).
○ see: https://viaa.be/nl
● in September 2018 Minister of Culture Sven Gatz decided to merge LUKAS / PACKED /
VIAA
● Musea Bruges is the umbrella organization of 15 municipal museums. Visual and applied
art from the 15th to the 21st century, housed in protected monuments in the historic city
center of Bruges.

3. DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION: NEW
CHALLENGES
Rony Vissers (PACKED)

4. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?
Vision paper: a Flemish cultural policy in the digital age

5. DIGITALE TRANSFORMATION?
Digitization has a major impact on all social sectors. This also applies to the culture sector. However,
digitization often proceeds in phases. In the beginning, digital products and services are primarily a
replacement and expansion of analogue products and services, but digital technologies will continue
to transform the production, distribution and perception of culture. This vision paper contributes to its
realization.

6. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?
Digitization optimizes internal business processes, including administration, ticketing and collection
management. In addition, digitization also brings about fundamental changes in the relationship between
cultural organizations and their audiences and between cultural organizations themselves. That is why in
this vision paper we focus not only on how individual cultural organizations and cultural participants can benefit
from digitization, but especially on changes in the digital cultural ecosystem, the operational whole to which
multiple organizations and / or IT components contribute and make use of. Cultural organizations and their
users are becoming increasingly connected through collaboration and knowledge sharing.

7. DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?
Cultural organizations must adapt to the digital reality because it has a major impact on the way users (i.e.
cultural participants, but also cultural organizations or organizations from other domains) consume
culture and / or work with the content themselves. More and more new actors are responding to the new
behavior of culture lovers.

8. STARTING POINT 1
Consider, for example, music and video platforms that put pressure on the lending of music
and video in the public library. These new platforms have no public mission and mainly follow a
commercial logic.

9. STARTING POINT 1
You can't ignore it: musical streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music are
conquering the world. And this is not surprising. As a user you can listen to the music
that you choose at that moment, without the need for a CD or downloading songs on
your device.

10. STARTING POINT 1

11. STARTING POINT 1
● past situation: information mainly shared via printed publications
and audiovisual media
● current situation: information increasingly shared via the World Wide
Web

12. STARTING POINT 1
https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/

13. STARTING POINT 1
https://www.lamonnaie.be/en/sections/388-mm-channel

14. STARTING POINT 1
https://www.arttube.nl/

15. STARTING POINT 1
https://www.arttube.nl/

16. STARTING POINT 1
https://koersmuseum.be/nl
museum of cycling

17. STARTING POINT 1

18. STARTING POINT 1
An upcoming amendment Directive on the Re-use of Public Sector Information was the
reason triggered discussions about making available the images in an open way and how to do
this in the best way possible.
As the museums are publicly funded it was argued by them that it had to make the data that
was created by the museum (both metadata and the digital content) freely available to
anyone without restrictions where possible, or ‘open by default’. Since the images have
been produced within the organization, they have already been paid for through taxes and
thus belong to the public. This means that open is the standard, unless this is not possible
due to still existing copyright protection on a work or if living people are depicted.
It was also argued that proceeding in this way would best serve the core mission of the
museums: “Our mission is to preserve our collections and contribute to a living and accessible
cultural heritage that improves our understanding of both the present day and our origins.”

19. STARTING POINT 1
Another reason the museums chose to no longer charge for the digital images was the fact that
this service had not been making a substantial profit up until that point. The money gained
from the image sales did not cover the costs of the staff handling the requests. The requests for
images were taken care of by a curator as there were no resources for a dedicated person to do
this. The museums realised that their curators had more important things to do and decided
to abandon the sale of images all together. Now, someone is only charged if they request an
image of an object that has not yet been digitised. The charge is marginal and covers the cost of
digitising the work in question.

20. STARTING POINT 1
https://pro.europeana.eu/files/Europeana_Professional/Publications/Making%20Impact%20on%20a%20Small%20Budget%
20-%20LSH%20Case%20Study.pdf
Before the Open Image Archive, the collection of LSH was not seen much outside of the
institutional walls and Sweden. This radically changed once they decided to make it
available under open licensesand make the material easily accessible.

21. STARTING POINT 2
▪ past situation: transfer of cultural content goes in one direction: a
cultural product is brought to the culture lover via a stage /
intermediary (the cultural organization).
▪ current situation: the transfer is direct and in two directions, the
distinction between producer and consumer is blurred.

22. STARTING POINT 2

23. STARTING POINT 2
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_and_Child_with_Canon_van_der_Paele

24. STARTING POINT 2
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2480921

25. STARTING POINT 2
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2480921

26. STARTING POINT 2
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2480921

27. STARTING POINT 2
Based on the observation that KOERS should be more available online,
efforts are being made to expand the presence on Wikipedia. Certain
facets of cycling (women's cycling) are totally underexposed. We take the
lead in its expansion. Wikipedia is pre-eminently participative (it is the
father of internet crowd sourcing) and allows KOERS to access a part of
its photo collection online.

28. RESULT
● on the web, content from cultural organizations is spread over
various websites, and intertwined with other content via hyperlinks
● for culture lovers it is no longer important whether cultural content
comes from heritage organization, arts organization or another
culture lover> what counts is that he can find and reuse them
online
● existing cultural content is also transformed into new content

29. STARTING POINT 2
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-ensor-1060

30. STARTING POINT 2
https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/james-ensor-1060

31. STARTING POINT 2
http://zoeken.muntpunt.bibliotheek.be/?itemid=%7Clibrary%2Fmarc%2Fvlacc%7C110408&uilang=en

32. STARTING POINT 2
http://zoeken.muntpunt.bibliotheek.be/?itemid=%7Clibrary%2Fmarc%2Fvlacc%7C110408&uilang=en

33. RESULT
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio-award

34. RESULT
https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/rijksstudio-award

35. RESULT
https://www.vangoghexpo.co.uk/

36. BUT THERE’S MORE...
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/12/travel/the-art-of-slowing-down-in-a-museum.html

37. BUT THERE’S MORE...
https://smak.be/nl/agenda/slow-art-day-traag-kunst-kijken

38. BUT THERE’S MORE...
https://www.fine-arts-museum.be/en/agenda/2018/11/23/yoga-at-the-museum-55

39. BUT...
● despite goodwill, it remains a difficult task for many museums to
successfully shape the digital transformation
● they use insufficiently opportunities that digitization offers
● they do not respond enough to the change (s) in the playing
field in which cultural content, the organizations that create or offer it
and the cultural participants move in new ways

40. DIGITAL MATURITY SELF-
ASSESSMENT
Bart Magnus
(PACKED)

41. WHAT?
● www.digitalematuriteit.be
● Online since Jan 2019
● Tool for cultural organisations to
○ self-assess their level of digital maturity;
○ compare with similar organisations
● Tool for the Flemish government to monitor their policy concerning
digital culture

42. DIGITAL MATURITY?
1. How do you deal with digital evolutions in your organisational
strategy? Do you think strategically about digital aspects within
your organisation?
2. How do you use digital applications to improve the interaction
with your target groups?
3. Can digital products or services provide added value within your
organisation? How do you deal with this today?
4. Digital maturity is not only a matter of tools, but also of people. Do
you succeed in getting the right capacities in-house to achieve your
objectives?
5. How do you organise the digital processes within your
organisation?

43. DIGITAL MATURITY
… is not:
doing everything digitally to the maximum
but:
dealing with digital evolutions in a well-considered way and work
with them where it is useful.

44. CONFIDENTIALITY?
● third parties (including the Flemish government) only have access
to anonymous data by default: name, subcategory in the subsector
of the cultural field and the noted explanations will be removed.
● Choose which data you want to share with others (e.g. fellow
organisations, the Flemish government, researchers).
● For additional information see the privacy disclaimer
(https://digitalematuriteit.be/privacy)

45. REALISATION
● Phase 1
○ study of existing tools
○ format design
○ feedback groups with representatives from the cultural sector
● Phase 2: development
○ Corecrew (Ghent)
● Phase 3: feedback, final adjustments
● Launch: Culture Forum January 2019

46. RESULT

58. REACH JANUARY - SEPTEMBER
● Users:
○ 42 active (external) accounts
○ 115 completed sessions (19% registered users, 81%
anonymous)
○ 247 partly completed sessions (8% registered users, 92%
anonymous)
● Top categories of registered users:
1) Cultural heritage (collection management)
2) Cultural heritage (services)
3) Socio-cultural organisations
● Website visits:
○ 1,324 sessions by 964 users

59. DIGITAL
STRATEGY
Rony Vissers (PACKED)

60. TRANSFORMATION?
● Where do I start?
● Resources? Support base?
● How to transform a process without destabilizing the
functioning of the organization?

61. TRANSFORMATION?
beeld
beheer-
systeem
toegang
collectie-
beheer
collectie
databank
bibliotheek
beheer-
systeem
e-depot
linked open
data repository
‘virtueel
museum’
expo website tourist tourswikidata
document
beheer-
systeem
2014
2014
2016
2016
2017
2017
2017

62. TRANSFORMATION?

63. DIGITAL STRATEGY
● define goal/horizon for the long term
● communicate clearly "how" and "why" digital means
are used
● align planning with the resources of the organization

64. DIGITAL STRATEGY

65. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
“The Science Museum Group’s mission is to “engage people in a dialogue
about the history, present and future of human ingenuity”.
Increasingly, achieving this mission is dependent on making digital a
dimension of everything the Group does.
(Science Museum Group Digital Strategy 2015-17
https://group.sciencemuseum.org.uk/policies-and-reports/digital-strategy/)

66. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
Through the development of a holistic digital proposition there is an
opportunity to use the digital to deliver Tate’s mission to promote public
understanding and enjoyment of British, modern and contemporary art.
To achieve this, digital will need to become a dimension of everything
that Tate does.
(Tate Digital Strategy 2013-15
http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/19/tate-digital-strategy-2013-15-
digital-as-a-dimension-of-everything)

67. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
“The future of the museum may be rooted in the buildings they occupy
but it will address audiences across the world – a place where people
across the world will have a conversation.
Those institutions which take up this notion fastest and furthest will be
the ones which have the authority in the future.”
(Tate Digital Strategy 2013-15 - Quote Sir Nicholas Serota 2009
http://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/19/tate-digital-strategy-2013-15-
digital-as-a-dimension-of-everything)

68. TEMPLATE DIGITAL STRATEGY
● vision > WHY?
● digital principles > HOW?
○ experiences
○ approach
● goals > WHAT?
○ content
○ digital community
○ revenue
○ organisation
● analytics and key performance indicators

69. DIGITAL STRATEGY - PRINCIPLES
Tate’s audiences will have digital experiences that:
● increase their enjoyment and understanding of art
● provoke their thoughts and invite them to participate
● promote the gallery programme
● provide them with easy access to information
● entice them to explore deeper content
● encourage them to purchase products, join Tate and make donations
● present an elegant and functional interface whatever their device
● take place on the platforms and websites they use
● minimise any obstacles they may encounter
To achieve this, we will take an approach that is:
● audience-centred and insight-driven
● constantly evaluated and enhanced
● well designed and architected
● distributed across multiple platforms
● open and sharable
● sustainable and scalable
● centrally governed and devolved across the organisation
(Tate Digital Strategy 2013–15)

70. DIGITALE STRATEGY - GOALS
● content
○ digitisation of the collection
○ digital research publications
○ digital gallery experiences
○ digital editorial content
● (digital) community
○ blogging
○ social media and third-party platforms
○ learning and social collections
● revenue
○ ticketing
○ digital products and ecommerce
○ multimedia tours to visitors’ devices
○ digital fundraising
○ customer relationship management
● organisation
○ staff skills and engagement
○ new ways of working
○ governance and leadership
(Tate Digital Strategy 2013–15)

71. TEMPLATE DIGITAL STRATEGY
https://www.projectcest.be/wiki/Publicatie:De_opmaak_van_een_digitale_strategie_voor_een_museum

72. Lukas - Art in
Flanders
Timothy Naessens (LUKAS)

73. Lukas - Art in Flanders

74. History and evolution of the business model
● started in 2003 at the very beginning of
the ‘digital revolution’
○ support Museums in all aspects of image
management
○ digitising analogue collections
○ worldwide distribution via Art Platform

75. Digitising in 2003: ektachromes

76. 2006 First Digital photography

77. Challenges in the digital approach
● cost of photography
● hosting
● organising files
● metadata
● sustainable preservation...

78. Current approach
● Stitched multiple shots to very large
files
● Media Asset Management system
● API’s to link data and images
● AI and metadata

80. Different techniques
● Cooperation with Google: gigapixel
camera
● Use of mobile scanners

83. Acces and distribution of the digital collections:
first approach
● business model : profit
● focus on professional reuse
● worldwide acces to hires images of
multiple collections
● platform as a ‘catalogue’
● images protected from download

84. Current approach
● focus on large public
● open content: free downloads
○ average: + 1000 downloads/month
● over 60 collections represented
● publication on wikimedia
● cooperation with Google

86. Future of the service model
● VIAA - Packed - Lukas
● supporting collections for
(specialised) digitising projects
● maximise re-use
● focus on worldwide distribution

87. DIGITAL STRATEGY AT
MUSEUMS BRUGES
Katrien Steelandt
(Museums Bruges)

90. VALUES
Musea Brugge
welcomes you
with open arms.
01
Musea Brugge
presents
quality.
02
Musea Brugge
shows respect.
03
Musea Brugge
remains an
inspiration.
04

93. A digital strategy for
the renewed
organisationstructure
One executive
leadership team
Department of Visitor
Services
Department of
Administration
Department of Collections
Department of Public Affairs
Department of Infrastructure and Safety

95. DIGITAL VALUES
enrichment
01
accessibility
02
Innovation &
research
03
Strong
collaborations
04
Involvement
05

96. Department of Collections
1. Sustainable digitization, storage and
exchange of collections
2. With (a little) help of Packed, VKC,
VIAA or other service organizations for
the sustainable digitization, preservation
and exchange of its collections
3. WHAT is Musea Brugge digitizing
4. HOW does Musea Brugge DIGITALIZE
5. HOW to SAVE content in a sustainable
way?
6. HOW to UNLOCK digital content?

97. 1 sustainable digitization,
storage and exchange of the
collection
Indicators:
• Step-by-step plan for
sustainable digitization,
storage and disclosure is
operational and is adjusted
annually
Success factors:
• The digital content manager
closely monitors this plan,
makes adjustments where
necessary and regularly
discusses this with the e-
culture coordinator and the
collection department head
• Museums Bruges aligns its
step-by-step plan with the
Cluster Culture and consults
with the digital applications
coordinator and Heritage Cell
Bruges at cluster level

98. 2 With (a little) help of Packed, VKC, VIAA or other
service organizations for the sustainable
digitization, preservation and exchange of its
collection
Indicators:
• Musea Brugge regularly participates
actively in consultations with Packed,
VKC or other centers of expertise
• The data hub developed by VKC is
actively used to open up and share
the Bruges Museums collections
Success factors:
• The data hub developed by the VKC is
user-friendly and active
• The digital content manager
coordinator closely follows the trends
and technologies
• The digital content manager works
together with colleagues in Bruges
and Flanders
• There is open communication
between Musea Brugge, Packed, VKC
and other centers of expertise.
Expectations with regard to each
other are clear and realistic.

99. 3. WHAT is Musea Brugge digitizing
The entire collection is digitally enriched
Indicators:
• Existing records are supplemented
with basic information
• New records are created
• Existing records are enriched with
extra info
• Digital born records also become part
of the collection
• The collection policy plan provides an
estimate of the number of records to
be enriched per sub-collection
Success factors:
• A model for describing records is
followed
• Standards are implemented
• Content enrichment is a task for
registrators, collection managers,
researchers and public workers,
under the coordination of the digital
content coordinator

100. 4. HOW Museums Bruges DIGITALIZES
Indicators:
• Appointments with Lukas Art
Flanders, City Photographer, external
photographers or own employees
about who can digitize which objects /
content.
• Quantity of new digital records per
year
Success factors:
• The CEST guidelines forms the basis
for the various digitization processes
• Procedures are cast in scripts and
followed up for digitization
• The collection policy plan sets targets
for achieving the number of objects to
be digitized and enriching content.
These are evaluated and adjusted
annually.
• The digital content coordinator
makes this a priority in this operation
• The digital applications coordinator of
the Cluster Culture is closely involved
in the development of the standards
and the establishment of the
procedures and coordinates these
with the cluster

101. Department of Public Affairs
1. Communication & marketing
1.1. Vision
1.2. Museum website
1.3. Social media
1.4. CRM
2. Experience

102. One executive leadership
team
Department of Visitor Services
Department of Administration
1. stimulates e-culture throughout
the organization
2. creates personnel space and
resources to make digital leaps
3. has built in structural and
project financing for digital
applications
4. motivates and encourages
employees

104. Digital office
COORDINATOR
E-CULTURE
DIGICOACH DIGITAL
COMMUNITY
MANAGER
DIGITAL CONTENT
MANAGER

105. leadership team engages people, space and resources to
make digital leaps
Indicators:
• an e-culture coordinator who streamlines all digital campaigns, initiates
new applications and encourages employees to become as digital as
possible.
• a digital content manager who can closely monitor all actions related to
digitization, registration and sustainable storage and disclosure of
museum data.
• a digital community manager with expertise in the field of digital
communication, marketing, social media and specific communication
tools to make Musea Brugge also virtually a strong brand.
• a digicoach who can educate all employees and offer support for the
management of museum digital applications and for the
implementation, follow-up and monitoring of various digital actions

106. Success factors:
• These four well-defined digital profiles are active within Musea
Brugge
• These four employees work closely with each other and with
the different cells of Musea Brugge
• The e-culture coordinator draws up an action plan each year
• The action plans are evaluated and adjusted annually
• The e-culture coordinator receives support from the digital
applications coordinator of the Cluster Culture

111. QUESTIONS?
Timothy Naesens: timothy.naessens@viaa.be
Bart Magnus: bart@packed.be
Katrien Steelandt: katrien.steelandt@brugge.be
Rony Vissers: rony@packed.be