Reaping the benefits of digitisation: Pilot study exploring revenue generation from digitised collections through technological Innovation

Foteini Valeonti, Andrew Hudson-Smith, Melissa Terras, Chrysanthi Zarkali

    Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

    Abstract / Description of output

    In the last decade significant resources have been invested for the digitisation of the collections of a large number of museums and galleries worldwide. In Europe alone, 10 million EUR is annually invested in Europeana (Europeana 2014). However, as we gradually move on from “the start-up phase” of digitisation (Hughes 2004), revenue generation and sustainability must be considered (Hughes 2004). Even beyond digitisation, generating revenue through innovation and in particular “finding new business models to sustain funding” (Simon 2011) ranks amongst museumsʼ top challenges (Simon 2011). More importantly, despite the significant wealth of digitised assets museums now own, little has been done to investigate ways these institutions could financially benefit from their digitised collections. For art institutions in particular, this has been largely limited to the sale of image licenses, with the fear of losing this revenue posing as one of the key reasons art museums are reluctant to join the Open Content movement (Kapsalis 2016). This paper examines how recent technological advancements, such as image recognition and Print-on-Demand automation, can be utilised to take advantage of the wealth of digitised artworks museums and galleries have in their possession. A pilot study of the proposed solution at the State Museum of Contemporary Art (SMCA) in Thessaloniki, Greece, is covered and the findings are examined. Early feedback indicates that there is a significant potential in the utilisation of the aforementioned technologies for the monetisation of digitised collections. However, challenges such as blending the real-world experience with the digital experience, as well as flattening the learning curve of the technological solution for museum visitors, need to be addressed. Based on the pilot study at SMCA, this paper investigates how emerging technologies can be utilised to facilitate revenue generation for all museums and galleries with digitised collections.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages1-8
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 9 Jul 2018
    EventEVA London 2018: States of Being; Art and Identity in Digital Space and Time - BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT , London, United Kingdom
    Duration: 9 Jul 201812 Jul 2018
    http://www.eva-london.org/eva-london-2018/

    Conference

    ConferenceEVA London 2018
    Abbreviated titleEVA
    Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
    CityLondon
    Period9/07/1812/07/18
    Internet address

    Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

    • museum and galleries
    • digitisation
    • digitised collections
    • revenue generation
    • mobile

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