MW17-Axiell Museum Strategy Survey

We would like to hear about the plans for the future of your museum, where you are today and where you are headed. In particular, we’d like to find out where your institution stands in terms of digital, audience and engagement strategy with these 14 questions. The estimated time to complete this survey is less than 10 minutes.

A preliminary report of your responses will be presented following the MW17 Conference in Cleveland, Ohio April 19-22, 2017, and a full report will be available online thereafter. This survey is done in cooperation with the Community of Practice for Online Collections, sponsored by Axiell, and we sincerely appreciate your time and insights into the state of the art in our field!

Question Title

* 1. I work at a:

Museum

Gallery

Library

Question Title

* 2. My role in my organization is primarily:

Senior management/leadership

Digital Information Management

Technical/IT

Strategic/advisory/consulting

Curatorial/educational

Design/production

Visitor-facing/front of house

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 3. Our organization’s digital strategy is (check all that apply):

Distinct but related to the institutional strategy

Integrated into our institutional strategy

Still in development/to come

Not a priority for the institution

Referenced regularly by digital and other practitioners on staff

Lying forgotten and ignored in some drawer

Question Title

* 4. Our priorities for audience engagement include (check all that apply):

Providing educational opportunities

Making information on activities and programs available online

Enhancing the visitor experience via mobile devices

Reaching diverse audiences

Making the museum accessible

Creating quality cross-platform experiences

Question Title

* 5. In the museum, we leverage technology such as smart phones and tablet pc’s to engage our visitors (check all that apply):

Yes, visitors can use their own device as a complete guide

The guide is contextual: the visitor can interact with the exhibition information screens and actions taken by the visitor impact the experience

The visitors will get the best experience by using one of our guided tours on a rented device for a complete experience

We are increasing our investment to ensure that visitors can use their own device

We are satisfied with our solutions and see no need for development

We have not started yet

This is a core part of our our digital strategy

Question Title

* 6. Our presentation of our content is well defined in our institution (check all that apply):

Our visitors are in for no surprises since there is consistency in the online experience and the information which is shown in the museum

We are efficient in our presentation layer – all data comes from the same source and is then adapted based on channel

We have multiple data sources, but have a well defined process for how to manage this to maintain consistency

No, we can improve this process for better efficiency and visitor engagement

Question Title

* 7. We share our collection online:

Yes, the complete collection is accessible online

We have started this journey, and more than half of our collection is available online

Less than half of the collection is available online

The collection is not available online

Question Title

* 8. Our content for the collection is (check all that apply):

Primarily entered and managed in our collections management database.

Generated from multiple internal electronic resources.

Created and curated by staff representing a range of departments.

Integrated with crowd-sourced data provided by external audiences.

Created in bursts and driven by short-term projects.

Constantly enhanced with a long-term strategy for data management.

Haphazard – whoever has time and money puts info online.

Question Title

* 9. Our organization commits resources to designing mobile apps:

Native apps are part of our engagement strategy

We build our mobile experiences with in-house programmers

We outsource the creation of mobile apps

We have a responsive site, so have decided not to have a separate native app

I do not know

Question Title

* 10. Our museum has a strategy for how we work with digital media and images (check all that apply):

All departments leverage the same data source for digital media and images

It is a smooth process for us to enrich the data for our digital media and share it online

We have multiple data sources for digital media and images

We have a distinct strategy for managing metadata and adhere to industry standards

I do not know

Please specify which if any metadata standards your organization uses:

Question Title

* 11. Our online collection is optimized for online search:

Yes, the institution content is seen as an authoritative source

Partly, our content is available on google, but can be improved

No, Wikipedia beats us every time

Question Title

* 12. We have an e-commerce site:

Yes, for our museum store

Yes, it is also connected to the objects that we have made available in the online collection

Yes, and our objects can be 3d printed directly from the store

No, but it would be relevant for us

No, this would be against our vision for our institution

I do not know

Question Title

* 13. When allocating our resources, our organization is:

	Strongly agree	Agree	Maybe	Disagree	Strongly disagree	Unsure
Innovative and will invest significant resources to launch engagements where we are trailblazers.	Innovative and will invest significant resources to launch engagements where we are trailblazers. Strongly agree	Innovative and will invest significant resources to launch engagements where we are trailblazers. Agree	Innovative and will invest significant resources to launch engagements where we are trailblazers. Maybe	Innovative and will invest significant resources to launch engagements where we are trailblazers. Disagree	Innovative and will invest significant resources to launch engagements where we are trailblazers. Strongly disagree	Innovative and will invest significant resources to launch engagements where we are trailblazers. Unsure
Supportive, but only when experiences are grant funded.	Supportive, but only when experiences are grant funded. Strongly agree	Supportive, but only when experiences are grant funded. Agree	Supportive, but only when experiences are grant funded. Maybe	Supportive, but only when experiences are grant funded. Disagree	Supportive, but only when experiences are grant funded. Strongly disagree	Supportive, but only when experiences are grant funded. Unsure
Open minded, but more likely to embrace an new idea if it only involves staff time and existing resources.	Open minded, but more likely to embrace an new idea if it only involves staff time and existing resources. Strongly agree	Open minded, but more likely to embrace an new idea if it only involves staff time and existing resources. Agree	Open minded, but more likely to embrace an new idea if it only involves staff time and existing resources. Maybe	Open minded, but more likely to embrace an new idea if it only involves staff time and existing resources. Disagree	Open minded, but more likely to embrace an new idea if it only involves staff time and existing resources. Strongly disagree	Open minded, but more likely to embrace an new idea if it only involves staff time and existing resources. Unsure
Risk averse and commits resources only when presented with proof that other sites have been successful.	Risk averse and commits resources only when presented with proof that other sites have been successful. Strongly agree	Risk averse and commits resources only when presented with proof that other sites have been successful. Agree	Risk averse and commits resources only when presented with proof that other sites have been successful. Maybe	Risk averse and commits resources only when presented with proof that other sites have been successful. Disagree	Risk averse and commits resources only when presented with proof that other sites have been successful. Strongly disagree	Risk averse and commits resources only when presented with proof that other sites have been successful. Unsure
In a constant state of flux and resources are unpredictable.	In a constant state of flux and resources are unpredictable. Strongly agree	In a constant state of flux and resources are unpredictable. Agree	In a constant state of flux and resources are unpredictable. Maybe	In a constant state of flux and resources are unpredictable. Disagree	In a constant state of flux and resources are unpredictable. Strongly disagree	In a constant state of flux and resources are unpredictable. Unsure

Question Title

* 14. The highest priority areas for us in terms of investments for the future are (check all that apply):

We need to make investments to improve our physical space

We are investing in engagement strategies

We are investing in technology to improve how we manage our core assets, such as our collection

We are investing in digitizing our collection

We are investing in marketing, online platforms and communication strategies for our museum

I am not sure, investments are decided by our institutional advisory board/authorizing body