Website Relaunch

Progress Report to the Forum of Curators,

Conservators, and ScientistsOctober 22, 2009

Overview of Process• Project initiation

• Need for new site led to RFP

• Vendor selection • Process, engineering,

experience/savvy• 14 vendors, 3 rounds, 14 months to

decision–Committee of 25 Met staff

• Cognitive Applications (Cogapp)

Cogapp’s Work• Single process that results in

institution-specific outcomes – Jewish Museum website–British Museum website–National Portrait Gallery (UK)

website–MoMA.guide gallery interactives

Project organization• Project Co-Leads:–Douglas Hegley–Matt Morgan

• Project Coordinator:–Morgan Holzer

Project-related committees

• Steering Committee• Advisory Committee

Project Goals• Launch a new site on up-to-date

technology• Improve workflows• Increase content• Follow best practices• Provide flexibility (future-proof)

Project Timeframe• Phase I (definition and

documentation of new site) completes in April 2010

• Proposed Phase II (implementation and launch) May 2010 – c. July 2011

Project Vision Statement• Guides our work• Based on results of empirical

research• Including stakeholder

interviews, technical discovery, and user surveys and testing

Why have a Vision Statement?

“The single most important determining factor for the success of a software project is its conceptual integrity.” – Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man

Month

Conceptual Integrity• Architecture is separated from

implementation.• Determines what goes in the system

and what stays out.• Keeping a system focused

guarantees that people will use it and enjoy it.

Website Architecture• Architecture is the functional

framework of the overall system.• Good architectural structure

ensures that your site will be able to embrace both what it needs to do now and what it might need to do in the future.

Examples• Good conceptual integrity and

architecture: Denver Art Museum, Rockefeller Center

• Poor conceptual integrity and architecture: AMNH

• Comparison: Jetblue vs. American Airlines

Architecture and Content

We need to build the framework first, informed by range of possible content, so that the site we build does not constrain us later.

Content• Expected to expand and change

over time• The current site did not predict

podcasting, videos, interactives, social media—and all are now tacked on.

–They had no architectural framework available

Museum objectives & Visitor goals:

We have much in common• We would like to direct, encourage, and inspire visitors — and they will welcome it• Visitors want the site to reflect the feel of the Museum — and we agree that it should• Visitors want to see and understand the art — and we want to share it

Museum Integrity• Prioritize visitor needs and Museum

needs based on the section or function of the site

• Make sure that the way visitors find things on our site works for them

• Ensure that content (what the site says) and its purpose works for us

By adhering to the Vision, we maintain our Integrity

Vision Statement

Some user-driven assertions, some internally-driven assertions, and some from both categories

Visitor Goals• Social Media• Engaging online experience• Destination in its own right

Social Media• Includes personalization,

sharing, visitor participation–MoMA’s “Social Bar”–My Met Museum–Facebook–ShareThis

Engaging online experience

• User-centered navigation and search–Navigation: Denver Art Museum–Search: Google?

Destination in its own right

• Online versions of Museum content, interactives, games–Explore and Learn, unique Special

Exhibition features–Postopia

Internal Goals• Encourage visitors to come to the

Museum• Maximize revenue• Programs for hard-to-reach audiences• Robust content management and

streamlined workflow

Encouraging physical visits

• On view/not on view–NGA–MFA

• Trip planners/itineraries–Rockefeller Center

Maximize revenue• Print on demand–NYPL

• Upselling membership–counterexample at MMA

• Online customer service–Amazon

Both• Showcase the Museum’s collections,

exhibitions, scholarship, programs, and services

• Authoritative source/expert voice• Broad range of voices• Stimulate appreciation for and advance

knowledge of works of art• Accessibility

Authoritative & Expert• Heilbrunn Timeline of Art Histor

y• Collection Database (very often)

Broad range of voices

• Authored content:–Timeline thematic essays–Blogs

Accessibility• The “digital curb cut”–OXO Good Grips utensils–actual curb cuts–correct link texts, image

descriptions

Vision Statement: Audience

General visitors; Art historians, lecturers, and students of art history; School children and teachers; Members, sponsors, and donors; Families; Frequent visitors to the website; International visitors; General web browsers

Audience: why this list?

The Director, informed by Cogapp’s research, ranked the groups on the list.

What does it mean?• Some challenges are explicit, for

example:–how to prioritize both “Students of

art history” and “General visitors?–how much to translate into foreign

languages?

• Meeting them will dictate resource commitments

Ad Hoc Committee

Specific concerns

Website and TMS• TMS standardization and

consolidation project is independent, but related

• Benefits to the website:• Improved object pages• Smoother navigation within objects• More objects online

“Branding” & “Museum Voice”

• The website does not determine either.

• The website reflects these things as defined by the Director.

Questions?