National Gallery of Victoria Multimedia: On-site and On-line

Helen Page, National Gallery of Victoria, Australia

http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au

Abstract

The National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) has undergone massive structural building re-developments over the past seven years. Part I of this paper provides background to achievements and supports the demonstration that will provide examples of the NGV's extensive on-site, on-line and DVD multimedia content environment where the Web is one development in a value chain of re-usable digital assets. Part II proposes knowledge management as an organisational management practice required to maximise the benefits of these technologies in supporting the NGV's mission of bringing art and people together: a mission which is in keeping with museums globally who are "striving to provide a range of educational and other public services to the individuals and communities that constitute their target audience." (Anderson, 2004).  The Web, in particular, can be used to support these goals through the development of e-learning. Knowledge management practices are relevant to facilitating NGV outcomes, and those of museums generally, as a means of managing creatively and innovatively in an environment of increasing demands and decreasing funding. In particular, this involves bringing together the continuum of knowledge management, content management and learning management to facilitate the process of e-learning.

Keywords: organizational management, e-learning, multimedia, re-usable digital assets, knowledge management

PART I

Background

In the late 1990s, the NGV embarked on an exciting journey of planning and implementing a major building redevelopment program, which from 2000 and 2003, sandwiched between those of the Tate and MOMA, was the largest art museum project in the world. The result of these developments is a new gallery for the NGV's collection of Australian art at the Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia at Federation Square, which opened in November 2002, and a massively refurbished home for its international collection at NGV International on St Kilda Road, which re-opened following a four-year closure in December 2003.

At the commencement of this journey the NGV, in the kindest terms possible, was arguably an information and communications technology Luddite, without e-mail access or any semblance of organisation network as late as 1998. From this basis a holistic multimedia strategy was developed to establish a reputation for excellence in the development of multimedia both as an art form and as a means of facilitating public access to information.

The redevelopment period coincided with the emergence of increasingly sophisticated networked information and communication technologies, along with the ability to support multimedia content of increasing complexity. As has often been identified in this forum, art museums were felt to be an ideal environment for the use of these technologies to increase the communication of the visual arts to their audiences and enhance visitor experience through the digital reproduction of those works for display in various screen environments, both within the buildings and on-line. Concurrent government policy and funding initiatives supported cultural digitising projects, primarily with the Web in mind. These programs provided a unique opportunity to establish technology infrastructures to allow multimedia to become integral to the public spaces.

Influenced by the theories expounded by several museum thinkers such as Maxwell Anderson and Eleanor Fink, that the value of a digital image of a work of art lay not in the image itself but in the intellectual property surrounding it, I began a journey of implementing a multimedia production environment designed to capture and deliver not only the images, but also that intellectual property.

As Maxwell Anderson wrote in 1997

The critical issue in ensuring broad access to digital images as artworks is one of intellectual property. There is no point in digitising one's art collections if the next step is to hoard those images in the vain hope of striking it rich. The value of digital images will decrease in proportion to the widening of the pool of available images. Museums' battleground in the realm of intellectual property will likely be not for the images themselves, but for the ever-expanding information attached to those images. (Anderson 1997) .

As I wrote at the time, and I believe it remains true today:

The Gallery houses a wealth of professional expertise in its curatorial, information, education, exhibition and design staff skilled in the interpretation of the visual arts essential to the development of content rich multimedia products and services... Throughout the Gallery intellectual property has been created relating to the artworks that has not been considered as part of the catalogued database record of the object. Such material, such as exhibition labels, exhibition catalogue entries, audio tour content, public and educational programs material, currently exists in the Gallery in a variety of forms and locations. These resources are potential primary source materials for multimedia content development. The potential to re-use content created for one purpose in another project is the foundation of a cost-effective multimedia content production process for the National Gallery of Victoria. In order to develop an efficient and effective production environment for multimedia products, it is essential to develop a whole-of-organisation 'distributed publishing' method through which these elements and others produced through the course of the project, would be available, not only for multimedia production, but any form of publication within the Gallery. In line with whole-of-government guidelines, the central platform of such a system would be through the development of a Gallery Intranet." (Page 1997)

The journey has at times been challenging, eventful, at times frustrating and exhausting, amazingly successful in some respects, and not so in others.

Outcomes

The outcome for multimedia at the NGV includes the conversion in 2000 of the photographic services department to high-resolution digital capture as a default. Although the funding drivers were to provide collection on-line content to the Web, the multimedia strategy promoted digital capture at resolutions appropriate for many and varied publishing purposes, including hard copy, as a more cost-effective outcome. Over 25,000 high quality digital images of the collection exist, and the number increases daily. Alongside these developments came the implementation of sophisticated information and communications technologies to deliver fully integrated multimedia applications across both sites at NGV Australia and at NGV International as well as on-line at www.vic.gov.au. In parallel with this has been the establishment of a new business unit – a Multimedia Department with a team of eleven staff encompassing production management, content design, development and programming, technical and installation support.

The onsite multimedia consists of a networked, distributed infrastructure across two sites a kilometre apart – including the crossing of a river – supporting over 100 screen environments of varying types (videowalls, projectors, LCDs, plasmas) spread around the buildings' public spaces. These deliver 17 different types of multimedia content, including 180 interactive stories providing 4200 pages of rich content containing 7500 images of art and artists, and 48 digital video environments incorporating several hours of audio visual material. All onsite installations across both buildings are updated and controlled from a central content and presentation management system based in our offices at NGV International. The on-line environment of nearly 2000 pages provides not only content, but also customer services such as schedules of exhibitions and events, membership subscriptions and on-line shopping. Today the site averages 120,000 unique visitors per month.

November, 2002, saw us move into operational mode to support the exhibition program at NGV Australia, whilst concurrently running project management, establishing systems infrastructure and developing opening content for NGV International, as well as taking on new responsibilities for exhibition support multimedia and new media art installations. In house development ranges from the simple posting of a one page exhibition synopsis to the complete development and installation of a key opening virtual exhibition covering an eighteen square metre gallery space ‘in the round', celebrating the work of Mario Bellini, the principal architect for the redevelopment of NGV International.

Since December 2003, with the re-opening of NGV International, we have moved into full operational mode supporting an exhibition schedule of more than forty-six exhibitions per year. During this period we have also extended the value chain of our re-usable digital assets to encompass in-house development of cinema ads, new media broadcast quality press releases, and DVD merchandise, thus beginning to realise the ideal of ‘maximising the benefits of re-usable digital assets'. Our reputation for the quality and responsiveness of our work in the field of new media art installation and exhibition multimedia content support is growing exponentially, resulting in a high level of demand. In addition, theatre and venue hired technical and user support have now also fallen within the domain of multimedia. Perhaps on initial consideration this is not a natural fit. But the rationale for the mix is clear with the emphasis today on digital presentation in those environments. There is a need for a similar skills base as that of multimedia. 

The challenge is how to meet all expectations within the available resources.  Currently the guiding criteria for the extent of content development associated with each exhibition is whether it is pay or non-pay, with greater attention necessarily applied to the former. We are developing more onsite and product-related content, with extensive interactivity and high production values particularly associated with the larger pay-exhibitions. In parallel we continue to work on our Collection and Education On-line initiatives. The challenge is to manage the extent of the workload so that content of depth, richness and educational value can be produced not only for each exhibition, but also for our core collection content. Although the Multimedia Department has grown to a complement of eleven, the work demands are extensive. My current solution is a mix of creative recruitment to bring in skills that can be aligned against several operational demands, as well as the introduction of project processes for managing resource and time allocations. Sample documentation will be available with the demonstration.

PART II

Where To From Here – The Case For Knowledge Management

There have been areas of the multimedia strategy implementation that have not been as successful as they were envisaged. Most significantly this has been in the area of capturing the curatorial and education interpretation of the collection – i.e. the knowledge – the intellectual property of the organisation – in a systematic and systemic manner. Specifically, the benefits to our education services, a primary goal in the original strategy, remain a huge potential that we have yet to fully exploit. Similarly, the whole-of-organisation distributed publishing method through which these elements could be used for various publication purposes, not only for multimedia production, was not possible to fully implement within the context of the massive changes the NGV was undergoing associated with the building developments . Obvious solutions such as self-publishing were conceived of, but proved hard to implement. The technology can provide certain levels of solution, but the challenge is to understand what other elements are required to guarantee success. Thus my exploration into knowledge management. Before outlining how knowledge management provides a tool to move forward, I will review some of its key aspects.

Knowledge Management Is Not IT

There is a common misconception that knowledge management (KM) is a totally technology-based concept. This stems from most KM projects in the early/mid 90s being very techno-centric, focused primarily on investing in and developing new information technology applications to support digital capture, storage, retrieval and distribution of an organisation's explicitly documented knowledge. A very similar rationale was held by Australian government agencies in the late 90s as a criteria for funding for multimedia projects, and thus the criteria mandated on the NGV's multimedia strategy.

KM is in reality an organisational development practice with aspects that are enabled by increasingly sophisticated new media technology developments. It is claimed that a creative approach to KM can result in improved efficiency, higher productivity and increased revenues in practically any business function. There has been a growing realisation with time and experience that people, processes and organisational culture play a significant role in the success of technology-led changes.  Information technology is a key support tool, but it is more important to understand how people actually use knowledge on the job. Having said that, well designed, powerful and robust software tools are critical to success. Databases, information management applications and groupware are the warehouses, refineries and machines of intellectual capital management.

KM is a multi-disciplined approach to achieving organisational objectives by making best use of knowledge. KM involves the design, review and implementation of both social and technological processes to improve the application of knowledge in the collective interest of stakeholders. It is the process through which organisations generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Karl Wiig, considered by many to be the founder of KM, defined knowledge management as "the systematic, explicit and deliberate building, renewal and application of knowledge to maximise an organisation's knowledge-related effectiveness and returns from its knowledge assets." It does this by establishing a set of strategies and approaches to create, safeguard and put to use a wide range of knowledge assets with the purpose of facilitating the flow of these assets to the right people at the right time so that they can be applied to create more value for the enterprise.

More recently KM has combined with other developments and has become more inclusive of human resources, processes and social initiatives. Organisational learning, team-based organisational structures and complexity theory are aspects of KM that are closely tied to theories of managing innovation and entrepreneurial activity, building capacity while continuing to incorporate the foundations of knowledge codification and distribution.

Koenig and Srikantaiah (2004) identify three stages of knowledge management, all essential. Stage 1 in the early-mid 90s regarded information technology as the means to gather and retain an organisation's intellectual capital; Stage 2 in the mid-late 90s introduced the human and cultural dimensions consisting of communities of practice and learning organisations; and the current Stage 3 has brought a focus to content and retrievability – i.e. it is no good if they don't use it – consisting of structuring content and assigning descriptors. The introduction of this latter stage is of particular significance to Multimedia outcomes to maximize the value of our investments in supporting sustainable e-learning content development.

Information Is Not Knowledge

Not all information is knowledge. The purpose of a KM program is to identify and disseminate knowledge gems from a sea of information. It is pertinent to clarify the distinction between data, information and knowledge.

Data are sets of discrete, objective facts about events, with little relevance or purpose alone . Leug (2001) explains that data consist of largely arbitrary symbols, such as ink on paper or pixels on a computer screen. Data are therefore easy to symbolise and codify, and computers are good at this. In an organisational context, data are described as structured records of transactions and are usually stored in some sort of technology system.

Information on the other hand, is data that is said to "make a difference". It is data with meaning attributed, and has been endowed with relevance and purpose. Critically, information must inform. It must have a sender and a receiver and have the intent to change the perception of the receiver, to have an impact on his or her judgment and behaviour. This meaning is conveyed in a message, usually in the form of a document or an audible or visible communication. Computers can help add to these values and transform data into information. However, computers can rarely help with context. It is left to humans to help with categorising, calculating and condensing data.

Knowledge is derived from information but is richer and more meaningful than information. It is defined by Leonard and Sensiper (1998 in Leug 2001) as "information that is relevant, actionable and based at least partially on experience." Knowledge is a human act; it is the residue of thinking, created in the present moment. It belongs to communities, circulating through them in many ways. New knowledge is created at the boundaries of the old. (McDermott, 1999).

To summarise, information is data interpreted into a meaningful framework; knowledge is information made actionable; information only becomes knowledge when it is processed in the mind of the individual; knowledge has little organisational value if it is not shared.

Knowledge Management And Business Strategy

The key to KM is knowledge sharing, yet the most elaborate knowledge-sharing procedures mean nothing if the knowledge shared within an organisation does not enable its recipients to create value, be it through increased revenue, time or cost savings. (American Productivity and Quality Centre 2004). An organisation must therefore facilitate the sharing of knowledge in order to reap the benefits of its intellectual capital. To do this an organisation needs to become a "learning organisation", a process facilitated through knowledge management practices.

As the global business world has recognised, KM is a key to business success. KM facilitates both human and structural capital. To gain the most value from an organisation's intellectual assets, knowledge management practitioners maintain that knowledge must be shared and serve as the foundation for collaboration. However, managing knowledge is tough! Knowledge sharing is not a natural instinct. In many cases employees are being asked to surrender their knowledge and experience - the very traits that make them valuable as individuals. Knowledge sharing cannot be mandated. Knowledge is intertwined with organisational culture. The major problems that occur usually result because organisations ignore the people and cultural issue. Encouraging use and gaining employee support requires new reward structures that motivate employees to contribute to its infusion, championing and training. Yet better collaboration is not an end in itself. Without an overarching business context, knowledge management is meaningless at best and harmful at worst. (Santosus & Surmacz, 2001) If knowledge creation is to be successfully directed, there must also be an indisputable link between the organisation's business strategy and its knowledge management strategy. (Tiwana, p148) Without a solid business case, knowledge management is a futile exercise.

E-Learning And The Case For Knowledge Management

This brings us back to the gallery / museum context, where we now explore some related issues. As Stephen Weil identified

In little more than a generation, we have witnessed the museum's metamorphosis from an institution that's turned primarily inward and concerned above all with the growth, care and study of its collection to an institution that's turned primarily outward - an institution striving, above all, to provide a range of educational and other public services to the individuals and communities that constitute its target audience. (Weil 2002)

DigiCULT in its 2003 report urges museums to engage in e-learning in order to improve, in attractive, efficient and sustainable ways, their relevance for the education sector and lifelong learners. Analysts estimate that the entire e-learning market will grow to $11.5 billion by 2003 - some of this will be in the training industry. Millions of dollars are being invested world-wide to develop e-learning systems and learning object content on the expectation that these objects have a transactional value. In Australia, the Federal, State and Territory governments along with its trans-Tasman neighbour New Zealand, have invested $74 million until 2006 in a collaborative project, the Le@rning Federation, for the development of e-learning material for schools. Similar projects with similar scopes of investment are being undertaken in the university, Tertiary and Further Education (TAFE) and Vocational, Education and Training (VET) sectors. All sectors identify e-learning as providing global opportunities. Having made an extensive investment in tools and infrastructures, they now realise that content is a key requirement and that the primary holders of content – and critically the ability to interpret that content – are the cultural collecting agencies.

DigiCULT further asserts that simply displaying collection objects on-line, considered useful for informal learning in some way or another, is not enough. It proposes that the heritage and cultural sector will benefit from engaging in the production and provision of a "new breed" of learning material called learning objects i.e. highly interoperable and reusable modular building blocks for e-learning content based on widely shared specifications or already accredited standards (e.g. for metadata and content packaging). Learning objects are described as not only 'chunks' of content (e.g. digitised images with descriptive metadata), but also as items with interactive elements such as simulations, tools, communicative components and assessments.

Measurements Of Success In Art Museums Today

Maxwell Anderson in his recent paper for the Getty Leadership Institute (2004) also affirms that art museums have shifted their focus away from collection-building and toward various kinds of attention to the public. In conceding his personal bias towards a belief that art museums are first and foremost educational institutions, he adds that the rewards of acquiring, caring for, publishing, interpreting, and displaying an art museum's permanent collection are more significant and longer-lasting than those of staging temporary exhibitions. His proposition is that the three primary indicators of success in the nation's largest art museums today – the number and marketability of major shows, the number of visitors, and the number of members – provide at best highly problematic metrics and, at worst, deceptive ones. He questions why these metrics are used so often, and answers that it is because they resemble denominators of more familiar markets (like feature films), are easy to document, and may be presented in a positive light.

He proposes the adoption of new metrics and assumes that without a change in metrics there cannot be a change towards valuing work relating to an art museum's permanent collection.  He advises that the new metrics must have three attributes:

Intangible Asset Value

Many of the elements associated with the values identified by Anderson are considered as intangibles. Intangible assets have become the key drivers in the "new economy". Research undertaken by the Accenture High Performance Business Institute, in conjunction with the New York based intellectual capital and business value consultancy AssetEconomics Inc., shows that as of May 2003, some USD$7.6 trillion, or 58% of the aggregate value of the US stock market, as measured by the Russell 3000 index, is based on perceptions of future value arising from intangibles (Aughton and Barton, 2004). Intangible assets cover human, organisational and relational asset classes such as knowledge-creating capability, innovativeness, quality and experience of senior management, strategy execution, quality of corporate governance, appropriateness of organisational design, organisational and personnel reputation, brand strength, R&D productivity, informal networks, informal processes, employee loyalty, customer loyalty, problem solving ability, capabilities, know-how and tacit knowledge.

Knowledge Management And The Measurement Of Intangible Assets

Measurement is a necessity in all organisations, based on the adage "you can't improve what you can't measure". Anderson is concerned that tools do not exist to measure the outcomes of the new goals he has identified. Without such tools, he advises, directors will continue to be rewarded only for excelling in conventional activities – what Weil calls "outputs" – as opposed to outcomes. KM, as a practice whose core purpose is the management of intangible values, exercises itself with the measurement of those intangibles as a tool that can be used to assist the organisation to take up knowledge management in a systemic and systematic manner.

The measurement of intangibles is also exercising accounting firms globally because of the shift in the way companies are valued against their intangible assets. They are searching to find better ways to recognise, report and manage both tangible and intangible assets. The measurement tool most relevant to assist in the transition to the intangible asset and knowledge management environment is the Balanced Score Card (BSC). The BSC is a measurement-based strategic management system originated by Dr Robert Kaplan of the Harvard Business School and Dr David Norton, now of the Balanced Score Card Collaborative. "It provides a clear prescription of what organisations should measure in order to ‘balance' the financial perspective." (Aughton and Barton 2004)   It provides a method of aligning business activities to the strategy and monitoring performance of strategic goals over time. BSC methodology builds on key concepts in Total Quality Management such as outputs feedback, but also includes feedback loops on outcomes of business strategies, internal business processes and external outcomes in order to continuously improve strategic performance and results.

People – The Most Valuable Intangible

The list of intangible assets outlined above is clearly human and knowledge centred. However, von Wistinghausen (2004) highlights concerns about how museums value their people – their key intangible assets. Summarising his findings:

He believes that at some point, however, creative thinking will need to set in as it seems highly unlikely that government[s] will be persuaded to sign a blank check for wholesale salary increases. He suggests that facing up to the funding gap of low pay is likely to require a deeper look at the ecology and operational structure of museums, the nature of museum jobs and the deployment of workforce – in a way that even the more radical museum restructurings in recent years (all of which primarily focused on cost cutting) have failed to do. In his opinion, this will mean living up to the simple fact that most museums do too much on an increasingly frayed shoestring. Addressing staff pay within the context of limited additional public (and philanthropic) funding will therefore require institutions to contemplate the option of ‘doing less but better'. After decades during which growth (physical and programmatic) constituted the main measure of institutional health and success, this will be no less than a paradigm shift.

KM practices are recognised as key tools that can facilitate just such paradigm shifts. They have proven to be successful in addressing similar issues in the global business environment. An effective knowledge management program should help an organisation do one or more of the following which have been identified as being critical to effectively managing the creative: