what will the museum of the future be like?
Changes to ning - a possible way forward - please give us your feedback!
As Robin Boast reminded us, from July, Ning will no longer be offereing a free service. They have now released their new pricing structure and while not onerous, it coincides with a change in the way in which Lynda and I administer Museum 3.0.
Until now, this brilliant network has grown organically and we have been able to devote substantial time to it as it formed part of our experimentations throughout the research project we have been collaborating on. From the end of 2010, neither of us will have the same time available to us to continue maintaining the network at the level which has made it so effective.
Therefore, we're looking to evolve the network to do a number of new things:
redesign the site to make navigation easier
develop podcasts for ITunes which explore the issues we discuss here on the network
develop new webinar series in lieu of the in-situ conference series 'Transformations in Cultural and Scientific Communication'.
In order to do this, we may need to move to a tiered fee structure so that we can employ some people to develop the site and add new and specific features.
We're thinking of something that looks like this
free membership
contribute to blog and forum posts
upload photos
basic - $45 per annum
contribute to blog and forum posts
upload photos, videos, audio
establish and contribute to chat, events, groups
install ning apps
premium - $85 per annum
contribute to blog and forum posts
establish and contribute to chat, events, groups
install ning apps
closed works groups, moderated membership
special membership events
discounts to webinars, seminars etc.
We have till the beginning of July to make a decision. We really need your input on this one! Please do let us know what do you think?
Until now, this brilliant network has grown organically and we have been able to devote substantial time to it as it formed part of our experimentations throughout the research project we have been collaborating on. From the end of 2010, neither of us will have the same time available to us to continue maintaining the network at the level which has made it so effective.
Therefore, we're looking to evolve the network to do a number of new things:
redesign the site to make navigation easier
develop podcasts for ITunes which explore the issues we discuss here on the network
develop new webinar series in lieu of the in-situ conference series 'Transformations in Cultural and Scientific Communication'.
In order to do this, we may need to move to a tiered fee structure so that we can employ some people to develop the site and add new and specific features.
We're thinking of something that looks like this
free membership
contribute to blog and forum posts
upload photos
basic - $45 per annum
contribute to blog and forum posts
upload photos, videos, audio
establish and contribute to chat, events, groups
install ning apps
premium - $85 per annum
contribute to blog and forum posts
establish and contribute to chat, events, groups
install ning apps
closed works groups, moderated membership
special membership events
discounts to webinars, seminars etc.
We have till the beginning of July to make a decision. We really need your input on this one! Please do let us know what do you think?
Tags: museum 3.0, ning
Views: 33
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by femkeh on
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Hi!
I just became a member two days ago, so I have no idea what this group would add to my knowledge, network, etc. So probably I would choose the free membership first. If I am tempted enough I would consider a basic membership. Since I live in the Netherlands, can I pay through international payment methods?
best regards,
Femke
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Permalink Reply by Daryl Fischer on -
Like so many others, I applaud your contributions and the growth of this dynamic community and understand the need to make Museum 3.0 sustainable. One solution might be a hybrid of an affordable, tiered pricing structure for individuals and sponsorships by organizations with common interests. I wonder if groups like AAM standing professional committees (NAME, EdCom, CARE, Media and Tech) MER (Museum Education Roundtable) and VSA would support this as a service to their members. Realizing that everyone--individuals and organizations--are strapped for funds these days, sharing the costs seems like a good way to go.
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Permalink Reply by Bliss Jensen on -
Oh well, I guess the monetizing aspect was only a matter of time...
I don't disagree with a tiered funding structure, if that is ultimately what has to be done to keep Museum 3.0 alive. To day I pop in and out a bit mainly to follow current info and discussions. I haven't had too much time to contribute a lot of comments or photos etc.. But this may change and my personal 'involvement' and level of interactions may in fact increase, in the effort to get real "bang for my buck".
Perhaps there are there grants that can applied for, in order to offset some costs for members?
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Permalink Reply by Catherine Manning on -
I've been somewhat of a 'silent member' to the ning so far but I have found being able to read the discussions incredibly useful. I think the tiered systems sounds like a very good way to approach it. 'Lurkers' like myself will still have access to some content and there will be real encouragement to contribute further for those that chose to pay for greater access.
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Permalink Reply by Tonya M Matthews on -
The price tag is what it is - though fairly reasonable. But I'm assuming that many would opt for the free membership just to keep "informed". If everyone opted for that scenario, would you still be able to cover ning costs?
The podcast version - itunes u site - can be very robust in terms of content. And I'd love to see that. Though it would be low on interaction. I'm wondering if you can marry it's content power with the connecivity of Facebook? (Though not "everyone" is on facebook.)
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Permalink Reply by geoff barker on -
Personally I am a little concerned about creating hierarchies which gives those who can afford to pay more bandwidth and media space than others. I'm running a few different nings from the local scouts group to museum related ones and will have to close down some but given the pricing structure announced by ning I can afford to keep a couple going and keep the spririt of their openess intact. The ning fees don't seem that onerous and the different packages basically are as follows
Ning Mini 19.95 year Up to 150 members Features include blogs, photos, forum and video embeds
Ning Plus $199.95 year Unlimited members Full feature set including events, groups, chat, pages and Ning Apps
Ning Pro $499.95 year Unlimited members Full feature set plus video and music uploads and branded players
Given this I was wondering if the fees being suggested have to be as large or if given the positive responses from members there could be some kind of donation model?
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Permalink Reply by geoff barker on
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- perhaps a space on the site pages could be made into a link to ask for donations to the network and at the same time be used to illustrate how much has been collected towards the next years fees?
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Permalink Reply by Angelina Russo on -
Hi to everyone and thank you so much for your contributions!!
I am collating your feedback and will send a more complete summary towards the end of the process. In the meantime, here we go at addressing some of your queries to date
Do the proposed account types connect to the new ning functionality - yes! we will have API and developer access so that we can do this
Will the preminum account have closed work groups - We surveyed the community last year and found that this was something that would be of value to a number of our members
Which currency? Australian dollars (AUD)
How were the price points chosen?
Current Membership approx 2200
professionals, students, event promoters, interested individuals
New Ning structure proposed costs
pro account $500 per annum
Administrator $8000 per annum = 20 hrs per month (responsible for sourcing content, following up content as required, working with Lynda and Angelina to develop podcasts and/or webinars
Webdesign $3000
Hosting and domain $300
paypal buttons $500
Total $13000
membership takeup
2200 current membership
1200 opt for free
200 basic - $45 p/a- 9000
100 premium - $85 p/a- 8500
(we are estimating that around 700 members fall off)
gives us around $4500 per annum to establish online events and ITunes content.
Joint membership with MA and/or AAM
We are considering this and will chat with the agencies.
Advertising
We could explore cross-promotional advertising between MA and AAM . More on that later!
Donations
It would be great. We could look into that!
So this is a start. Please let us know what you think! As I mentioned, we have till July to make final decisions!
Cheers
Angelina
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Permalink Reply by Mia on -
What about the UK MCG or US MCN, or any combination of the various national agencies and tech groups?
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Permalink Reply by Mike on -
From my POV - I'm very much a "pop in every so often" kind of member of this network. The premium model therefore doesn't really appeal to me. If anything I'm finding a fair amount of information overload in the museum space.
In terms of technical approach, have a look at something like BuddyPress if you need the full features of a network - however, I'd suggest thinking quite hard about whether this is actually needed. Often a simple mailing list works better for people. I'm going through exactly the same process as you are here over at my bathcamp network and am forcing myself to ignore the bells and whistles and focus instead on core needs of the audience...
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Permalink Reply by Liz Holcombe on -
Hi
I'd also like to thank Lynda and Angelina for creating and maintaining this Ning. While other things have kept me from it recently, I have found it very useful. The tiered approach seems reasonable: I'd opt for the $45 (AUD) basic membership. I do wonder if there is room for a donation, a sort of "cold coin donation" idea, for people who feel they would like to offer some money to help suppor the network, but don't really want that tied to what they can do. It might be too tricky to implement.
Thanks again
Liz
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Permalink Reply by Jonathan Cooper on -
I'm still a bit of a lurker, so maybe paying $45 pa would encourage me to be more active. ;-)
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