what will the museum of the future be like?

Ning is going to charge for its services. What will happen to Museum 3.0?

Today it was announced that Ning, the service that runs Museum 3.0, is cutting a large proportion of its staff and will no longer provide free services. Paid services will pay more, and free services will pay. Do we know what will happen to Museum 3.0 now?

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Permalink Reply by Angelina Russo on April 20, 2010 at 5:08am

Thanks for this Robin. I've been watching the updates closely to try and get a sense of what will happen. We already pay for premium services but it may well be that the costs become prohibitive. We will have to wait and see about this. As soon as we know, we'll let you know. In the meantime, I've pulled down the membership details just incase!!

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Permalink Reply by Angelina Russo on April 21, 2010 at 7:22am

BIt more of an update - I've now been able to order an archive copy of the entire ning site - something that ning have not provided to date. Will keep you updated!

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Permalink Reply by Peter Matthews on April 21, 2010 at 9:34pm

I also run a not-for-profit educational site. Sites like this provide free advertisement and good PR for Ning. Collectively we might be able to persuade Ning to give us suitable consideration. I too have followed their announcements, and it is possible that they will look after us. Depending on how they price their services, and how they reinvest the income to improve services, the changes could be good or bad.

At this stage, I am hopeful. Even if they make some bad decisions initially, if they suddenly see their business collapsing, they might adjust their fee schedules. This sort of market is untested, and all parties need to push from their side of the deal. Ning may be choosing a narrow path, rather than trying to capture the world in the same way that Google has with free services.

It would be good if an independent blog could be set up to establish the Allcomers Collective of Educational Networks on Ning (ACENN), or ACE Networks on Ning.

Cheers, Peter

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Permalink Reply by alice semedo on April 21, 2010 at 10:29pm

Thanks Robin for your comment and thanks Angelina for the idea of asking for the archive of the entire site. We will certainly do that for our ning site as well... We are certainly worried!

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Permalink Reply by Lynda Kelly on April 22, 2010 at 3:16pm

Thnx everyone and we appreacite your concern. Personally, I'm not too worried, as Angelina says, my Musuem already pays for the premium service and I can't see it going too much beyond this. There is already also quite a bit of activity from the Ning Creators group and hopefully they may be able to garner support.

There are more details on the ning blog post: Mythbusters: Three Things We Aren’t Doing on May 4. We'll keep you posted.

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Permalink Reply by Angelina Russo on April 22, 2010 at 10:05pm

thanks for this Lynda. We will need to wait till 4th May to really know what will happen.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Reynolds on May 2, 2010 at 9:03pm

One thing needs saying upfront - if Linda and Angelina end up having to pay a fee to Ning then I for one would be happy to pay a membership fee.

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Permalink Reply by Robin Boast on May 2, 2010 at 9:22pm

I agree with Paul on this. If Ning is going to charge, and until Museum 3.0 can change to something else, it is the responsibility of all the membership to carry the burden.

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Permalink Reply by MARY MORROW-FARRELL, MA on May 4, 2010 at 12:48pm

Hello. I am new here. I second the motion on partnerships and the power of persuasion and negotiation.

M. Morrow-Farrell, MA

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Permalink Reply by Angelina Russo on May 4, 2010 at 5:40pm

Thanks to you all for your support! We will know Ning's intentions in the next few days and will be able to let everyone know then! Until then, it is great to know that you value the service enough to offer to pay membership!
Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Angelina Russo on May 5, 2010 at 6:10pm

Ning released their new pricing structure today. While it doesn't look too onerous, it does bring up some questions which we will need to work through over the next few weeks. I've been holding onto the survey results from 2009 till this was finalised so that we could ensure that the decisions we make are in keeping with what our network see as the value of this site. We'll keep working on it and let you know very shortly.