Reaping the benefits of digitisation:Pilot study exploring revenue generation from digitised collections through technological Innovation

In the last decade significant resources have been invested for the digitisation of the collections of a large number of museums and galleries worldwide. In Europe alone, 10 million EUR is annually invested in Europeana (Europeana 2014). However, as we gradually move on from “the start-up phase” of digitisation (Hughes 2004), revenue generation and sustainability must be considered (Hughes 2004). Even beyond digitisation, generating revenue through innovation and in particular “finding new business models to sustain funding” (Simon 2011) ranks amongst museums’ top challenges (Simon 2011). More importantly, despite the significant wealth of digitised assets museums now own, little has been done to investigate ways these institutions could financially benefit from their digitised collections. For art institutions in particular, this has been largely limited to the sale of image licenses, with the fear of losing this revenue posing as one of the key reasons art museums are reluctant to join the Open Content movement (Kapsalis 2016). This paper examines how recent technological advancements, such as image recognition and Print-on-Demand automation, can be utilised to take advantage of the wealth of digitised artworks museums and galleries have in their possession. A pilot study of the proposed solution at the State Museum of Contemporary Art (SMCA) in Thessaloniki, Greece, is covered and the findings are examined. Early feedback indicates that there is a significant potential in the utilisation of the aforementioned technologies for the monetisation of digitised collections. However, challenges such as blending the real-world experience with the digital experience, as well as flattening the learning curve of the technological solution for museum visitors, need to be addressed. Based on the pilot study at SMCA, this paper investigates how emerging technologies can be utilised to facilitate revenue generation for all museums and galleries with digitised collections

Intellectual property and impact

One aspect of the Digital Transformations theme has been to explore the ways in which arts and humanities offer insights into issues emerging from current changes in culture and society linked to the increasing pervasiveness of digital technology. One such particularly prominent issue in the arts and humanities is that of intellectual property. The new types of artistic work and forms of scholarly output emerging through engagement with digital technology challenge and disrupt our current understanding of intellectual property. Outputs produced by projects funded within the theme provide valuable insights into how new technologies are reshaping and challenging intellectual property. The roundtable will present work undertaken on the intellectual property issues raised by projects under the theme. These issues also intersect strongly with research into the ways in which impact of digital creativity and scholarship can be assessed and measured, and the way in which we construe the value of digital projects will also be discussed in this roundtable

Conceptualising wellbeing for young people living with mental illness (commentary)

Background/Aims: Assisting clients to achieve wellbeing, even in the presence of ongoing mental illness, should be a primary goal of mental health services. However, little is known about what wellbeing means for young people living with mental illness. The aim of this study is to explore the ways in which young Australians living with mental illness conceptualise their wellbeing. Methods: Five focus groups were conducted with young people (n=20; age range: 16-25 years) living with mental illness. Results were analysed qualitatively using constant comparative analysis. Results: Analysis of the data indicated that participants were describing two different but complementary types of concepts. We conceptualised these two types of concepts as 'building blocks' and 'foundations' of wellbeing, respectively. Five building blocks were identified, which together constituted wellbeing for participants: i) sense of self; ii) relationships; iii) sense of the future; iv) feelings and experiences; v) agency. These building blocks were supported or undermined by seven foundations: i) activities; ii) having things; iii) mental illness; iv) the past; v) coping strategies; vi) environmental supports and barriers; vii) personal characteristics. Conclusions: The findings support the use of a recovery paradigm for young people with mental illness. The framework presented can be used to assist young people to consider different aspects that make up their wellbeing and plan ways to address these by attending to multiple foundational factors