Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Research Fund/Researching new business models for Open GLAM: Landscape, trends, and options

statuswithdrawn
Researching new business models for Open GLAM: Landscape, trends, and options
start and end datesJuly 2022-December 2022
budget (USD)40,000-50,000 USD
applicant(s)• Moumita Chakraborty

Overview edit

Username

Applicant's Wikimedia username. If one is not provided, then the applicant's name will be provided for community review.

Moumita Chakraborty

Project title

Researching new business models for Open GLAM: Landscape, trends, and options

Entity Receiving Funds

Provide the name of the individual or organization that would receive the funds.

Creative Commons Corporation

Research proposal edit

Description edit

Description of the proposed project, including aims and approach. Be sure to clearly state the problem, why it is important, why previous approaches (if any) have been insufficient, and your methods to address it.

Open access in cultural heritage has far-reaching positive impacts for the global community, but galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs) have not widely embraced open access and digitization. As Creative Commons (CC) has supported cultural heritage institutions in going open, we also partner with our community to understand key barriers for GLAMS in making their collections publicly accessible. This work has highlighted issues of inadequate legal and policy frameworks, an underutilized sectoral infrastructure, and low institutional knowledge and capacity, but fear of a perceived loss of revenue from traditional paid licensing schemes is frequently named as a primary barrier to providing free and open access to digitized collections. The technology, digital infrastructure, preservation, legal expertise, and digital management costs associated with digitization and open sharing require a significant financial investment. With decreased or unstable funding and under financial pressure, GLAMs are hesitant to give up any revenue (however small), including licensing revenue. As a result, even well-resourced GLAM projects often unlock only a fraction of the content that could potentially be made openly accessible, or stop at digitization without making works available to the public via open licensing. According to the Open GLAM Survey, less than 1% of the world's museums have open access policies, with the vast majority located in the Global North, and are not reflective of the millions of GLAMs globally.

Some studies show that business models based on open access can be more financially beneficial, but the evidence is scarce, outdated, and largely anecdotal. A research project identifying the financial, commercial, and economic aspects of open GLAM along with new opportunities for revenue generation would provide much needed evidence to support institutions’ financial viability and sustainability in going open.

CC’s Open GLAM Program aims to create a coordinated global effort to amplify GLAMs’ value and accessibility via other sectors (i.e. education, science, and research). This research project will be especially critical as we attempt to understand and address how to overcome questions around a lack of resources and a need for innovative revenue generation models as we work to survey and optimize public data around the open sharing of cultural heritage in support of our training, community, policy, and equity goals.

Budget edit

Approximate amount requested in USD.

40,000-50,000

Budget Description

Briefly describe what you expect to spend money on (specific budgets and details are not necessary at this time).

We plan to engage a contractor to develop research criteria and surveys, conduct research, compile data and draft an analytical report identifying trends and making recommendations, as well as core staff salaries to supervise the work. Based on previous contracts of this nature, CC estimates at least 10% institutional overhead. While all our work is CC licensed, we estimate there will be some technological support components needed for this work to be undertaken and made digitally accessible.

Impact edit

Address the impact and relevance to the Wikimedia projects, including the degree to which the research will address the 2030 Wikimedia Strategic Direction and/or support the work of Wikimedia user groups, affiliates, and developer communities. If your work relates to knowledge gaps, please directly relate it to the knowledge gaps taxonomy.

This project focuses on critical knowledge and implementation gaps in the field, namely recency of research, diverse geographic and resource level representation, and language accessibility, hindering GLAM institutions’ ability to contribute to and access open infrastructure.

This research poses an equity question, aligned with Wikimedia and CC’s strategic directions. We aim to increase the open GLAM movement’s sustainability, inclusion, knowledge, and coordination to ensure cultural heritage institutions can fulfill their missions and thrive by informing the creation of responsive tools and services, policy, and more responsible sharing of stewarded material, particularly aimed at empowering lower resourced and non-Western perspectives.

Dissemination edit

Plans for dissemination.

Creative Commons is committed to openly licensing and sharing all work products we collaborate on or produce. We hope this work will accelerate not only our own Open GLAM work, but also that of CC and Wikimedia country chapters, community groups, and institutions worldwide to support a more inclusive, comprehensive open infrastructure in the sector. We will also aim to ensure maximum language and other accessibility options, in line with our values.

Past Contributions edit

Prior contributions to related academic and/or research projects and/or the Wikimedia and free culture communities. If you do not have prior experience, please explain your planned contributions.

CC’s Open GLAM work draws on 20 years of community engagement, capacity building, advocacy, and digital infrastructure stewardship. Our goal is to identify and bridge barriers for GLAMs worldwide in going open, maximizing their sustainability and potential impact. In partnership with Wikimedians, CC’s Open GLAM Platform, the Open GLAM Initiative, and other community members, we continually study current and emerging needs in the field. Recently, we have focused on policy frameworks, digitization and stewardship of traditional cultural expressions, and deepening community engagement to highlight institutional needs and expectations and generate a more inclusive and equitable understanding of open GLAM.

I agree to license the information I entered in this form excluding the pronouns, countries of residence, and email addresses under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0. I understand that the decision to fund this Research Fund application, the application itself along with all the information entered by my in this form excluding the pronouns, country of residences, and email addresses of the personnel will be published on Wikimedia Foundation Funds pages on Meta-Wiki and will be made available to the public in perpetuity. To make the results of your research actionable and reusable by the Wikimedia volunteer communities, affiliates and Foundation, I agree that any output of my research will comply with the WMF Open Access Policy. I also confirm that I have read the privacy statement and agree to abide by the WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.

Yes