Memorandum submitted by The Natural History
Museum
INTRODUCTION
The Natural History Museum is one of the world's
great museums
The Natural History Museum is one of the world's
greatest resources for reference, research and information on
the natural environment, guardians of a 70 million specimen collection
of living species, fossils and minerals, a powerhouse of scientific
research, an institute for inspiration and creativity that annually
welcomes millions of scientists and visitors.
The NHM website (www.nhm.ac.uk) has as many
or more visits than our physical sites at South Kensington and
Tring: there were over 10 million visits last year, with approximately
3.5 million unique Internet Provider (IP) addresses, and the website
holds over a million records. Through the use of new media the
NHM has greatly increased access to its collections, making them
available to a much broader and geographically diverse population.
This submission will address the following issues:
A. The impact upon creative industries of
recent and future developments in digital convergence and media
technology.
B. The extent to which a regulatory environment
should be applied to creative content accessed using non-traditional
media platforms.
C. Where the balance should lie between the
rights of creators and the expectations of consumers in the context
of the BBC's Creative Archive and other developments.
(A) The impact upon creative industries of recent
and future developments in digital convergence and media technology
1. Recent developments in digital convergence
and media technology have had a complex impact on both the development
and delivery of the NHM's creative content. While increasing NHM
audience access to a range of rich media and interactive content,
it has also increased the pressure on NHM resources to invest
in new forms of digital content and delivery, in order to meet
increasing audience expectations. However, the need for such investment
is still not embedded and understood as core to museum business
across the sector. As a result, although the impact on the museum
resources has grown considerably in the last five years, many
museums are yet to develop robust funding and distribution models
and the required skill sets needed to meet audience expectations.
2. As an example of increased audience access,
the NHM produces approximately two video broadcasts a week and
has over 100 archived videos, many of them with supporting information.
Although broadcast live, most of the videos are accessed through
our website archive and found via a search engine such as Google.
With over 2,500 being viewed each month they are an important
and effective means of delivering rich media content about natural
history to the NHM's audiences of lifelong and formal learners.
3. This content has been made feasible by
the convergence of digital technologies and the development and
uptake of broadband, allowing in-house production and distribution
of digital content via the web. Without these developments it
is doubtful whether these materials would be available to the
public, as their specialist subject matter and relatively low
production values make them inappropriate for distribution via
mainstream analogue or digital networks.
4. The development of mobile internet and
handsets capable of accessing animations and video-streaming gives
the NHM an even greater opportunity to deliver personalized rich
content to its audience, enhancing the visitor experience both
in situ and at home.
5. As mobile Internet use grows, audience's
expectations of receiving timely and relevant information anywhere/anytime
increase; for example, the use of Identification (ID) keys on
flora when on walks or historical and cultural information when
visiting city spaces. Evaluation has shown that the NHM's audiences
would welcome this opportunity to continue to explore and access
a wide range of related content in their own time.
6. Audiences also have increased expectations
of delivery of rich media interactive content both within galleries
and online. Current developments in "audience-generated"
content has opened opportunities for museums to engage in two-way
communication with their audiences, rather than remaining a one-way
and effectively didactic information channel. The public no longer
expects to be passive consumers of information but active manipulators
and communicators of information. The rise of wikis and bloggs
demonstrate this trend. To facilitate these expectations, the
development of tools and processes that allow visitors to engage
in discussion, and create and deposit information are needed.
7. The convergence of new media technologies
and the resulting sophisticated development and delivery of content
has a serious impact on NHM core business and resources. Museums
need to develop and maintain digital production values commensurate
with their physical offering, national standing and current market
values if they are to continue to engage and meet their audience's
growing expectations. Advances in gaming technology and computer-processing
power put an onus on museums to deliver the quality and sophistication
that the public expect. Unless museums can keep up with these
developments and the opportunities offered they risk becoming
increasingly anachronistic and irrelevant to audience experiences.
For many museums the creation and delivery of rich-media content
(such as video and games) is now an expected addition to their
physical exhibition and significantly extends their content development
and audience reach.
8. Maintaining this capability has repercussions
for museum infrastructure and resources, from content and interpretation
experts, to the digital production team. Increasingly sophisticated
new media technology has implicit requirements in resourcing Research
and Development (R&D) if acceptable levels of innovation in
parallel with the commercial environment are to be delivered.
Even museums that outsource production need expertise and skills
to manage and deliver quality assurance of digital development.
9. Although an increasingly high proportion
of audiences access content via digital channels (for the NHM
virtual visits to physical visits are approximately 3:1), fulfilment
of this digital audience's expectations is still not fully recognized
as core to museum business. Adequate funding therefore remains
an issue, as does proven business models for recouping investment.
Distribution of museums' digital content to a wider audience has
to compete with the commercial interests of major portals and
search engines, and as such has the same difficulties as any public
service distribution. Together these issues make it difficult
for museums to adequately plan and resource the rapidly changing
digital landscape.
10. Although the convergence of new media
technologies has opened up museum resources to a wider audience,
and enabled development and distribution of specialized subject
matter, the associated growing expectations of audiences has meant
additional pressure on museums to constantly invest and re-develop
their digital content.
(B) The extent to which a regulatory environment
should be applied to creative content accessed using non-traditional
media platforms
11. Creative content accessed via non-traditional
media platforms involves the same social issues and responsibilities
as that delivered via traditional platforms. Therefore, the same
regulatory environment of restrictions to content for the vulnerable
should apply.
12. New issues of regulation arise when
examining the distribution models for content supplied by new
platforms and the regulation of access to the platforms themselves.
Mobile carriers and portals currently manage the majority of distribution
deals for many content providers and they are primarily based
on commercial models. With the development of new mobile platforms
and their increasing popularity, it is important that the non-commercial
and cultural sector maintain successful methods for distributing
their content and ensuring easy access via a range of media platforms.
13. Different models of distribution need
to be considered for non-profit organisations that will establish
a benchmark for access to content and that will not favour the
operator at the expense of the content provider or audience.
14. The regulations concerning audience
access to media platforms, particularly mobiles, also need to
be clarified and upheld. The Stewart Report in 2005 reaffirmed
that the restrictions of mobile use for under-elevens was good
practice. The effect of this has been a reluctance shown by cultural
organisations to develop content for this age group and for potential
sponsors to provide support. However, sales and usage of mobiles
to this age group continues to grow, and users are becoming increasingly
conversant with using the medium to research and source content.
As a result younger audiences are consuming extensive spam and
commercial content, such as ring-tones, wallpapers, songs and
television programmes, with little in the way of learning or cultural
content to provide balance. Although regulations have been put
in place to restrict under-age access to adult content there has
been no consideration given to the wider cultural landscape that
operators are creating for younger audiences. This is a lost opportunity
to engage with younger audiences and increase their access to
a variety of stimulating cultural and educative content.
15. As distribution of content on new media
platforms becomes increasingly concentrated on a few portals and
search engines, traditional issues of restrictions on distribution
for smaller, non-commercial content producers arise. Major portals
and ISP's are gatekeepers for content distribution. Most are based
on a commercial model, effectively restricting distribution of
non-commercial and not-for-profit content.
16. The majority of content is now accessed
via search engines, with giants such as Yahoo and Google having
the majority share. Public sector sites, such as the "org",
"ac", "edu" and "gov" domains, do
not provide direct income to search engines or a share in a pay-for-placement
and/or pay-for-inclusion revenue stream. To date there has been
little interest in establishing search engines that specialize
in public-sector websites. Ranking methods partly via "power
popularity" of web pages do not necessarily meet the needs
of niche cultural and public sector content. Additionally there
are few detailed published standards on ranking by search engines,
and search engines remain unaccountable for the ranking delivered.
Without regulation there are no safeguards that search engines
will develop equitable methods of searching both public sector
and commercial websites. For public service and cultural sites
this could mean that future access to the material becomes increasingly
difficult and capricious as our web presence becomes effectively
hidden.
(C) Where the balance should lie between the
rights of creators and the expectations of consumers in the context
of the BBC's Creative Archive and other developments
17. The Creative Archive, as it currently
stands, affords an opportunity for creators to share their work,
for it to be re-used within educational and non-commercial environments
while being fully attributed. As such, it gives great opportunity
for content to be fully utilised and appreciated by a wider audience.
18. However, one significant area of tension
in the "Creative Commons" concept or the BBC's Creative
Archive arises around moral rights, or droit d'auteur, particularly
that area that applies to ensuring that the integrity of authors
is not compromised.
19. Museums hold content on behalf of individuals
or organisations. As custodians of content they must ensure that
the integrity of the original author is not damaged. With the
topicality and sensitivity of some of the content there is a real
issue surrounding the context in which the content appears, and
there is an argument that museums must continue to be able to
act as custodians of all content produced within a Creative Commons
framework. This has significant resource implications.
20. However, the progression and development
of ideas is often based on the ability to be able to extend, distort
and re-examine ideas, and to put them in a different context.
The classic example is the drawing of a moustache on the reproduction
of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
21. A question therefore arises as to whether
the concept of moral rights should be re-examined in the context
of the Creative Commons, or whether they should be upheld as traditionally
understood. Any formalized framework to uphold moral rights will
result in a higher level of required resources.
22. Within a scientific arena, such as the
NHM's, this could give exciting opportunities for development,
with a formalized review mechanism and the establishment of relationships
with the originating authors (or museums) as part of a curatorial
or scientific framework. However, as previously stated, this would
involve significant resources on the part of the rights holder
in order to sustain and manage those relationships.
February 2006
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