Vladimir SKOK , Culture Gateway, Canadian Cultural Observatory / Culturescope

1. Vladimir SKOK, Culture.ca Gateway, Canadian Cultural Observatory / Culturescope.ca Alfonso CASTELLANOS RIBOT, Sistema de Informacion Cultural, Portal e-Cultura Cultural Information Systems Workshop Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago March 2006

2. Recent phenomenon • cultural portals have exploded in virtual global space • little is known about these new public venues and their: • management practices • implications on cultural policy • first international online survey (March 2005) • 370 identified / 80 responses • collected basic evidence and analysis • results explored by newly created informal network of cultural portal authorities at its first international Roundtable Event (June 2005, at Expo2005, Aichi, Japan) • 20 participating portals in Aichi, including UNESCO

3. Before the Round table : An innovative international survey! The objectives of the survey? • Inform other portals about the Culture.mondo concept; • Gather basic management and cultural policy-based information on the state of cultural portal development around the world; • Compare situations and discover similar challenges; • Identify trends in cultural portal development; • Highlight examples of good practice, and • Set the stage for the future development of the Culture.mondo network. 4 themes of discussion Partnerships in portal development and management Governance Marketing and audience needs Content and its management

4. Culture.mondo Round table - Aichi, Japan • Who? : More than 20 cultural portals Culture.fr (France) Cultnat.org (Egypt) ecultura.gob.mx (Mexico) Cult.bg (Bulgaria) Culturalprofiles.org.uk (United Kingdom) Portail en développement (New-Zealand) Culture.ca (Canada) Portail en développement (Morocco) 24hourmuseum.org.uk (United Kingdom) Cibernetica.cl (Chile) Portal.unesco.org/digiarts (UNESCO) In development (Taïwan) Ocpa.irmo.hr (Africa) Asef.org (Singapour) Collectionsaustralia.net (Australia) Ilam.org (Costa Rica) Culturenet Sweden (Sweden) Cultuurweb.be (Belgium)

6. Rewarding discussions… Round table 1 : Survey results and analysis • Analytical summary realized by Decima research • Results available on www.culturemondo.org

7. www.culture.ca www.ecultura.gob.mx

8. www.cpanda.org www.culturescope.ca

9. http://sic.conaculta.gob.mx

10. Notable similarities and differences in the 3 portal groups • national cultural portals largest group surveyed and report the highest % of public sector funding • cultural observatories are the smallest surveyed • all three have specific and different target audiences • the greatest range in scale is with thematic portals • all groups indicated a keen interest in partnership development • most are non-profit (27%)or government(46%) • commercial partnerships are not frequent (28%) • outreach and audience development is a significant goal – however, marketing budgets are low. • Exists a 4th type of portal: supra-national portals

11. A new era of cooperation… Round table 2 : Partnerships • Partnerships are the key to successful cultural portals • “A new era of cooperation”: new models are emerging (EU MICHAEL, partnerships between users and creators like www.cult.bg does in Bulgaria) • Cross-departmental partnerships, content and marketing partnerships, etc. • Additional layers of partners have been developed out of the portals themselves as new networks emerged

12. Dynamic governance for dynamic portals Round table 3 : Governance • Every situation is unique butmuch can be learned from the individual experiences • Governance should evolve within a continuum from governmental to private non-profit • Who leads : especially when it comes to cultural policies • Partnerships and governance • Combining employees and volunteers • The important role of advisory committees

13. www.cubarte.cult.cu www.kultur.nu

14. Portal status and government relationship What is the status of your portal? Does your organization have a direct relationship to the government?

15. Funding Please indicate the breakdown of your portal's turnover in 2004

16. Authenticity, reliability, currency, credibility, completeness… • Round table 4 : Content and its management • Calendar of events (60%), content (50%), on-line ticket sales • Centre for centralized and decentralized information • Less then 30% of cultural portals currently have interactive features • 100% of the national cultural portals update their content at least once a week compare to 76% of thematic portals and even less of observatories.

17. Editorial strategy Who produces the main bulk of the content – is it central or decentral? How can external contributors upload or add content to your portal?

18. Marketing is essential but funds are scarce… Roundtable 5 : Marketing and audience needs • In a crowded internet space, marketing is a MUST • primary audiences: • 80% National cultural portals = general public • 76% Thematic portals = cultural experts • 100% Observatories = cultural experts • focus more on cultural rather than tourism objectives • audience development and outreach is a preoccupation • % of budget dedicated to marketing is 2.5 – 7.5%

19. Marketing and audience needs • Need to elaborate specific tools and particular approach • On-line marketing through other cultural organizations is desirable • Use public surveys results • It is mandatory to be able to measure the success obtained

20. Cultural policy phenomenon • less obvious, especially for non-profit portals • major cultural policy themes: • participation • access • civic engagement • cultural diversity • new EU initiative, michael-culture.org, announced April 2005