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Collaboration Models
Like other cultural institutions, those in Balboa Park are trying to prepare for a severe financial downturn. One possible source of cost savings and increased revenue would be both to combine some Web support services and to enhance transaction-based income producing activity on the Web (membership, development, ticketing, shops). Three models for "Balboa Park Online" (a new entity) are being discussed at workshops on November 17. At stake is both the degree of integration/collaboration and the likely return-on-investment. Each is described below:
Option 1: Centralized Web & Applications Services
Balboa Park Online is a central office supporting all aspects of the network presence of its members. It is primarily funded through contributions by its members based on their historical operating budgets for these services, and would take on their employees. 90% of new online revenue would be returned to the institutions.
Option 2: Web Consulting, Shared Applications Support and Professional Education
Balboa Park Online is a consulting service, also providing some in-service training and helping to establish shared Web applications where groups of its members wish to join in sharing the development and maintenance costs. It is funded partly through contributions of its
members to these shared applications and partly by 10% of new income generated over the Web.
Option 3: Central Web Consulting and Professional Education
Balboa Park Online is a consulting service also providing some in-service training. Institutions develop their own applications, or, where groups of its members wish to share the development and maintenance costs they contract with each other to provide them. Central staff would provide consulting and in-service training.
We're all trying to figure out how this design pattern works. The current economy says, "collaborate" loudly (not that it is necessarily ever a bad idea).
It will be interesting to hear what came out of the workshop and how it goes.
We received support for Option Two as a means of achieving Option One over time. It was too drastic, and possibly too complex, to actually dissect everyone's staff and budget at this point to create a new office to support online activity, but the concept of cooperation between institutions with similar objectives as a means towards sharing staff on specific projects, and then having that sharing lead towards an even more integrated model, was attractive.
We expect to be engaged in the following initial working groups:
1) Membership, development, and shop sales
2) Ticketing
3) Course registration and online teaching support
4. Intranet and community building
5. Collections digitization and public access
6. Connectivity, hosting and networking
7. Web metrics and business intelligence
8. Archiving
Institutions are being asked to 'sign on' if they are committed to working in at least one of these groups in the initial year. They may participate is as many as they wish. Costs will be shared; savings and income accrue to the institutions achieving them except that a 10% tithe on new income will go towards collective activity.
The 'sign-up period' will be in December of each year, beginning this year. I will, of course, tell you how it goes:-)
David Bearman
David Bearman