Global Melt/Institutional Partners

Session: Institutional Partnerships – Best Practices

Notes

Definition of institution: mostly tied to specific cause, to a funding source, to a corporation or the state, follow certain rules

Challenge: either need to adhere to these missions or to find common ground

Even large Open Organizations (big three: Mozilla, Creative Commons, Wikimedia) have not been able to Sync its activities Upgrade network: artist networks; problem: no one uses online tools, all totally based on personal contact and concrete projects Non-geek audience requires educational efforts Danger that too many organizations spend too much time on finding common ground and end up with too little outcome

Best practices: Netherlands: several (ongoing) cooperations between institutions such as Cultural Heritage Institute, Creative Commons, Wikimedia and Kennisland >> personal interlinkages and personal relationships are important Wikimedia can offer contact to younger crowds: GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) partnerships as best practice, because it is possible locally Resource sharing allows addressing global audiences Simple things: keep in day-to-day contact with local (potential) partner organizations (e.g. join mailing lists, go to meet-ups, events) Formality vs. informality of partnerships: Doing something together should not be an end in itself; formality helpful when a concrete project with beginning and end needs to be done Personal relationships open up a dialogue >> identification of the common goal is key: Meeting is not enough: you need an agenda and joint projects Smaller groups: free ride at larger events (e.g. Wikimania, Drumbeet)