Communicating the Rhine release Jon Purday Senior Communications Advisor, Europeana

Europeana Rhine Rhine soft launch in July then fine-tuning until September Rhine takes us from prototype to professional portal, suitable to be promoted to end-users The release focuses on: End user features – virtual exhibitions, mobile access, timeline, improved search and retrieval 10 million objects and an upgraded content ingestion process Improved portal stability and robustness In autumn the release will be publicised and celebrated Roadshows in different countries Virtual exhibition themed around each roadshow host country

Objectives of the release activities Primary: To create awareness of Europeana’s brand and benefits amongst end-users, content providers, funders and policy makers To drive traffic to Secondary: To strengthen the relationships between the Europeana group of projects and the partners in the network To engage media, blogging and twittering attention

Elements of the release activities: on site, off site, off line Off line Roadshow events Virtual exhibition Social media On site Off site

The roadshows Events in c.8 different EU countries 3 events in October, November and December 2010 Further events in 2011 Managed by local partners in the country Either making use of existing events or as single one-off special events Reaching end-users directly where possible through launch events, the virtual exhibitions and web 2.0 Reach end-users indirectly via press and web 2.0

Local partners… Offer a venue and/or a time slot in existing event Work with the Europeana office to organise the event Support the event at an operational level Co-ordinate the local/national network of partners in all the Europeana group of projects Help translate Europeana-produced communications material into the local language Work together to publicise and promote the event to target audiences Work with the national and local media to create publicity

Virtual exhibition: Art Nouveau / Jugendstil The design style appears in many European countries Covers architecture, painting, interior design, glass, sculpture, book illustration, fashion etc Highly decorative and attractive, with a popular and an academic following The majority of the material is out of copyright Europeana has significant Art Nouveau content

The art nouveau exhibition Numerous cities in which we might run roadshows have art nouveau / jugendstil buildings Each roadshow will have an exhibition track linked to it We will work with a professional exhibitions researcher, national experts and local partners to curate the exhibition The linking narrative will be in the languages of the host country and English

Web 2.0 activity Connecting to interest groups already existing in social media Linking to local roadshow partners and to our virtual exhibitions Participation: polling, surveys, favourites and guest curators Potential to work with these communities to develop User Generated Content projects next year Get input for future online events

Europeana’s next steps Works with local partner to design event and exhibition Organises digital space and functionality Provides promotional and presentation materials for the event Provides a speaker if appropriate Works with local expert on the exhibition Promotes the local partners in web 2.0 and onsite

We are talking to several partners about roadshows: Belgium – Presidency event Germany National Library and also EFG about Berlin Film Festival Poland – Athena conference Estonia Bulgarian Ministry of Culture France Italy Hungary Sweden

Call to action To suggest events or offer to host a roadshow contact the Rhine activities organiser Thank you Questions?