Monday, February 25, 2013

Jonathan Munar, Introduction

Very sorry for pitching in such a late introduction, but reading those that have already been published makes me very excited to be a part of this group.

I am the Director of Digital Media and Strategy at Art21, responsible for the organization’s overall presence on the Web and other digital platforms. This includes: our own websites (art21.org and pbs.org/art21); our overall social media presence; and future projects that involve mobile devices or other digital platforms. I joined Art21 in 2008, having previously spent 7 years in the Website Department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Art21 is a New York-based nonprofit whose mission is to inspire a more creative world through the works and words of contemporary artists, which, among other outlets, is accomplished primarily through video content. We are most known for our flagship PBS-broadcast series, Art in the Twenty-First Century.

Aside from the occasional series of promotional videos, my role in Art21’s video efforts come largely after a video is produced. Typically, I focus on: presentation; discovery; generating related sub-assets (images, quotes, resources, etc.); promotion; and distribution. With video as Art21’s primary content asset, my responsibilities are to develop rich Web features and experiences around video content. My focus is to use video content as a starting point—and centerpiece—of our Web initiatives, with the goals of generating new interest, inspiration, dialogue, and contemplation about the art and artists featured in our videos.

Our success is more measured in the quality of our videos views over quantity. 100 "only-a-few-seconds" views are less meaningful to us as 10 full (or near full) video views. In that regard, I have a large interest in creating compelling experiences that encourage full video views, and would be interested in discussing methods for gathering and analyzing viewer data as it pertains specifically to the type of content that we all create.

Over the last year, I grew a large interest in overcoming language barriers with Art21 video content. To that end, we launched the Art21 Translation Project in January 2013, in partnership with Amara and modeled largely after the TED Open Translation Project. The Art21 Translation Project relies on the efforts of volunteer translators to help grow access to Art21 videos across audiences beyond English speakers, while at the same time creating opportunities to generate dialogue about the ideas presented in our videos.

Finally, I have an interest in developing media-rich Web experiences built largely around HTML5 and related toolsets—for example, as seen in recent features for the New York Times and Pitchfork, and even, to a certain extent, the Met’s 82nd and 5th project.

Very much looking forward to continuing this dialogue here and in person throughout the year. Museums and the Web and/or AAM Annual Meeting, anyone?

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jonathan-
    When I came to the Tang Museum in 2009, the Director at the time showed my Art21's website and said "I want you to make videos like this." Its great to meet ( at least virtually ) some of the folks behind it all.

    I'm 100% in agreement about creating compelling experiences and keeping the visitor there for the entire story, to make it engaging enough for them to want to stay there.

    Hope to meet you for real at MW2013 in Portland!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Vickie brings up an interesting thought I had recently about what the standards or practices are for museum video production. Honestly I think that everyone looks to Art 21 as the model for production and I wonder if you have thoughts about how Art 21 started in defining their style and what you think about being the best practices model that folks strive for.

    Looking forward to MW2013!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.