Interwoven Powers Virtual Renovation at Amsterdam's World-Renowned Rijksmuseum

Interwoven MediaBin Makes High-Quality Images Available Museum-Wide and Around
the World

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- As art lovers,
researchers, and other members of the art community explore new ways to
connect with works of art, no world-class museum can limit its thinking to
physical buildings, exhibitions, and in-person visits. For the Rijksmuseum, a
sweeping renovation project of its Amsterdam location provided the impetus to
build a new, virtual online museum that makes its collections and related
resources readily available to museum staff, the 1.1 million annual visitors
to its facilities, and to the entire global art community.
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While the actual pieces in its collections are some of the most valuable
assets of any museum in the world, digital images of these works of art play
an equally vital role in the institution's work. "Images touch everything we
do in our organization including planning exhibitions and curating our
collections, developing publications, new media, research, marketing, and
retail shop merchandise," explained Rob Hendriks, IT manager at Rijksmuseum.
Until recently, though, the museum's staff had to grapple with manual
processes that made it difficult to effectively access and manage the
high-quality, color-corrected images needed for both traditional media and new
channels such as printing-on-demand, video and audio podcasting, and rich Web
2.0 content. "It took a lot of people and a lot of work to create and deliver
even a single approved image," said Hendriks.
To make more efficient use of the richness and diversity of its
collections, the Rijksmuseum set out to create a digital archive of
high-quality images, complemented by complete capabilities for digital asset
management, collaboration, and integration with other museum systems. For the
public, the archive will form the basis for an online virtual museum worthy of
one of Europe's great art institutions. Said Hendriks, "People will be able to
enjoy a more personalized experience of our collections, whether by creating
their own tours prior to a visit or exploring our collections from home via
the Web."
Howard Goldstein, vice president of the Center for Digital Imaging, a
leading provider of digital imaging and information systems for the arts,
worked with the Rijksmuseum to implement Interwoven MediaBin, an
industry-leading digital asset management (DAM) solution. Said Goldstein, "The
works currently on display represent only a small fraction of any museum's
resources. Interwoven MediaBin will make it simple for staff members anywhere
in the museum to quickly find, use, and publish both images of the museum's
collections as well as any related content, including papers and artist
interviews, historical images and records, event listings, and other visitor
information."
With the Rijksmuseum's digital archive nearing completion, the formerly
cumbersome, paperwork-intensive process for obtaining an image from the
museum's collection will become a simple matter of point-and-click. An
official, color-corrected master image will be rendered by Interwoven MediaBin
in the appropriate resolution and format for the situation, whether to
accompany an article in a print publication, aid a scholar's research, or
grace a coffee mug in the Rijksmuseum gift shop. Said Hendriks, "The quality
of our images is very important for the way we represent our collection. In
the past, we've had too many substandard images see the light of day. Now,
Interwoven MediaBin will ensure the best possible results."
Faster workflows will also help the Rijksmuseum speed its marketing
programs, which play an important role in generating revenue through increased
attendance as well as raising the museum's profile in the art community to
attract contributions of both funds and artworks.
"Museums understand that their digital capabilities are just as important
as their physical facilities for managing their collections, reaching a global
audience, and serving their many constituencies throughout the arts
community," said Seth Rosenblatt, vice president of Web Solutions product
marketing at Interwoven. "The Rijksmuseum's digital archive will help them
make more of their collections available, in more ways, to a wider audience,
and help redefine the way museums and their visitors interact in the digital
age."
The implementation of the Rijksmuseum's digital archive is being managed
by Panoptic, an Interwoven partner based in Antwerp. Panoptic has used
technology from speakTECH to integrate Interwoven MediaBin with the Microsoft
SharePoint portal, making it possible for staff members to use SharePoint
forms to request images and track the fulfillment of their requests.
A connector to the museum's curatorial system will automate the addition
of metadata to each image as it is added to the Interwoven MediaBin
repository. Links to existing systems for customer relationship management
(CRM) and finance will simplify and automate order fulfillment and billing, as
well as to aid cross-selling. "A customer who orders images may also be
interested in our other offerings, such as events, exhibitions, and courses,"
explained Hendriks.
"The solution we're providing for the Rijksmuseum allows its staff to
perform virtually any image-related task through the same SharePoint front-
end," said Wim Putzeys, managing consultant at Panoptic NV. "An overly
complicated system wouldn't be much better than the manual, paper-intensive
processes we're replacing; instead, we're giving them the simplicity and
convenience to get their work done quickly and efficiently."
Following a pilot project involving users from the Rijksmuseum's
curatorial, marketing, commercial, retail, and educational departments, the
digital archive is now being rolled out museum-wide. Artwork will be digitized
and added to the MediaBin repository at the rate of approximately 40,000
pieces per year.
Hendriks and his colleagues are eager to put the system to work, including
new initiatives from a new glossy magazine, to online video clips, to a widget
allowing people to place their favorite artworks on their computer desktop.
"There's a tremendous amount of enthusiasm among the staff," he said. "And the
other large museums in Europe we speak with are paying close attention as
well. It has taken time for our field to determine the best ways to harness
digital technology, but I believe our project will provide a useful example
for others to follow."
About Interwoven MediaBin
Interwoven MediaBin is the market-leading digital asset management product
that enables marketing teams to deliver a more consistent customer experience
by effectively managing, distributing, and publishing thousands of
customer-facing digital assets used to promote products and brands
About the Rijksmuseum
The Rijksmuseum is one of the most prestigious museums in the world. The
collection -- which includes major works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Jan Steen,
Frans Hals and other masters from the Golden Age -- annually attracts more
than a million visitors from all over the world. Now that the main building is
closed until 2012/13 while it undergoes a radical renovation, the Rijksmuseum
is concentrated on the completely new layout of the Philips Wing.
About the Center for Digital Imaging
The Center for Digital Imaging, Inc. (CDI) is a leading resource for
digital imaging solutions. The firm focuses on traditional image quality and
productivity. A unique background in all aspects of digital imaging and
information systems allows CDI's clients to take full advantage of strategies
for capture, viewing, organization, manipulation, and distribution of digital
assets without sacrificing quality or creativity. For more information, please
visit www.cdiny.com.
About Panoptic
Panoptic develops content management solutions for private and public
sector organizations. We improve their operational efficiency and regulatory
compliance by optimizing the content flow across enterprise applications to
employees, partners and customers. A talented team of developers and
consultants combines technical expertise and a strong end-user focus to
streamline content-driven business processes across the value chain and
develop the IT solutions to support them. Panoptic is an independently owned
firm located in Kontich (Antwerp). It offers end-to-end services for the
development and support of enterprise content management solutions based on
proprietary, open source and custom tools. For more information on how we can
help you turn enterprise content overload into a value source, visit
www.panoptic.biz.
About Interwoven
Interwoven, Inc. (Nasdaq: IWOV) is a global leader in content management
solutions. Interwoven's software and services enable organizations to maximize
online business performance and organize, find, and govern business content.
Interwoven solutions unlock the value of content by delivering the right
content to the right person in the right context at the right time. Nearly
4,400 of the world's leading companies, professional services firms, and
governments have chosen Interwoven, including adidas, Airbus, Amnesty
International USA, Avaya, BT, Cisco, Citi, Delta Air Lines, DLA Piper, FedEx,
Grant Thornton, Hilton Hotels, HKMP LLP, Hong Kong Trade and Development
Council, HSBC, LexisNexis, MasterCard, Microsoft, Samsung, Shell, Sky Italia,
Qantas Airways, Tesco, Virgin Mobile, and White & Case. A community of over
20,000 developers and over 300 partners enrich and extend Interwoven's
offerings. To learn more about Interwoven, please visit www.interwoven.com.
SOURCE Interwoven, Inc.

Randy Cairns, Interwoven, Inc., +1-408-953-7111, rcairns@interwoven.com; or
Miriam Blackwell, WaggenerEdstrom, +1-512-527-7029,
miriamb@waggeneredstrom.com