Meet the Team: Elena Villaespesa

Digital Media Analyst Elena Villaespesa (center) and Karen Plemons of the Education Department (right) performed a quick survey with Museum visitors in the Great Hall this summer.

«One of our newest team members is Digital Media Analyst Elena Villaespesa, who joined the Met earlier this year. In this recently created role, Elena will establish and oversee an analytics program to monitor and assess departmental channels, platforms, and programs. She'll also conduct user research and develop reports to understand the fluctuations in data and identify trends and opportunities to optimize the department's (and the Museum's) digital projects. Elena plans to write about her work for Digital Underground, and she agreed to answer a few questions by way of introduction.»

Eileen Willis: How did you first become interested in analytics and museums?

Elena Villaespesa: When I finished my degree in business administration I worked in finance for two years. Since I always had a passion for art, I decided that I wanted to do something more creative, so I earned an M.A. in Arts Management and I ended up producing digital projects for museums. After I worked on EducaThyssen, the education site of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, I became very interested in analyzing the impact of the site on users. That was when I started my love affair with Google Analytics.

Eileen Willis: What are the most common kinds of questions that museums are looking to answer with data and metrics?

Elena Villaespesa: Museums are required to justify both their private and public funding, and also to demonstrate the economic and social impact they have on society. The analysis of top-level statistics is normally used for this purpose. However, there has been a shift in what to measure within the culture and practice of museum evaluation, moving the focus from accountability and outputs to evaluating outcomes, impact, and intrinsic value.

Eileen Willis: Can you describe some specific projects that you undertook in your previous jobs?

Elena Villaespesa: When I was at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum back in 2007, I started some of the social media profiles they now update on a daily basis. The impact of distributing the museum content on these sites was quite impressive. Some of the art technique videos we put on YouTube got half a million views, while on the museum's own website they were only getting a few dozen views. Since then, I have always been very interested in the usage of social media and the creation of participatory projects in museums.

As a Digital Analyst at Tate one of my research projects focused on getting a better understanding of the motivations and usage of the website, especially the online collection. That resulted in the creation of a "website visits" segmentation that gave us a common shared language to talk about our users internally and embed an audience-centered approach to create and improve the digital experiences we offered.

I learned a lot evaluating different digital projects at the Tate. Probably the one I had the most fun with was the 1840s GIF Party project. The quality of the GIFs submitted was astonishing, and so was the way the collection traveled on Tumblr, as thousands of people shared the GIFs across the network.

Eileen Willis: I know you're also finishing your doctoral dissertation. Can you talk a little bit about that work?

Elena Villaespesa: I am doing my Ph.D. at the School of Museum Studies, University of Leicester. My research is about how museums can measure the impact and value of their social media activities. Based on business models, I am developing an evaluation framework that museums can use to define and measure their social media strategies. All of the fieldwork is done, so now it's time for the write-up. I hope to finish this year!

One of Elena's goals is to look at the Met's audiences in a more holistic way. Creating a visual "dashboard" with different metrics has already helped her communicate that idea throughout the Museum.

Eileen Willis: Digital Analyst is a new position for the Met. How do you see it fitting into the larger picture for both the department and the Museum?

Elena Villaespesa: The volume of digital activity at the Museum is huge, and there is a good level of reporting done by different team members. I hope my role will help look at our audiences in a more holistic way connecting the different digital touch points in the user journey. For that purpose, I see my role working very closely with other colleagues across the organization who are doing research and working with data, for instance, Market Research, Education, Membership, and the Store, among others.

Eileen Willis: How do you see this type of analysis being integrated into museum work, not just at the Met but in the field in general?

Elena Villaespesa: I think that in the same way that more and more staff members have a Twitter account or update their content on the website, there will be an increased understanding and use of digital analytics tools across the organization. During my first six months, I've met people in various departments—such as Marketing, Membership, Thomas J. Watson Library, and Education—and everyone is interested in getting digital metrics reports and understanding who their "digital" audiences are. Therefore, I believe that data literacy will increase in museums and museums will become even more audience focused.

Eileen Willis: You are originally from Madrid, then you moved to London, and now New York. Which city is your favorite so far? (Hint: There is a right answer!)

Elena Villaespesa: Although I miss Madrid, living in New York is a dream come true. I really love this city, its energy, its diversity. It's a very special place and it also feels like home because I can speak Spanish all the time! I am discovering new places every day, so please feel free to add any suggestions in the comments.

In addition to contributing posts to Digital Underground, Elena will continue to publish findings on her own blog, artsmetrics.com (available in English and Spanish).

Follow Elena on Twitter: @elenustika