Digital Drivers - Emily Allen

May 22, 2007

Emily Allen
Digital Media Group Director
Smithsonian Publishing

Emily Allen began her career in the interactive space in 1999, serving as the Director of Product Management for Real Media in both San Francisco and New York. Most recently, she was at Time Inc. as the Online Manager for Golf's website. She left that post last year to join Smithsonian Publishing, whose properties include Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines and their websites, www.smithsonianmagazine.com and www.airspacemag.com.

Q. The announcement of your arrival last year indicated there would soon be exclusive web content and expanded video capabilities on your revamped websites. Can you talk about the kinds of editorial and video content you're planning to add?

A. At this point, we're producing a fair amount of exclusive web content. We have web editors in place and the magazine staff often contributes. We've also identified and launched new interactive features, such as games and trivia, forums and blogs, as well as regular web departments, photo essays and the like. We publish web content using an architecture built for infrequent updates, nor does it offer design or template flexibility. We're in the process of a major redesign and we will be migrating to a new content management system that will allow us the flexibility to produce good web content and better react to the evolving digital environment. That includes a more robust video offering.  We're planning to add several significant features in the coming months, focusing primarily on travel, the environment and science.

Q. What areas of your Smithsonianmagazine.com and Airspacemag.com websites account for the heaviest traffic?

A. The reader Scrapbook, a relatively new feature that invites readers/visitors to submit aviation photos, is very popular right now on Airspacemag.com.  Also, the videos tend to generate a significant amount of traffic as well. Smithsonianmag.com's web-only articles do very well, especially historical pieces, anything to do with ancient civilizations and archeology and the environment.

Q. What are the most popular stories on each website right now?

A. Smithsonian's 2007 Destination America special section is currently very popular, as is "Beyond Jamestown," a piece published in the May issue of Smithsonian about John Smith's exploration throughout the Chesapeake Bay. On Airspacemag.com, we have an Amelia Earhart article up now that explores America's obsession with her. 

Q. How long are the video segments on Airspacemag.com and Smithsonianmagazine.com on average?

A. Video length ranges from 30 seconds to five minutes.   

Q. Do you anticipate adding video commercials to your sites as well? Any timetable on that?

A. As soon as possible. There is obviously a lot of demand.

Q. Have you been using focus groups as you map out the new online elements?

A. We rely on in-house surveys and panels and will continue to integrate user testing throughout the process and post-launch.

Q. Are there things you did at Golfonline.com that you can translate to your present position and duties?

A. Prior to my arrival here, there was no formal sales process in place with respect to the digital properties. I brought a lot of knowledge from the business side, creating the budget, establishing the sales process and integrated selling. Golfonline.com went through a couple of redesigns, so I'm no stranger to that.

Q. You're also planning user-contributed content, such as blogs and forums, plus online contributions from the editors of your magazines.

A. We launched an art blog and a science blog a few months ago—ARTiculations and TheGist—and they've been very popular. The editors will take a much larger role with blogs and podcasts. Some even shoot video for us while on assignment. The magazines' contribution is a very important element to our online success.

Q. You're overseeing Smithsonian Publishing's Internet business. But are you also involved to some degree in other iterations of the websites on other digital platforms, such as mobile?

A. I will be very involved in our mobile and other digital strategies, but we're not there yet.

Q. How would you describe the goSmithsonian.com site that was introduced in February 2007? How successful has that been to date?

A. goSmithsonian.com is an interactive guide to the Smithsonian Institution museums as well as a resource for visitors researching and planning their trip to D.C. The site has been very successful thus far. People are very engaged with the individual museum sections, which include timely information on events and exhibitions, interactive floor plans and shopping. But people are actually utilizing the site to book their hotels, search for local-area dining and so on.

Q. What's your favorite Smithsonian exhibit?

A. My current favorite is "Way of Seeing: John Baldessari Explores the Collections" at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.