EBird (case study)
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OVERVIEW
eBird was chosen by Ithaka as a case study in Sustainability to demonstrate a real world example of a theoretical business model. These business models were outlined in the initial report by Kevin Guthrie, Rebecca Griffiths and Nancy Maron, Sustainability and Online Revenue Models: An Ithaka Report (May 2008).
Background
The project is open access, and is funded through payouts from an endowment and revenue from a sponsorship and customised software licensing. When eBird launched in 2003, it was heavily focused on the needs of the scientists who would eventually use the aggregated data submitted by eBird’s users. When the rate of submitted observations reached a plateau, the eBird project undertook a shift in strategy to focus on the needs of the users who submit data. Three new project co-managers were hired from within the bird watching community and were charged with implementing changes that would attract birders to the site. By creating functions to allow birders to compile and share lists and maps of their bird sightings and seeking out ways to engage birders more actively, the number of observations submitted to eBird increased substantially.
This case study highlights the importance of attending to user needs, and to thinking about how best to exploit the needs of different audiences: in the case of eBird, a two-sided “market” of birding enthusiasts and academic researchers existed, but only one side was initially targeted. In addition, the eBird project has successfully monetised their open access project by licensing on-site kiosks and customised versions of the portal software to nature centres and wildlife societies—and these ‘franchising’ projects, in turn, help eBird reach new audiences.
[[role::strategy manager]] [[role::policy maker]] [[role::project manager]] [[role::content manager]] [[role::acquisitions manager]] [[goal::managing]] [[goal::planning]] [[level::basic]] [[level::medium]]
