Michael Edson: Culturemondo 2010 Digital Policy Roundtable Roundup

Culturemondo
RESPONSE
Picnic/Culture Mondo
Amsterdam
September 23-25, 2010
Digital Cultural Policy Workshop
Michael Edson
Director, Web and New Media Strategy
Smithsonian Institution, Office of the CIO
edsonm@si.edu | @mpedson

Hi Culturemondo!!!
http://www.culturemondo.org/
I’m Michael Edson
Smithsonian Institution
@mpedson

My job, and the subject of this 10-minute talk, is to give a brief and spontaneous reaction to today’s four presentations

Background: my projects
Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy
http://www.si.edu/commons/prototype
The Smithsonian Commonshttp://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com

!!! Instant Reactions !!!
We’re in an environment of withering political/social change
And “2.0” is offers us hope!
We don’t have cultural policy like yours in the USA! Kapow##!&@
Do you all agree on what “culture” means? I don’t think so
Axiom: Technology is obliterating traditional boundaries
My colleagues galvanized..
We’re, as a society, are going to have to thinkour way out of this mess…
Prerequisites for *any* of the change you want
Net neutrality fuels edge innovation
Different in USA, Europe, Asia…
Intellectual property policy is fundamental

Cathy Brickwood
Cathy asked: “what are the barriers to innovation?”
“…the things that stop good things from happening”
Program Manager at Virtueel Platform
It’s exactly the right question I think. Make a list and “crush it”

Frank Thinnes
My Observation: cultural portals push the boundaries of established relationships within government/society—that’s their value proposition
My Q: has the thinking (about the collaborative model, WCM, governance) moved from “portal” to “platform?” Will it move to “commons?”
Plurio.net, Culturemondo Steering Committee

Catherine Bunting
Catherine Said: "What does a vibrant cultural sector look like in the digital age?“
My question: Is this about attending the opera?
…Or
Is this about “100,000 garages” [ref Dale Dougherty]
…Or
… the death of traditional Institutions [“Andreessen’s advice to old media: “burn the boats”]
Director of Research at Arts Council England

Q: Do we need institutions anymore?“We are living in the middle of a remarkable increase in our ability to share, to cooperate with one another, and to take collective action, all outside the framework of traditional institutions and organization …Getting the free and ready participation of a large, distributed group with a variety of skills has gone from impossible to simple.”
Clay Shirky, in Here Comes Everybody

Q: Do you want .gov making the rules?
John Newbigin—the open platform debate.
(I’m interested in the difference that state media ownership makes in net neutrality issues. Old model U.S. media companies are shell shocked, is the BBC?)
The net neutrality debate in the us…
Also
"I have real concerns about this internet operating system. Do we want anyone to own it? If not, we'd better get busy.“
Tim O’Reilly, mySQL2010 keynote

A Demographic Tsunami
Are we thinking too narrowly about who the “cultural creators” are?
November 2007 data: Pew Internet and American Life Project

Sheamus Cassidy
European Commission, Education and Culture DG
Sheamus says “Big fear is that if arts/culture creativity are not more important in the 2020 policy we’ll…” be screwed (my words)
Sheamus talks about
“Principles, citizenship, andthe impact of ‘culture’ on society (paraphrase)
"the year 2020 strategy"
Smart, greener, inclusive growth
Q: what is the the economic/social value of culture
ME: let’s talk about Edge innovation!

...Things we could also talk about…
Think about Maker Culture/DIY movement.
Are your most important cultural innovators “under the radar” of established culture orgs/brands?
Who are the innovators in your systems?
Intellectual Property Policy REALLY MATTERS
Let’s get it right now, and move on.
Q: Why aren’t your customers/partners aren’t ready for API/services strategies? (Something Frank talked about)
Assertion: you need more clarity about who the customer is.
The mayor? The citizen? The content creator? The website visitor?
Lack of focus on this may be confusing your efforts
Assertion: you need to tell excruciating truths to power (you are a powerful bunch! But I’m guessing you probably have even more power within your bureaucracies than you realize)

Thanks!

http://www.labforculture.org	34
http://bosniart.com	26
http://virtueelplatform.nl	5
http://wwww.bosniart.com	2

Michael Edson: Culturemondo 2010 Digital Policy Roundtable Roundup

by Michael Edson on Sep 25, 2010

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