Michael Edson: Prototyping the Smithsonian Commons

Prototyping theSmithsonian Commons
Michael Edson
Director, Web and New Media Strategy
Smithsonian Institution, Office of the CIO
edsonm@si.edu | @mpedson

Prototyping theSmithsonian Commons
Note: I’m going to skipa lot of these slides as I
present this!
(But I it’s all online for reference)
Michael Edson

Smithsonian Commons PrototypeOverture

Story 1: Visitor (Smithsonian Commons Prototype)
http://www.si.edu/commons/prototype(coming soon)

Story 2: Teacher (Smithsonian Commons Prototype)

Story 3: Millennial (Smithsonian Commons Prototype)

Story 4: Enthusiast (Smithsonian Commons Prototype)

Smithsonian Strategic Plan

http://www.si.edu/about/
Four Grand Challenges
Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough

http://www.si.edu/about/
Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe
Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet
Valuing World Cultures
Understanding the American Experience

Strategy Schmatergy! We’ve seen strategy before!
A GenericHumbug

No! This is about solving big hairy problems— ”work that matters” (via @timoreilly)
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-fir.html
Strategy Schmatergy! We’ve seen strategy before!
A GenericHumbug

Empower citizen-scholars!
Blend assets w. new technology!

Solve big complex problems!
Interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships!

Interdisciplinary
Collaborative
Entrepreneurial

“Innovative informal education” !!!

“Use our vast resources for the public good in the midst of unceasing change”

c
This is big, audacious, important stuff.
This is work!
This is relevance earned through a job well done.

First order questions

First order questions
Where is this work going to take place?
What kind of organization, infrastructure, platforms will be needed to support it?
What is the organizational change model? How will change happen? What will it look like?
Who will be the innovators? The connectors? The drivers of change?

My workplace, like so many others,is deeply conflictedabout these questions.

Chris AndersonFree, the Future of a Radical Price

“I found that the idea you could create a huge global economy around a base price of zero was invariably polarizing”
From the introduction to Free

Duh!

Duh!
Huh!?

Thermocline(a metaphor)
Duh!
Huh!?

Stratified water temperature acts as a barrier

Knowledge, communication,
action models are different
Management
Practitioners

Messages get distorted, lost

Thermocline Issues define the change environment and explain why strategy is needed (and why, for us, the commons is such an important idea)

Urgency
Thermocline Issues
Complacency
John P. Kotter, A Sense of Urgency

In exchange for public
funds and public trust,museums should
do workfor society
Thermocline Issues
Museums are for…
What could you accomplish with
$1b /year for 50 years?

Institutions built onthe model of
social entrepreneurship:
Think Big,Start SmallMove Fast
Thermocline Issues
Institutions built onthe model ofenduring wisdom*
We can move slowlybecause wisdom endures
*Via Peter Schwartz, GBN

Thermocline Issues
Focus on innovation/
discovery inside the Institution
Catalyze innovation/
discovery
outside the institution
Joy’s Law: no matter
who you are, most of
The smartest people
work for someone else

Thermocline Issues
The most interestingecosystems arein “border habitats”between the two
You can managetechnology and content
separately

Thermocline Issues
“There’s no such thing
as social media, it’s just
doing stuff with a
Computer. Everyone
go to bed.”
Fixation on superficialaspects of Web 2.0
and Social Media

Thermocline Issues
The Web is a
fundamentally new
way of getting
things done
The Web is
a bigger megaphone

Thermocline Issues
“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

Thermocline Issues
Build an ascendant brandby“doing work that matters”
Make money, now
“Once [the Smithsonian] has increased user base 100x or more, many other possibilities open”
Carl Malamud
Public.resource.org
Tim O’Reillyhttp://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-fir.html

Thermocline Issues
The Desktop Internet
3.5 Billionmobile subscribers

Thermocline Issues
The Desktop Internet
3.5 Billionmobile subscribers
Moore’s Law means
these things will be 20X
More powerful in a few years...
It’s going to get FREAKY!

Gardeningchange model*Build a platform &cultivate Web 2.0
as a way of thinkingabout work
Thermocline Issues
Manufacturingchange model
“Lets Build Product Xand be done with it”
* Via Josh Greenberg, NYPL

Every user is a
hero
In their ownepic journey
Thermocline Issues
Provide services
to passive audiences

Myths/misconceptions about the relevance, reach, and impact of traditional models

Myths/misconceptions about the relevance, reach, and impact of traditional models
(See Imagining a Smithsonian Commons)
- Text w. links and footnotes: http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/cil-2009-michael-edson-text-version
- PowerPoint: http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/cil-2009-michael-edson-powerpoint
- Ustream (from CIL 2009): http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1327813

“Most organizations don’t getserious about strategy untilthey are afraid or in pain”
Leo Mulen, CEONavigation Arts

Hey!We wrote aWeb and New MediaStrategy!!!

Hey!We made aWeb and New MediaStrategy!!!

Smithsonian 2.0 Conference

Process: Workshops to Wiki

Process at-a-glance
“The main intent of the workshops is to move relevant information to the wiki where it can be openly evaluated, sifted, weighed, and considered by all.”

As participants are speaking, what they’re saying is being typed and saved on a public wiki

“What I say really matters (because I know it will be seen/heard after the meeting ends)”

“Not everything that matters will get said in the next hour by the people in this room. The wiki encourages thoughtful synthesis and new ideas”

The Wiki becomes the strategy

Very important slide!
The advantages of public, transparent, and fast
Faster than traditional committee-driven process (Time is the enemy)
Increase size of brain trust (Joy’s Law)
Improve the odds for change
Improve odds for execution (public promises not easily forgotten)
Outside champions more likely to support “commons” goals than status-quo insiders
Walking the Talk vis-à-vis crowdsourcing and innovation model
“You get what you practice”

Very important slide!
The advantages of public, transparent, and fast
Faster than traditional committee-driven process (Time is the enemy)
Increase size of brain trust (Joy’s Law)
Improve the odds for change
Improve odds for execution (public promises not easily forgotten)
Outside champions more likely to support “commons” goals than status-quo insiders
Walking the Talk vis-à-vis crowdsourcing and innovation model
“You get what you practice”
More in Fast, Open, and Transparent: developing the Smithsonian’s Web and New Media Strategyhttp://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/michael-edson-the-smithsonian-web-and-new-media-strategy-what-it-is-how-we-made-it-and-why-it-makes-a-difference-3656578
and
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2010/papers/edson/edson.html

Web & New Media Strategy Structure
Three Themes
Update the Smithsonian Digital Experience
Update the Smithsonian Learning Model
Balance Autonomy and Control within SI
Eight Goals
External Mission
Brand
Learning
Audience
Internal Interpretation
Technology
Business Model
Governance
Each Goal has specific program, policy, and tactical recommendations

How the strategy attacks the challenge points

Update the Digital Experience
Urgency
“We are like a retail chain that has desirable and unique merchandise but requires its customers to adapt to dramatically different or outdated idioms of signage, product availability, pricing, and check-out in every aisle of each store. This needs to be addressed to realize the full potential of the Smithsonian’s digital initiatives.”

Update the Learning Model
Urgency
“This strategy is based on the growing understanding of learning as a hybrid of formal education and self-directed discovery that can be brought together and enhanced by online tools and communities…. that allow our audiences to be our partners in the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

Balance Autonomy and Control
Urgency
“The expertise and accomplishments of unit-based staff, however, need to be supported and enhanced by an internal commons of shared tools, services, and standards.”

1. Mission
Urgency
“Once on the fringe of institutional and public awareness, Web and New Media initiatives are now considered to be a critical part of the Institution’s core activities and future: They need to be funded and managed accordingly.”

2. Brand
Changing role of Institutions
“Shift the Smithsonian brand voice away from attributes of institutional/omnipotent/ authoritarian towards attributes of individuality/ relevance/passion for learning.”

3. Learning
New model of knowledge creation
“The emergence of a new class of learning techniques—built on a foundation of broad and unrestricted access to information, social sharing, creativity, play, and participatory learning—supplement [standard learning] protocols and enable vast new audiences to use the Smithsonian as one part of their lifelong learning journeys”

4. Audience
Denographic Tsunami
“The online experience must become more interactive and able to facilitate ongoing dialogues between the Smithsonian and its users to ensure the continuing relevance of the Institution, particularly to digitally attuned audiences.”

5. Interpretation
New collaborative models
“Web and New Media technologies are crucial to the Smithsonian’s core research activities and to the wide collaborations that must occur among geographically distant participants…”

6. Technology
New ways of working
“Many of the menial or difficult tasks performed by unit Web and New Media teams—and the public—can be served by a unified Smithsonian platform, and the development of a shared platform, over time, will allow data, ideas, e-commerce, and collaboration to flow across institutional boundaries in ways that are not possible in the current decentralized model.”

7. Business Model
Social entrepreneurship
“The Smithsonian’s basic business model is to create social and economic value through the increase and diffusion of knowledge…Ultimately, the most valuable business asset we can cultivate—and the one that is most fundamental to our core mission—is a community of engaged and committed Smithsonian enthusiasts.”

8. Governance
Urgency
“Successful governance and leadership are the keys to accomplishing any of the goals in this strategic plan..”

The Smithsonian Commons
The whole shebang!
“The Smithsonian Commons will be a special part of our digital presence dedicated to the free and unrestricted sharing of Smithsonian resources and encouraging new kinds of learning and creation through interaction with Smithsonian research, collections, and communities.”

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/

The strategy talks about an updated digital experience, a new learning model that helps people with their "lifelong learning journeys," and the creation of a Smithsonian Commons—a new part of our digital presence dedicated to stimulating learning, creation, and innovation through open access to Smithsonian research, collections and communities.
http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/

What is a Commons?
A set of resources maintained in the public sphere for the use and benefit of everyone

What is a Commons?

What is a Commons?
The Anti-Commons…

What is a Commons?
An organized workshop where raw materials can be found and assembled into new things.

What is a Commons?
Imagining a Smithsonian Commons
http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/cil-2009-michael-edson-text-version
Museum Commons: A professional interaction
http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/museum-commons-a-professional-interaction-museums-and-the-web-2010-michael-edson-and-rich-cherry

How do we talk about this?

What does this mean for staff and users?

What does this mean for staff and users?
A lot of new ideas for sr. decision makers to unpack

Let’s Build a Prototype!
Huh?

What’s a Prototype?
An audio-visual presentation that shows the attributes of a fully completed Smithsonian Commons as seen through the eyes of our users.

What’s a Prototype?
Push / pull between understanding what this thing is and understanding how to sell it

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com

The Smithsonian Commons Will…
http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Experience+Brief+-+Addendum+-+The+Smithsonian+Commons+Will

Conceptual Development: “Low Rez” Wireframes

Conceptual Development: Paper Prototypes

“Experience Brief”
http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Smithsonian+Commons+Prototype

Outlines four stories
Museum Visitor
4th Grade Teacher
Millennial
Enthusiast / Citizen Scientist

The “flow” of the storyline is described

Which outcomes/benefits for are illustrated

Key themes shown in this story

…Functionality of the Commons that is demonstrated

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Experience+Brief+-+Mockup+of+Prototype+Home+Page
Prototype Home Page Mockup

http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Experience+Brief+-+Mockup+of+Prototype+Home+Page
Prototype Home Page Mockup
These stories need pictures/content!

Asset Research

Asset Research
Commons/Strategy Hypothesis 1If we encourage reuse of our materials we can catalyze amazing discovery/ innovation/ creativity
Commons/Strategy Hypothesis 2We have some amazing stuff that’s isolated on deep content pages: if we can do the aggregation and curation in a web 2.0 platform we will have something remarkable to show

Hirshhorn online catalog page

Prototype depiction of same sculpture

Found on Flickr!

We are one part of people’s heroic journey

People can’t stop taking pictures and “connecting”

Hirshhorn online catalog page

Flickr

Dramatic, multiple perspectives

Flickr search for “Hirshhorn Sculpture”
WOW! It just goes on and on!

Crab Nebula on Smithsonian Astro. Observatory site

Commons prototype “Space & Time with Tom”

Based on “Tom’s Astronomy Blog”

Found: Google Sky mashup of the Crab Nebula
link from http://googlemapsmania.blogspot.com/2009/01/out-of-this-world-google-maps.html

Our rendition of the mashup

OMG! Our stuff on Flickr Commons!

Rich, connected, compelling

Amazing things at the Smithsonian

You could never see this kind of cross-collection compilation

Many of these pictures are from Flickr because of quality, resolution, and intellectual property problems on SI sites

Smithsonian content can provide a real 360-degree portrait

(Theodore Roosevelt search
Results from commons prototype)
Smithsonian sites rarely show collections, expertise, programs, research, and community content side-by-side

Smithsonian sites rarely show collections, expertise, programs, research, and community content side-by-side

si.edu search results

Flickr search for “Smithsonian ‘Theodore Roosevelt’”

Using Google’s “site:” syntax to find things on SI.EDU related to “Theodore Roosevelt”

OMG! We’ve got audio recordings of Theodore Roosevelt

http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=1086

Asset Research
Commons/Strategy Hypothesis 1If we encourage reuse of our materials we can catalyze amazing discovery/ innovation/ creativity
Commons/Strategy Hypothesis 2We have some amazing stuff that’s isolated on deep content pages: if we can do the aggregation and curation in a web 2.0 platform we will have something remarkable to show

Asset Research
Through asset research for the Commons prototype, we found amazing “hidden” assets throughout Smithsonian Web sites, and amazing content created with/from Smithsonian resources by YOU, our amazing customers.

(Asset inventory documents are on Scribd at
http://www.scribd.com/mpedson )

What makes the Smithsonian Commons different than just a good Web site?

The Attributes of the Smithsonian Commons

Vast
Anyone in the world can have access to the whole Smithsonian, including access to deep collections and the vitality, curiosity, and creativity of our staff, visitors, partners, and our extended global community. The Smithsonian is at the center of an amazing network of ideas, collections, and people. No other institution can offer so much to so many.

Findable
Through the Smithsonian Commons the vastness of the Smithsonian can be discovered because search, navigation, and the overall user experience is about helping people to find the content they’re interested in, in the ways they expect to find it, including through recommendations and comments by staff experts - - and visitors - - external search sites, and social networks.

Shareable
Sharing is the foundation of collaboration and learning. The Smithsonian’s impact can be greatly amplified if what we have and what we do is easy to share. The Smithsonian Commons is about catalyzing creativity and innovation by encouraging the use and re-use of our collections and expertise for work and pleasure, in social networks, on mobile phones, and in the classroom, workshop, and laboratory.

Free
The Smithsonian is built on the idea that the tools of discovery and knowledge creation should be available to all, and the Smithsonian Commons will be built on the idea that free, trusted, high-quality resources can create a lot of good in the world…

12 characteristics of a commons
From Museum Commons, a Professional Interaction
(with Rich Cherry, Balboa Park)
http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/museum-commons-a-professional-interaction-museums-and-the-web-2010-michael-edson-and-rich-cherry
and
http://www.archimuse.com/mw2010/papers/edson-cherry/edson-cherry.html

12 characteristics of a commons
Federated
Designed for users
Findable
Shareable
Reusable
Free
Bulk Download
Machine Readable
High Resolution
Collaboration w/o control
Network effects
Public Domain

Art is the lie that helps ustell the truth
Pablo Picasso
The prototype…

Thank you!
Michael Edson

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