This document discusses the potential for museums to help innovators and creators ("makers") by providing open access to their collections, expertise, and communities through an online "commons." It notes that while museums celebrate human achievement in the past, they are often unable to support current innovation due to policies focused on physical collections and visitors rather than digital access. The emergence of new collaboration technologies calls for museums to share more resources openly online in order to stay relevant and impactful in a changing world. The Smithsonian is exploring a "commons" platform to stimulate learning and innovation by giving creators open access to its vast cultural and intellectual resources.
Sixteen years ago, American Libraries published Mark Y. Herring’s essay “Ten Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library” (April 2001). Technology has improved exponentially since then—social media didn’t even exist yet. But even the smartest phone’s intelligence is limited by paywalls, Twitter trolls, fake news, and other hazards of online life. Here are 10 reasons why libraries are still better than the internet.
1. Libraries are safer spaces.
2. Libraries respect history.
3. Librarians digitize influential primary sources.
4. Librarians are leaders in increasing online access to scholarly information.
5. Librarians are publishers.
6. Libraries host makerspaces.
7. Librarians can help you sort the real news from the fake.
8. Librarians guide you to exactly what you need.
9. Librarians do not track your reading or search history to sell you things.
10. Librarians do not censor.
LIBRARY
Is a collection of sources ofinformation and similar resources,made accessible to a definedcommunity for reference orborrowing
A library’s collection can include …
1. Books
2. Periodicals
3. Newspaper
4. Manuscript
5. Films
6. Maps
7. Document
8. CD
9. Cassettes
10. Videotapes
11. DVD
12. Blu-Ray Disc
13. E-books
14. Audio Books
Historically Speaking, Digital Humanities, EWallis July 2012Elycia Wallis
A presentation given at a Professional Historians Association, Historically Speaking session in Melbourne, Australia, July 2012.
The aim of this talk was to describe digital humanities to a group of professional historians who might have heard of the term, but not be active practitioners.
Keynote presentation delivered July 28, 2010
Handheld Librarian Online Conference III
www.handheldlibrarian.org
See slideshow: http://www.slideshare.net/lisacarlucci/risk-reality-the-mobile-revolution
Sixteen years ago, American Libraries published Mark Y. Herring’s essay “Ten Reasons Why the Internet Is No Substitute for a Library” (April 2001). Technology has improved exponentially since then—social media didn’t even exist yet. But even the smartest phone’s intelligence is limited by paywalls, Twitter trolls, fake news, and other hazards of online life. Here are 10 reasons why libraries are still better than the internet.
1. Libraries are safer spaces.
2. Libraries respect history.
3. Librarians digitize influential primary sources.
4. Librarians are leaders in increasing online access to scholarly information.
5. Librarians are publishers.
6. Libraries host makerspaces.
7. Librarians can help you sort the real news from the fake.
8. Librarians guide you to exactly what you need.
9. Librarians do not track your reading or search history to sell you things.
10. Librarians do not censor.
LIBRARY
Is a collection of sources ofinformation and similar resources,made accessible to a definedcommunity for reference orborrowing
A library’s collection can include …
1. Books
2. Periodicals
3. Newspaper
4. Manuscript
5. Films
6. Maps
7. Document
8. CD
9. Cassettes
10. Videotapes
11. DVD
12. Blu-Ray Disc
13. E-books
14. Audio Books
Historically Speaking, Digital Humanities, EWallis July 2012Elycia Wallis
A presentation given at a Professional Historians Association, Historically Speaking session in Melbourne, Australia, July 2012.
The aim of this talk was to describe digital humanities to a group of professional historians who might have heard of the term, but not be active practitioners.
Keynote presentation delivered July 28, 2010
Handheld Librarian Online Conference III
www.handheldlibrarian.org
See slideshow: http://www.slideshare.net/lisacarlucci/risk-reality-the-mobile-revolution
Makerspaces: a great opportunity to enhance academic libraries, Stellenbosch...Fers
Presentation at Stellenbosch University 14th Annual Library Symposium
Stellenbosch Institute for Advance Studies (STIAS)
November 3, 2016 – November 4, 2016
http://conferences.sun.ac.za/index.php/sulis_symp14/SUALS14
Shaping the academic library of the future: adapt, empower, partner, engage
The tradition of the Stellenbosch University Annual Library Symposium of being a platform for discussing new library and information services and developments will continue at the 14th Annual Library Symposium in November 2016. The discussion will be turned to the shaping of the academic library of the future. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of adapting to users’ needs, adapting to new roles as librarians, adapting as a library, empowerment of staff and clients and the importance of partnerships and engagement.
The theme is partly based on the recent OCLC report, Shaping the Library to the life of the user: adapting, empowering, partnering, engaging. In this report it becomes clear that “research and learning needs are changing. Higher education is reconfiguring. As a result of these massive changes, the library must pivot and adapt”. The following core themes are mentioned in this report: to empower users, to empower the library, form partnerships and to engage the campus community. The report advises libraries to be able to “move from offering a fixed set of services to a ‘constant beta’ mode of service evolution” .
Three different sessions will focus on the following themes, all related to the shaping of the academic library of the future:
Digital innovation: Topics of this session may include Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Research Data Management, Big Data, E-learning, Digital Humanities, Next Generation Systems.
Collaboration / Partnerships : Partnerships with OCLC, SANLIC and other consortia as well as other collaboration possibilities will be discussed.
The user experience: Academic staff, researchers and students of local universities will share their expectations as users of academic libraries.
Slides from keynote address to Australian Learning and Teaching Fellows Forum on 13th June 2013.
Acknowledge original use of title by http://blogs.sjsu.edu/today/2013/chronicle-of-higher-education-whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-mooc/
Presentation given for University of British Columbia Oct. 23, 2013 as part of Open Access Week.
Presentation explores open practices throughout society including education with a special focus on what freedoms openness brings and who is using those freedoms.
Modified version of slides used during a presentation given at Faculty Technology Day at Fordham 5/16/2011.
Please visit my protopage for handouts and additional resources:
http://www.protopage.com/ktreglia#Untitled/Social_Media_in_Education
Re-awakening the 'Peoples University' - the learning agenda opportunity to reinvigorate public libraries. Community, informal (outside formal academic institutions) and online learning is a growing, disruptive opportunity. Learning happens best where there is a ‘community’ of support and good learning spaces. Public libraries have an opportunity to thrive if they develop the right capabilities to deliver a compelling learning offer. Presented at the CILIP "Re-imaging Learning" Executive Briefing on 13th November 2014
Michael Edson @ Walker Art Center: What is a CommonsMichael Edson
annotated/footnoted talk given at the Walker Art Center's "Opening the Field" celebration in Minneapolis, MN, 6/2/2010. The talk goes through some of the reasons why the Smithsonian Commons project is important to accomplishing the Smithsonian's mission, and what the characteristics of a commons are or might be...
Text version of keynote for 2009 Visual Resources Association, "Imaging a Smithsonian Commons." See also PowerPoint version. NOTE: this content is in the public domain (I'm a federal employee) but SlideShare doesn't let me tag it that way.
Makerspaces: a great opportunity to enhance academic libraries, Stellenbosch...Fers
Presentation at Stellenbosch University 14th Annual Library Symposium
Stellenbosch Institute for Advance Studies (STIAS)
November 3, 2016 – November 4, 2016
http://conferences.sun.ac.za/index.php/sulis_symp14/SUALS14
Shaping the academic library of the future: adapt, empower, partner, engage
The tradition of the Stellenbosch University Annual Library Symposium of being a platform for discussing new library and information services and developments will continue at the 14th Annual Library Symposium in November 2016. The discussion will be turned to the shaping of the academic library of the future. Emphasis will be placed on the importance of adapting to users’ needs, adapting to new roles as librarians, adapting as a library, empowerment of staff and clients and the importance of partnerships and engagement.
The theme is partly based on the recent OCLC report, Shaping the Library to the life of the user: adapting, empowering, partnering, engaging. In this report it becomes clear that “research and learning needs are changing. Higher education is reconfiguring. As a result of these massive changes, the library must pivot and adapt”. The following core themes are mentioned in this report: to empower users, to empower the library, form partnerships and to engage the campus community. The report advises libraries to be able to “move from offering a fixed set of services to a ‘constant beta’ mode of service evolution” .
Three different sessions will focus on the following themes, all related to the shaping of the academic library of the future:
Digital innovation: Topics of this session may include Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Research Data Management, Big Data, E-learning, Digital Humanities, Next Generation Systems.
Collaboration / Partnerships : Partnerships with OCLC, SANLIC and other consortia as well as other collaboration possibilities will be discussed.
The user experience: Academic staff, researchers and students of local universities will share their expectations as users of academic libraries.
Slides from keynote address to Australian Learning and Teaching Fellows Forum on 13th June 2013.
Acknowledge original use of title by http://blogs.sjsu.edu/today/2013/chronicle-of-higher-education-whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-mooc/
Presentation given for University of British Columbia Oct. 23, 2013 as part of Open Access Week.
Presentation explores open practices throughout society including education with a special focus on what freedoms openness brings and who is using those freedoms.
Modified version of slides used during a presentation given at Faculty Technology Day at Fordham 5/16/2011.
Please visit my protopage for handouts and additional resources:
http://www.protopage.com/ktreglia#Untitled/Social_Media_in_Education
Re-awakening the 'Peoples University' - the learning agenda opportunity to reinvigorate public libraries. Community, informal (outside formal academic institutions) and online learning is a growing, disruptive opportunity. Learning happens best where there is a ‘community’ of support and good learning spaces. Public libraries have an opportunity to thrive if they develop the right capabilities to deliver a compelling learning offer. Presented at the CILIP "Re-imaging Learning" Executive Briefing on 13th November 2014
Michael Edson @ Walker Art Center: What is a CommonsMichael Edson
annotated/footnoted talk given at the Walker Art Center's "Opening the Field" celebration in Minneapolis, MN, 6/2/2010. The talk goes through some of the reasons why the Smithsonian Commons project is important to accomplishing the Smithsonian's mission, and what the characteristics of a commons are or might be...
Text version of keynote for 2009 Visual Resources Association, "Imaging a Smithsonian Commons." See also PowerPoint version. NOTE: this content is in the public domain (I'm a federal employee) but SlideShare doesn't let me tag it that way.
Imagining a Smithsonian Commons (text version)Michael Edson
Text of talk about the vision of a Smithsonian Commons. Given at the Gilbane Conference, Boston, 12/3/2008, and the Museum Computer Network in D.C., 11-13-2008. See accompanying PowerPoint presentation for the visuals. Note that this is not an official policy document, but is the author's thoughts about what *might* be in the Smithsonian's future.
This content is in the public domain (I'm a federal employee) but SlideShare doesn't let me tag it that way.
Update 7/8/2010: We've created a prototype of the Smithsonian Commons, http://www.si.edu/commons/prototype
Super-Successful GLAMs (Text version with notes)Michael Edson
Opening remarks for The Commons and Digital Humanities in Museums
Sponsored by the City University of New York Digital Humanities Initiative, November 28, 2012
Organized by Neal Stimler and Matt Gold, with Will Noel and Christina DePaolo.
http://cunydhi.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2012/11/07/wednesday-november-28-the-commons-and-digital-humanities-in-museums/
"Imagining a Smithsonian Commons" CIL 2009 Michael Edson (text version)Michael Edson
Text version of keynote presentation to 2009 Computers in Libraries conference. 4/1/09. See also supporting PowerPoint slides. This text is in the Public Domain. Video of me giving this presentation is at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1327813
Keynote for the Prague Platform on the Future of Cultural Heritage, convened by the European Commission, October 7-8, 2019. The Prague Platform talks about
“Enhanced digitally enabled cultural heritage participation for all citizens.”
But what do these words mean? And how might we approach them — as practitioners, communities, governments and institutions, and citizens?
Developers can use structured open data provided by museums to create new sites and apps for the general public, but can they help museums get to the point where the technology just works, data flows like water and our energy is focussed on the compelling stories museums can tell with the public?
Full text at http://openobjects.blogspot.com/2010/09/museums-meet-21st-century-opentech-2010.html
Michael Edson @ Brown University: Digital Strategy ThermoclineMichael Edson
The purpose of this presentation is to stimulate discussion around important issues in institutional digital strategy—just remember, these are generalizations and provocations: “the truth is in the middle."
For the Public Humanities Lunch, John Nicholas Brown Center for Public Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Brown University, November 18, 2009
Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts, for the Danish national museum ...Michael Edson
This talk was delivered at the awards ceremony for the 2012 Bikuben Foundation Danish Museum Prize in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ideas about what museums are, who they serve, and the role they play in society are changing with dramatic speed, driven largely by social media and the participatory culture of global networks.
Denmark supports world-class museums, with remarkable collections, expert staff, and beautiful architecture. But how can museum leaders balance the traditional concepts of organizational mission and outcomes with the disruptive possibilities being demonstrated by those who love and use museums in new ways?
A text version of this presentation, with hyperlinks and footnotes, is available at http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/michael-edson-lego-beowulf-and-the-web-of-hands-and-hearts-for-the-danish-national-museum-awards-13444266
Making and the Commons, for Europeana's "European Cultural Commons" conferenc...Michael Edson
Keynote given at Europeana's European Cultural Commons conference in Warsaw Poland, October 12, 2011.
A video of this talk from Warsaw is at http://youtu.be/RSaLnHlN4gQ
A full text version of the talk (with footnotes and hyperlinks) is at http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/museums-and-the-commons-helping-makers-get-stuff-done-6779050
What is a commons? For Museum Commons: A Professional Interaction, Museums an...Michael Edson
Created as a discussion starter for a "professional interaction" at Museums and the Web 2010. See paper written with Rich Cherry from the Balboa Park Online Collaborative at http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/museum-commons-a-professional-interaction-museums-and-the-web-2010-michael-edson-and-rich-cherry (slideshare) and http://www.archimuse.com/mw2010/papers/edson-cherry/edson-cherry.html (conference site)
Similar to Museums and the Commons: Helping Makers Get Stuff Done (20)
Shaking Hands with the Future: Culture and Heritage at a Moment Full of ChangeMichael Edson
Keynote for the congress of the Network Oorlogsbronnen (Netherlands WWII data network), Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2 November 2021.
Note that some of the text/callouts seem hard to read w. SlideShare's new compression scheme — sorry about that! Probably best to download the show and view it in PowerPoint, or, I've put a link to a PDF version on slide 2 (and the links work on the PDF version too!)
(This is the second version of these slides. The previous version was for some reason flagged as suspicious by SlideShare and made irrevocably un-shareable.)
Digital Culture and the Shaking Hand of ChangeMichael Edson
The presentation shows how to create and use a "problem space" to organize complex challenges. The central metaphor for the talk is the "civic handshake" — a process by which different parts of society cooperate through the informal exchange of information and the sharing of responsibilities.
Ignite talk for the Museum Computer Network 2019 conference.
Annotated script with links and references.
A video of the talk: https://youtu.be/Psf-1C3ocDA
A blog post with some context and links: https://www.usingdata.com/usingdata/2019/11/5/the-web-we-want
Michael Peter Edson — Robot vs. Human: Who Will Win?Michael Edson
Presentation for the VIII St. Petersburg International Cultural Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia. 16 November 2019. See https://usingdata.com for updates and new versions.
Conference: https://culturalforum.ru.
Panel: https://culturalforum.ru/event/1565208895246-robot-vs-chelovek-kakie-navyki-pobedyat
An overview of how change works, and what can be done to accelerate transformational change in an industry. Created for the Openlab Workshop, December 1-2, 2015 in Washington, DC.
Think Big, Start Small, Move Fast: Digital Strategy in a Changing WorldMichael Edson
Keynote for MMEx digital strategy symposium, Randers, Denmark, August 2015. This presentation discusses the shortcomings of traditional strategy processes and suggests alternatives that emphasize speed, iteration, and a bias for action.
Dark Matter - - the dark matter of the internet is open, social, peer-to-peer...Michael Edson
Keynote for Europeana Creative, Kulturstyrelsen - Danish Agency for Culture, Internet Librarian International (London), Southeastern Museum Conference (USA), Library of Congress Reference Forum, St. John's University Library Forum, University of Oklahoma Digital Humanities Presidential Lecture, Smith Leadership Symposium (Balboa Park, USA)...
The Dark Matter of the Internet - - the dark matter of the internet is open, social, peer-to-peer and read write...and it's the future of libraries, museums, archives, and institutions of all kinds.
Also see the essay on which this talk is based: Dark Matter - - https://medium.com/@mpedson/dark-matter-a6c7430d84d1
And a video of me presenting these slides at the 2014 Southeastern Museums Conference (USA): http://youtu.be/-tdLD5rdRTQ
Boom: Openness and Sharing in the Cultural Heritage SectorMichael Edson
My essay for the book Sharing is Caring: Openness and sharing in the cultural sector, Merete Sanderhoff, editor, published by the National Gallery of Denmark, 2014.
Free download at http://sharingiscaring.smk.dk/en
"Michael opens this anthology by establishing why it is crucial for the cultural heritage sector to seize the opportunity offered by the Internet and digitization to reach global populations and make a difference in their lives. Through many years of pioneering efforts within the field of digital technologies, and generous sharing of expertise and advice, Michael has inspired institutions worldwide to dare working more openly and inclusively with the users’ knowledge and creativity."
Try Not: Do (New Zealand National Digital Forum, Closing Remarks)Michael Edson
Text from a short video for the closing plenary of the 2013 New Zealand National Digital Forum. This was cooked up - - improvised - - with no advanced planning a few hours before Andy Fenton's conference wrap-up.
Many thanks to Andy and everyone at the #ndfnz for allowing me to be there with you, if only for a few minutes, virtually.
The Tortoise and the Hare, Netherlands Museum CongresMichael Edson
Remarks to the Netherlands Museum Congress, October 3, 2013 plenary session keynote. Footnotes and citations are coming later, in an edited version, but let me know if you need sources/links. - - Mike
"Scope, Scale, Speed" -- for the Journal of the American Association of Schoo...Michael Edson
Text (and a few, adapted/simplified graphics) of an article in the May/June 2013 issue (Volume 41, No. 5) of Knowledge Quest, the journal of the American Association of School Librarians. I have included a few adapted /simplified graphics from the article, and I have added hyperlinks and an update/note or two. The original publication was sent to 7,000 school libraries and members of the American Association of School Librarians, and it is also available via several research databases.
The article is published in Knowledge Quest as CC-BY
Keynote for Wikimedia UK GLAM-WIKI conference, British Library, London, April 12, 2013.
https://uk.wikimedia.org/wiki/GLAM-WIKI_2013
Also presented at the National Museum, Denmark; Danish Broadcasting; Danskkulturarv.dk; the FIAT/IFTA conference; National Museum Congress, the Netherlands; Arts Council Norway annual conference; J. Boye, Copenhagen
Scope, scale, and speed are the focus of most of my work this year.
"Click to Add Title"/ Thoughts on PresentingMichael Edson
Short presentation for the Museums and the Web Speaker Training webinar.
The session was lead by Loic Tallon and Nancy Proctor, and Peter Samis, Dana Mitroff-Silvers, Amy Heibel and Susan Chun all gave short talks that are well worth looking at ;)
http://mw2013.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2013-speaker-training-free-webinars/
Are museums a dial that only goes to 5? Michael Edson
For Social Media Week, Washington, D.C., "Defining and measuring social media success in museums and arts organizations." http://socialmediaweek.org/blog/event/are-you-remarkable-defining-and-measuring-social-media-success-in-museums-and-arts-organizations/#.US4XyOtARCQ
Jack the Museum (Museums in the Age of Scale) -- Text versionMichael Edson
Ignite talk (text version with footnotes) for the Museum Computer Network 2012 annual conference, November 7, 2012, Seattle, WA.
Slides at Slides at
http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/jack-the-museum-museums-in-the-age-of-scale-15089314
European Cultural Commons Workshop, Introductory Remarks (transcript)Michael Edson
YouTube video of this talk: http://youtu.be/VlHC0uPqdRY.
This is a transcript of a short introductory video recorded for Europeana’s European Cultural Commons workshop in Limassol Cyprus on October 30, 2012.
Open Digital Heritage: Doing Hard Things Easily, at Scale (text version) :: M...Michael Edson
The text of a brief keynote for the 2012 Open Digital Heritage symposium at the National Heritage Board of Sweden, organized with the Swedish National Archives and National Library as part of the Almedalen Week events.
Abstract: Heritage organizations need to adopt new tools and new ways of thinking to achieve meaningful outcomes in the 21st century. Open content and participatory knowledge creation are vital to the success of knowledge institutions.
A video of this and other talks from the conference are available at http://oppnakulturarvet.se/
Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts, for the Danish national museum ...Michael Edson
This is the text version of the talk.
A PowerPoint version of this talk is at http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/michael-edson-lego-beowulf-and-the-web-of-hands-and-hearts-for-the-danish-national-museum-awards
This talk was delivered at the awards ceremony for the 2012 Bikuben Foundation Danish Museum Prize (Bikubenfondens Museumspriser) in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Ideas about what museums are, who they serve, and the role they play in society are changing with dramatic speed, driven largely by social media and the participatory culture of global networks.
Denmark supports world-class museums, with remarkable collections, expert staff, and beautiful architecture. But how can museum leaders balance the traditional concepts of organizational mission and outcomes with the disruptive possibilities being demonstrated by those who love and use museums in new ways?
Lego Beowulf and the Web of Hands and Hearts, for the Danish national museum ...
Museums and the Commons: Helping Makers Get Stuff Done
1.
2. Are experts available to help me understand key ideas and concepts?Experts are guides, connectors, and problem-solvers—whether they work for museums directly or are part of their broader networks
3.
4. David Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous (Times Books, 2007) explains the ways in which making information digital changes the way it can be organized, found and used.
5. Don Tapscott and Anthony Williams' Wikinomics (Penguin, 2006) describes new forms of collaboration and commercial enterprise and Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody (Hyperion, 2008) describes new forms of collective action.
6. Lawrence Lessig's The Future of Ideas (Random House, 2001) and James Boyle's The Public Domain (Yale University Press, 2008) describe the powerful relationship between innovation and the intellectual property commons in the digital age.
7. Tim O'Reilly's What is Web 2.0 describes a profoundly important set of new relationships between companies, data, and communities.
8. Joy's Law, that "no matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for someone else," summarizes the opportunities of networking and distributed knowledge creation and is a warning against organizational hubris.
9. John P. Kotter's A Sense of Urgency (Harvard Business Press, 2008) details the rapid acceleration of change in culture and business (mostly caused by information technology) and the dire consequences of inaction. As these new modes of discovery, collaboration, and knowledge creation gain power, the Smithsonian Institution, like many organizations, is working hard to keep pace. In 2009 the Smithsonian developed its first ever Web and New Media Strategy to communicate the nature of these changes to staff, management, and stakeholders, and to tell a story about how new media can be a catalyst to innovation inside and outside the Institution. The broad vision, inspired by the real accomplishments of web and new media practitioners, represents a shift from thinking about museums primarily as physical venues for personal enrichment towards thinking about museums as significant contributors to broader efforts to achieve societal goals. To these ends, the centerpiece of the Smithsonian's Web and New Media Strategy is the idea of a commons—a new part of our digital presence designed to stimulate creativity, learning, and innovation through open access to Smithsonian resources, communities, and expertise. The commons concept imagines the Smithsonian as a helpful agent and partner to makers, doers, and learners. But what exactly is a commons and how do you build one? <br />What is a commons?<br />Abstractly, a commons is a set of resources maintained in the public sphere for the use and benefit of everyone. <br />Usually, a commons is created when a property owner decides that a given set of resources—grass for grazing sheep, forests for parkland, software code, or intellectual property—will be more valuable if freely shared than if restricted. <br />In the law, and in our understanding of the way the world works, we recognize that no idea stands alone, and that all innovation is built on the ideas and innovations of others. When creators, scientists, inventors, educators, artists, researchers, business people, entrepreneurs—when everyone has access to the raw materials of knowledge, innovation flourishes. <br />Conversely, unnecessarily restricted content is a barrier to innovation. This is the anti-commons, a thicket of difficulties. If you can’t find an idea, can’t understand its context, can’t leverage your social network (however you define it—perhaps it's just your immediate friends and colleagues) to share and add value to it, and if you can’t get legal permission to use, re-use, or make it into something new, then knowledge and innovation suffer. Unnecessarily restricted content is like a virus that spreads through the internet, making the intellectual property provenance of each generation of new ideas less and less clear.<br />I like to think of a commons as a kind of organized workshop where the raw materials of knowledge and innovation can be found and assembled into new things. This kind of workshop—a place where ideas and knowledge can flow freely and be put to use by industrious and creative people—is harmonious with the needs of makers and the stated missions of many museums, including the Smithsonian.<br />The ingredients of a commons<br />There is no design manual for how to create a commons, but from interviews with people involved in commons projects, the maker movement, and my own observations and study I've come to recognize 13 design attributes that, in combination, lead to positive outcomes for makers of all kinds. For the remainder of this article, think of a commons as a kind of fortifying soup that's made with various combinations of these 13 ingredients. <br />Note: I'm always looking for more examples—if you want to suggest one give me a shout!<br />1. Federated<br />A commons brings things together that would otherwise be separate. The Smithsonian Collections Search Center helps researchers by bringing together over 7 million object records from more than 23 Smithsonian collection information systems. http://collections.si.edu/search/about.jsp <br />2. FindableIt doesn't do much good to have a bunch of stuff in a commons if you can't find anything. The crowdsourced stock photo site iStockPhoto does a better job helping me find stuff than any museum, library, or archive site I know. Industrial supplier McMaster Carr is a standout as well. http://istockphoto.com and http://mcmastercarr.com <br />3. ShareableThe whole purpose of putting resources into a commons is so they can be shared and used. A commons is shareable by default. On the Brooklyn Museum Web site, sharing is built right into the platform. http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/157722/Morris_Kantor. <br />4. ReusableIntellectual property policies in a commons are uniform and clearly stated so users know, in advance—without having to ask or beg—that they can incorporate resources from the commons into new works. On Flickr, the copyright and permissions are stated clearly, everywhere. http://flickr.com <br />5. Free“Free resources are crucial to innovation and creativity” says Creative Commons founder Lawrence Lessig. Free, Findable, and Shareable form a particularly powerful combination. The Internet Archive says on their home page that quot;
like a paper library, we provide free access…quot;
http://www.archive.org <br />6. Bulk DownloadSometimes makers need a lot of something, or all of something, to solve a problem. On the Powerhouse Museum's Web site, you can download their entire collection database with one click. http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/download.php <br />7. Machine ReadableSometimes a maker needs to be able to write a program to work with data—particularly when you've got a lot of it. The information in a commons needs to be understandable to computer programs—machine readable. Data.gov is designed to encourage digital mashups through machine readable formats. http://www.data.gov <br />8. High ResolutionA commons should make available, for free, the highest quality, highest resolution resources possible. On NASA's Web site, you can download photographs so big that you can see how individual grains of Martian soil were compressed by the wheels of the Mars Rover. The paltry images on most museum Web sites thwart the efforts of researchers and enthusiasts, and undermine our attempts to let the drama and meaning of our collections shine through.http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/panoramas/spirit/ <br />9. Collaboration without ControlBecause resources are free, high quality, and sharing and reuse are encouraged, new kinds of collaborative work can take place—are taking place—without needing to involve lawyers, contracts, and bureaucrats. <br />Clay Shirky, in Here Comes Everybody, writes “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.”<br />MIT Open Courseware has case studies of collaborations and partnerships that have come to fruition exactly because MIT did not attempt to assert control over the intellectual property in the Open Courseware collection. http://ocw.mit.edu and http://ocw.mit.edu/about/ocw-stories/triatno-yudo-harjoko/ <br />10. Network EffectsIn a commons designed with network effects in mind you get a virtuous cycle: the more the commons is used, the better it becomes, and the better it becomes, the more people will find and use it. Over 180,000 people have added map data to the OpenStreetMap project, and those contributions have created a powerful resource that can be used and re-used by anyone, for free. http://www.openstreetmap.org/ <br />11. The Public DomainThe public domain is important. Intellectual property in the public domain is not owned by anybody: it can be used by anyone for any purpose. James Boyle writes that the Public Domain is not “some gummy residue left behind when all the good stuff has been covered by property law. The public domain is the place where we quarry the building blocks of our culture.” <br />12. Designed to help real peopleSoftware developer and social media thought leader Kathy Sierra says that every user is a hero in their own epic journey. The job of the Smithsonian Commons is not to broadcast our accomplishments to a passive audience: it's to help real people succeed in their epic quests through life. (See the Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy at http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/The+Smithsonian+Commons+--+A+Place+to+Begin)<br />13. Trust<br />After thinking about the previous 12 items for a couple of months I've decided that there's a 13th, and that's trust. <br />Wired magazine founding editor Kevin Kelly said quot;
the network economy is founded on technology, but can only be built on relationships. It starts with chips and ends with trust.quot;
<br />The Smithsonian is in the forever business. By putting something in the Smithsonian Commons—be it a cultural treasure, or a folk song, a fossil of a bug, a lecture, or a community—we'll be asking people to trust us. We're not going to scam you. We're not going to violate your privacy. We're going to be honest about what we do and don't know, we're going to be open to new ideas and points of view, we're going to help each other figure out the world, and these promises are good forever. Museums are among the few organizations in our culture that enter into those kinds of promises, and we take that responsibility very seriously. <br />Looking Forward<br />We are just starting the process of building the Smithsonian Commons. It's a complex endeavor and there will surely be a lot of unknowns and surprises down the road, but I am confident that the defining characteristics of the Smithsonian Commons vision will endure: the desire to help people get things done, on their own terms, with the freedom to use the Smithsonian's resources, communities, and expertise in any way that works. <br />This is a moment in history when ideas, discovery, and action really matter, and many museum professionals feel that museums, libraries, archives, research organizations - - all of our beloved public institutions need to muster their resources to help accomplish meaningful work in society. We need to make a difference in the world. The Smithsonian Institution's strategic plan states that we need quot;
to use our vast resources for the public good in the midst of unceasing demographic, technological, and social change…quot;
<br />Or, as Internet pioneer Howard Rheingold put it in his commentary about the Smithsonian Commons concept,<br />The Smithsonian is not just about the past, but about the present and the future. The Smithsonian is not just about what goes on inside the walls in Washington, D.C., but about the communications that flow through those walls to and from citizens. The Smithsonian is not just about experts teaching citizens, but also about citizens teaching — and discovering knowledge together with — each other. <br />***<br />