This document provides an overview of emerging trends in online cultural heritage. It discusses the evolution of the web from simple documents to user-generated content on Web 2.0. It explores how libraries, archives and museums are shifting roles from authorities to community organizers online. The document also examines citizen science, makerspaces, and serious leisure pursuits that engage users outside traditional institutions. It advocates for open linked data and greater transparency to better integrate cultural heritage online.

1. The Emerging Trends
Past’s in Online Cultural
Heritage
On The Front Lines
Present
Illinois State Library
March 16, 2010
Future Richard J. Urban
1

2. Everything old
is new again.
2

3. From the World Wide Web to Web 2.0
WWW
-­‐
documents
with
simple
rela6onships
3

4. Web 2.0
4

5. Here Comes Everybody!
5

6. 6

7. Librarians,
Archivists &
Curators
as authorities
and gatekeepers.
7

8. Librarians,
Archivists &
Curators
as community
organizers
Josh
Greenberg,
NYPL
8
hFp://www.slideshare.net/epistemographer/

9. Is this really new?
• Public libraries, historical
societies have long served
as community centers for
local history, historic
preservation & family
history.
• Rootsweb created in 1987
as a listserv.
• Ancestry.com is now a
multi-million dollar
business because they were
able to provide the online
services this community
needed.
How can libraries, archives and museums
translate their deep experience as community
organizers into online spaces?
9

10. Serious Leisure 10

11. hFp://www.soci.ucalgary.ca/seriousleisure/
11

12. Serious Leisure Careers
• Jenna Hartel: Three Temporal Arcs in the Hobby of Gourmet Cooking
http://www.jennahartel.com/TemporalArcs/ThreeTemporalArcs.htm
12

13. Outside the Walls of the Museum
Casual/project-based leisure 13

14. Citizen Science
Amateur Science
Activity Participation
Collecting
Volunteering
Environmental
http://ebird.org/
14

15. Makers/Tinkers
Project-­‐based/serious
leisure
15

16. Getting
in the Flow
16

17. The importance of flow underlines recurrent themes:
– the library needs to be in the user environment and not
expect the user to find their way to the library
environment
– integration of library resources should not be seen as an
end in itself but as a means to better integration with
the user environment, with workflow.
The message for libraries is clear:
be in the flow.
-Lorcan Dempsey
17
hFp://orweblog.oclc.org/archives/000688.html

18. FRBR User Tasks
Find
Identify
Select
Obtain
18

19. Find
hFp://imlsdcc.grainger.illinois.edu/history
19

20. Identify & Select
20

21. Obtain?
21

22. The Social Life
of Artifacts*
*
Dan
Cohen
hFp://www.dancohen.org/media/
bard_talk_5feb2010.pdf
22

23. Follow Me!
23

24. 24

25. “Spreadable”
Content*
25

26. 26

27. 27

28. Sowing Culture
hFp://sowingculture.wordpress.com/

29. Spread via Twitter
•
Connect
with
us
hFp://www.twiFer.com/sowingculture
•
hFp://sowingculture.wordpress.com

30. IMLS DCC Flickr Feasibility Study
hFp://www.flickr.com/photos/imlsdcc

31. Casual
User
Librarian/
Archivist/ Ar6fact
Hobbyist
Curator
Academic
Researcher
31

32. Local History
@Internet Scale
32

33. IMLS DCC Collections
by Hosting Institution State

34. Emerging Strengths - Local History
New
trolley
tracks,
Needham
Corner,
Main
Street,
Har^ord,
October
2,
1902.
Main
Street
south
from
Third
Street,
ca.1890
Los
Angeles
Downtown
Springfield,
1952
Springfield
Avia6on
Company
Main
Ave.,
Durango,
CO
Oct.
1965
Tombrello
Grocery
Market
106
Main
St.
Birmingham,
Alabama

35. Silos of the LAMS
35

36. Moving the Grain
• Federated
(Z39.50)
• Aggregated
(Open
Archives
Ini6a6ve
–
Protocol
for
Metadata
Harves6ng
36

37. Linked Open Data
• Linked
simple statements with meaningful relationships that
connect across the web
• Open
freely available for use, reference or reuse 37

38. Linked Open Data
38

39. Linked Open Data
Archive
Library
Museum
39

40. The Web of Contexts
Archive
Library
Museum
40

41. Brooklyn Museum API
41

42. 42

43. Museum Pipes
hFp://museumpipes.wordpress.com

47. Transparency
47

48. Indianapolis Museum of Art Dashboard
hFp://dashboard.imamuseum.org
48

49. Opening History Dashboard
hFp://www.richardjurban.net/dashboard
49

50. Get
Started
50

51. Start Small & Grow
Botany Photo of the Day
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/potd/
51

52. Participate!
hFp://www.vam.ac.uk/collec6ons/tex6les/lawty/world_beach/
52

53. Participate!
hFp://www.vam.ac.uk/collec6ons/tex6les/lawty/world_beach/
53

54. Organize!
hFp://is.gd/aJbxf
54

55. Start Your Own
55

56. Explore Open Data
hFp://usnris.freebase.com/
56

57. Make the Connection
57

58. Next Steps
• Push vendors to
make content
“spreadable”
• Explore ways to
make metadata &
vocabularies open
and linked.
• It’s not about “one”
system, it’s about
getting in the
flow.
58

59. Challenges Ahead
• Changes happening outside…fast
• Changes that need to happen inside
– Rethinking what sharing means
– Mapping data across silos & services
• Dealing with abuse of information
• A culture of “permanent beta”
– Managing “brittle” services
• Who pays?
– How to measure public goods.
59

60. • Richard J. Urban
– http://www.richardurban.net
– http://www.twitter.com/musebrarian
– rjurban [at] illinois.edu
Portions of this work supported by:
60

61. Photo Credits
• Archival Photographic Files, [apf2-05961], Special Collections Research Center,
University of Chicago Library.
• Telephone Exchange, Anthony Hordern & Sons Department Store. Courtesy State
Library of New South Wales
http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/4275894278
• Crowd listenting to Bryan – Union Sq. Library of Congress
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163099447/
• Taft Speaking in Springfield, Mass. Courtesy Library of Congress
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2516566660/
• Antal Dorati conducts. Courtesy State Library of New South Wales.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryofnsw/3809422043/
• Battle of the Alamo Re-enactors. Courtesy Txphotoblog http://www.flickr.com/photos/
txphotoblog/3766706634/
• Aerial View of Downtown Springfield. Courtesy Lincoln Library
http://www.flickr.com/photos/imlsdcc/4120299798/in/set-72157622842546196
• Grain Elevators, Caldwell, Idaho. Courtesy Library of Congress
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2178285893/
• C & NW RR, a general view of a classification yard at Proviso Yard, Chicago, Ill.
Courtesy Library of Congress
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2178405119/
• Wagner Flagging Dawson. Courtesy Library of Congress
• Potted Arabidopsis 3 Courtesy blueridgekitties
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blueridgekitties/4123295969/in/pool-botanypotd/
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