Overview of the Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy process and the development of the Smithsonian Commons for the UGame ULearn conference, TU Delft Library and DOK Library Concept Center, Delft, NL 3/31/2010

1. The Smithsonian CommonsVast, Findable, Shareable, Freefor UGameULearn UGameUlearn 2010 TU Delft Library and DOK Library Concept Center, Delft, NL 3/31/2010 Michael Edson Director, Web and New Media Strategy Smithsonian Institution, Office of the CIO edsonm@si.edu | @mpedson

2. Preamble Twitter @mpedson UGameUlearn twitter hashtag #ugul10Flickr: Ugame Slides and documents: http://slideshare.net Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy wiki: http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com Coming soon: http://www.si.edu/commons Note: I’m not an official spokesperson for the Smithsonian Institution !

3. The Smithsonian Institution

4. Smithsonian Strategic Plan Four Grand Challenges Smithsonian Secretary G. Wayne Clough

5. Smithsonian Strategic Plan Four Grand Challenges Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet Valuing World Cultures Understanding the American Experience

6. Smithsonian Strategic Plan Strategy Schmatergy! We’ve seen strategy before! Four Grand Challenges Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet Valuing World Cultures Understanding the American Experience A GenericHumbug

7. Smithsonian Strategic Plan No! This is about solving big hairy problems— ”work that matters” (via @timoreilly) Strategy Schmatergy! We’ve seen strategy before! Four Grand Challenges Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet Valuing World Cultures Understanding the American Experience A GenericHumbug

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

9. Solve big complex problems! Interdisciplinary collaborations and partnerships!

10. Interdisciplinary Collaborative Entrepreneurial

11. “Innovative informal education” !!!

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

13. c

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

15. 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?

16. 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? “You know Michael, this strategy is just the part of the iceberg you can see above the water. Everything below the waterline is change management.” Leo Mullen CEO, Navigation Arts

18. Something strange is going onwithin our institutions

19. Chris AndersonFree, the Future of a Radical Price

20. Chris AndersonFree, the Future of a Radical Price Huh!? Duh!

21. Huh!? Duh!

22. Thermocline(a metaphor) Stratified water temperature acts as a barrier

23. Thermocline(a metaphor) Knowledge, communication, action models are different Management Practitioners

24. Thermocline(a metaphor) Messages get distorted, lost

25. Thermocline(a metaphor) Messages get distorted, lost

26. Thermocline(a metaphor) Thermocline Issues define the change environment and explain why the commons is such an important idea

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

28. 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?

29. 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

30. 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

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

32. Thermocline Issues Fixation on Web 2.0 and Social Media

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

34. 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

35. 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

36. Thermocline Issues The Desktop Internet 3.5 Billionmobile subscribers

37. 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!

38. 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!

39. 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

40. Your users are heroes In their ownepic journeys Thermocline Issues Provide services to passive audiences

41. Your users are heroes In their ownepic journeys Thermocline Issues Provide services to passive audiences

42. Smithsonian Web and New Media Strategy The updated Learning Model

43. Old Learning Model Old Learning Model New Learning Model New Learning Model

44. Your users are heroes In their ownepic journeys Thermocline Issues Provide services to passive audiences Kathy Sierra

45. Thermocline Issues These thermocline issues.. Urgency Velocity Web 2.0 fundamentals The mobile Internet Moore’s law and the changing workplace…

46. Thermocline Issues …should be at the core of any responsible discussion of public institutions—knowledge institutions—and our role in the culture.

47. Thermocline Issues …should be at the core of any responsible discussion of public institutions—knowledge institutions—and our role in the culture. What is our work, and how should we do it?

49. Relevance

50. Relevance Note: more detail, text, footnotes, links related to the following slides are in the paper Imagining a Smithsonian Commons http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/cil-2009-michael-edson-text-version

51. Relevance Q: Have you ever visited a Smithsonian Web site? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5x4Sga0d1s

52. Relevance Unexpected Rivals in Google Search Google Images Wikipedia Ocean.com Discoveryeducation.com NASA Enchantedlearning.com

53. Relevance Unexpected Rivals in Reach Google Images Wikipedia Ocean.com …so much more reach than SI that we don’t even show up on the graph… Enchantedlearning.com si.edu discoveryeducation.com ocean.com

54. Relevance Unexpected Rivals in Reach (July – Sept, 2009) Enchantedlearning.com si.edu discoveryeducation.com ocean.com

55. Relevance Unexpected Rivals in Reach (July – Sept, 2009) Enchantedlearning.com is a two person team, with more online reach than the world’s largest museum and research complex! Enchantedlearning.com si.edu discoveryeducation.com ocean.com

56. Relevance Traffic Trending Down si.edu – 4% reach Wikipedia.org + 8% reach MoMA.org + 12% reach npr.org + 20% reach

57. Relevance Brand Identity Brandtags.net We are the 560th of 928 brands

58. Relevance We’re competing with… everybody!

59. Relevance We’re competing with… everybody!

60. Relevance We’re competing with… everybody! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXahIoXMw8&playnext_from=TL&videos=wEF3FIOIjaU http://flickr.com/search/?q=spaceshipone&w=all

61. Relevance The Demographic Tsunami November 2007 data: Pew Internet and American Life Project

62. Relevance The Demographic Tsunami “Everything we hear from people we interview is that today’s consumers draw no distinctions between an organization’s Web site and their traditional bricks-and-mortar presence: both must be excellent for either to be excellent.” Lee RainiePew Internet and American Life Project

63. Relevance Collaborative Model “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

64. Relevance “The Smithsonian is not an Institution that understands me” From focus group withBay Area millennials, 2009 “Surprise me!”

65. Relevance The Demographic Tsunami “Everything we hear from people we interview is that today’s consumers draw no distinctions between an organization’s Web site and their traditional bricks-and-mortar presence: both must be excellent for either to be excellent.” Lee RainiePew Internet and American Life Project

66. Relevance The Demographic Tsunami “Everything we hear from people we interview is that today’s consumers draw no distinctions between an organization’s Web site and their traditional bricks-and-mortar presence: both must be excellent for either to be excellent.” Do we behave, manage, and spend money as if we believe this is true? Lee RainiePew Internet and American Life Project

67. Enter Web and New Media Strategy

68. Smithsonian 2.0

69. Smithsonian 2.0

70. Process: Workshops to Wiki

71. 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.”

72. Process: Workshops to Wiki

73. Process: Workshops to Wiki

74. Process: Workshops to Wiki As participants are speaking, what they’re saying is being typed and saved on a public wiki

75. Process: Workshops to Wiki “What I say really matters (because I know it will be seen/heard after the meeting ends)”

76. Process: Workshops to Wiki “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”

78. Increase size of brain trust (Joy’s Law)

79. Improve the odds for change

80. Improve odds for execution (public promises not easily forgotten)

81. Outside champions more likely to support “commons” goals than status-quo insiders

82. Walking the Talk vis-à-vis crowdsourcing and innovation model

84. Web & New Media Strategy This is a document that is supposed to DO WORK Aspirationaland achievable External Mission Brand Learning Audience Internal Interpretation Technology Business Model Governance

85. Web & New Media Strategy This is a document that is supposed to DO WORK Aspirationaland achievable External Mission Brand Learning Audience Internal Interpretation Technology Business Model Governance

86. 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

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

88. 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/

89. 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/

90. 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/

91. 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/

92. 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/

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

94. What is a Commons?

95. What is a Commons? The Anti-Commons…

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

97. What is a Commons? Note: more detail, text, footnotes, links related to this topic are in the papers Imagining a Smithsonian Commons http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/cil-2009-michael-edson-text-version and 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

98. 12 dimensions of a commons

99. 12 dimensions of a commons 1. Federated Assets from separate databases or repositories are presented together, irrespective of what organization or department they came from

100. 12 dimensions of a commons 2. Designed for usersToolsets to allow specific user groups to effectively use the combined collections and data

101. 12 dimensions of a commons 3. FindableSearch and findability are strongly emphasized

102. 12 dimensions of a commons 4. ShareableThe architecture of the commons emphasizes persistent URL's and linking/embedding tools that enable and encourage sharing

103. 12 dimensions of a commons 5. Reusable: Intellectual property policies are uniform and clearly stated

104. 12 dimensions of a commons 6. FreeAssets are free to access and use

105. 12 dimensions of a commons 7. Bulk downloadThe commons platform provides for bulk download of assets

106. 12 dimensions of a commons 8. Machine readableAssets are presented in machine readable formats

107. 12 dimensions of a commons 9. High resolutionAssets are made available in high resolution and not unnecessarily restricted.

108. 12 dimensions of a commons 10. Collaboration without controlThe commons platform, through a combination of the attributes above, enables collaboration and research without the necessity of formal contracts or agreements.

109. 12 dimensions of a commons 11. Network effectsCommons platforms are designed to take advantage of network effects from user contributions

110. 12 dimensions of a commons 12. The Public DomainParticularly for collecting institutions, understanding and advancing the public domain (U.S. law) or “CC-0” (Creative Commons “zero”) is, or should be, a core activity

111. 12 dimensions of a commons Later, encapsulated as Vast, Findable, Shareable, Free… (stay tuned)

113. How do we talk about this?

114. How do we talk about this? What does this mean for staff and users?

115. How do we talk about this? What does this mean for staff and users? A lot of Thermocline topics here, which we know can be confusing and devisive…

116. Huh?

117. Let’s Build a Prototype! Huh?

118. 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. Let’s Build a Prototype!

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

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

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

124. Conceptual Development: “Low Rez” Wireframes

125. Conceptual Development: Paper Prototypes

127. To maximize speed and promote the values of prototyping (as opposed to polished end-product development) we put rough process videos (via YouTube embeds), storyboards (via Scribd embeds), scripts, notes, comments…all on a public wiki. For example: http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Experience+Brief+-+Story+2+-+Teacher-Family

128. The Attributes of the Smithsonian Commons

129. 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.

130. 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.

131. 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.

132. 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…

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

134. Screen capture from Smithsonian Commons prototype(coming soon @ http://www.si.edu/commons)

135. http://www.si.edu/commons(coming soon!)

136. Trailhead The Smithsonian Commons Prototype http://www.si.edu/commons (coming soon!) Strategy Process http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/michael-edson-mcn-09-smithsonian-web-and-new-media-strategy-drivers-process-and-execution Strategy Wiki http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com Imagining a Smithsonian Commons Paper, ppt, link to video at http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/cil-2009-michael-edson-text-version Formal paper about the strategy & process http://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 Paper about the attributes of a commons http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/museum-commons-a-professional-interaction-museums-and-the-web-2010-michael-edson-and-rich-cherry Thermocline, process maturity, other presentations/papers http://slideshare.net/edsonm Twitter: @mpedson, #si20

137. Thank You!!!