An outside-in look at the National WWII Museum

transcript

An outside-in look at theNational WWII Museum

Presentation to the BoardMichael Edson, June 2, 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9cpOMYv0

Prelude: 1,000 extras? Or three guys, one car, and four days.

Team Compost headed out to Omaha Beach for 4 days armed with a Z1 camera, a pop up greenscreen, some soldier uniforms and 2 rubber rifles (we couldn’t afford 3), and begun the process of covering the beach (with camera on the cliff top), and re-enacting the veterans moving accounts. When back in London (and back in our real day job) we began to piece together …turning the 3 of us into the invading U.S. army.

6 Weeks later the work was completed and provides a moving insight to the U.S veterans memories of storming Omaha beach

I participated in a strategic planning workshophere at the museum in March, 2011

I was struck by three things

The clarity of your mission

The clarity of your missionThe passion and commitment of your team

The clarity of your missionThe passion and commitment of your teamThe sense of urgency – what we do matters

[65 million lives lost]

I consider myself to be well informed, well educated…but I was unprepared for what I learnedin an hour at the museum

[65 million lives lost]

“Every day we hear from WWII veterans who are [distraught] that their grandchildren

don’t know anything about WWII.”

“Here’s our product:we tell stories

about World War II.”

Can you succeed with a “broadcast” model?

BROADCASTWe “do” They consume

Can you succeed with a “broadcast” model?

This was a great model in the 20th century

But there are new actors on the stage

The Long TailJoy’s LawCognitive surplusNetwork EffectsMoore’s Law & MobileEvery user a hero…

Global audiences formingaround niche interests

“No matter what business you’re in, most of the smart

people work for someone else”

A Trillion hours/year of time available for creation and

collaboration. (via Clay Shirky)

Websites that get better the more people use them

In 12 years this device will be 1,706 X more powerful than my

desktop computer

2 billion connected mobile users. Voice, data, cameras,

GPS, sensors…

Your users are heroes in their own epic journeys. Your job is

to help them be great. [via Kathy Sierra]

In a 21st c. context, this seems like anincomplete toolset for accomplishing big goals

Mostly “broadcasting”

This is your homepage

Is this is your homepage?

Or this?

Where do people goto figure out WWII?

5,266 “National WWII Museum”photos from real people

http://www.flickr.com/photos/commissariat/2167580355/in/set-72157603640065229/

Here’s a photo taken in your

museum by Kris Fricke of Davis, CA

Kris visited New Orleans in 2008, and shared these

photos

Kris is also interested in Israel

…and beekeeping!

These are Kris’s other public photo collections.

Beekeeping

Israel

Tall Ships!

Brewing…

Istanbul

Battle Sail

And New Orleans

People have amazingly diverse interests! Learning is about connections—a collage,it’s not a linear process.

Kris has bookmarked photos from other Flickr photographers.

These seem to be WWI photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/3007981058/in/faves-commissariat/

The WWI photos are from the National Media Museum in

Australia.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmediamuseum/3007981058/in/faves-commissariat/

The National Media Museum appears to

be an official, trusted institution.

They’re sharing their collection with “no known copyright

restrictions” so that people like Kris can

use them.

Searching Flickr for photos “tagged” with

“WWII” yields 282,626 images

This “tagging” is a form of cataloging,

done by the public, on their own initiative.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/maniacbricks/5494254309/

Some of the photos

are… surprising!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/brickfan_557/5459318464/

Some of the photos

are… surprising!

This photo is also part of a collaborative

group…

http://www.flickr.com/groups/allies_to_axis_lego/pool/with/5459318464/

81 people from all over the world

belong to this group!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/allies_to_axis_lego/members/

They’ve organized themselves into Field

Marshals, Brigadiers, and Privates!!!

http://www.youtube.com/user/jrriojase#p/u/2/YvmUfSGumoo

LEGO Kübelwagen InstructionsFrom: jrriojase | Feb 27, 2010 | 6,917 viewsWhat you all have been waiting for.

They share knowledge & know-how

http://www.youtube.com/user/JSLegoMaster#p/u/0/UV9n77T46CY

8,508 followers4 million views!Battle of Hürtgen

http://www.youtube.com/user/JSLegoMaster#p/u/0/UV9n77T46CY

Battle of Hürtgen?

Tagging connects them to the rest of the world…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/halftrack/?page=3

3,574 photos tagged with “halftrack” have been shared by

Flickr users…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/halftrack/?page=3

3,574 photos tagged with “halftrack” have been shared by

Flickr users…

I found zero photos of

halftracks on the ww2museum

website

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theadventurouseye/5411242607/

“This photo was taken on August 22, 2009 in

Ústí nad Orlicí, Pardubický, CZ…”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theadventurouseye/5411242607/

The map gives me access to photos taken

nearby.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/theadventurouseye/5411242607/nearby/?by=everyone&taken=alltime&sort=datetaken&show=thumb&page=19

554 photos were taken

nearby (North of Krakily)

You might use Google Earth to learn more

about Ústí nad Orlicí, Pardubický, CZ

Users of another photography service,

Panoramio, allow their photos to be connected

with Google Earth, so we can look around town…

All of this is done without central authority or coordination

It feels a lot like learning to me

And the question is not how you can compete against all of this…

…but how you can help Kris and his friends explore and understand the world…

Thank you!!

Michael EdsonDirector, Web and New Media Strategy

Smithsonian Institution

An outside-in look at the National WWII Museum

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