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The Digital StrategyThermocline
Public Humanities LunchJohn Nicholas Brown Center forPublic Humanities and Cultural HeritageBrown University, November 18, 2009
Michael EdsonDirector, Web and New Media StrategySmithsonian Institution, Office of the CIO
Preamble• 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”
Preamble• 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”
• Twitter: @mpedson, • Slides and other good stuff at slideshare.net/edsonm
• Join us at http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com
• Beware…The opinions in this presentation are mine, not the official policy/strategy of the Smithsonian…
The Smithsonian CommonsA new Pan-Institutional Strategy
http://www.si.edu/about
A new Web and New Media Strategyhttp://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com
The 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.
The 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.
Attributes of the Smithsonian Commons:
VastFindable
Sharable (or “social”)Free
The 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.
Duh Huh?
Some people understand the Smithsonian Commons concept immediately—The concepts seem familiar & refreshing and the rationale self-evident. These people are generally aware of developments in Internet culture over the last 5 years…
The 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.
Duh Huh?
…While others struggle with aspects of the Smithsonian Commons concept. Assertions about reputation, trust, authority/control, intellectual property policy, and business models seem unnecessarily disruptive or counterintuitive.
The 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.
Duh Huh?
…and I agree—these issues are hard, and I struggle with them myself! And are these people techno-utopians? Unrealistic?
The 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.
Duh Huh?
…and I agree—these issues are hard, and I struggle with them myself! And are these people techno-utopians? Unrealistic?
Duh Huh?
These two groups have different assumptions, experience, and perspectives on “technology” (writ large) and the need, urgency, and model for change. They’re speaking different languages, which forms a kind of thermocline…
Thermocline(a metaphor)
Stratified water temperature acts as a barrier
Knowledge, communication,action models are different
Management
Practitioners
Thermocline(a metaphor)
Messages get distorted, lost
Thermocline(a metaphor)
Messages get distorted, lost
Thermocline(a metaphor)
(Remember—most people are not at
either extreme, but in the middle…)
Thermocline(a metaphor)
Thermocline
The Web is a bigger megaphone
The Web is a fundamentally new
way of gettingthings done
Thermocline
“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
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
Fixation on Web 2.0and Social Media
Thermocline
We can get ahead by“doing more of the
same thing”
No, you can’t…
John P. Kotter, A Sense of Urgency
Thermocline
You can managetechnology and content
separately
The most interestingecosystems are
in “border habitats”between the two
Thermocline
Make money, nowBuild an ascendant brand
by“doing work that matters”
Tim O’Reilly http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/01/work-on-stuff-that-matters-fir.html
“Once [the Smithsonian] has increased user base 100x or more, many other possibilities open”
Carl MalamudPublic.resource.org
Thermocline
The Desktop Internet 2.5 Billionmobile subscribers
Gardeningchange model*
Build a platform &cultivate Web 2.0
As a way of thinkingabout work
Thermocline
Manufacturingchange model
“Lets Build Product Xand be done with it”
* Via Josh Greenberg, NYPL
Institutions (?) built onthe model of
social entrepreneurship:
Think Big,Start SmallMove Fast
Thermocline
Institutions built onthe model of
enduring wisdom*
We can move slowlybecause wisdom endures
*Via Peter Schwartz, GBN
In exchange for publicfunds and public trust,
museums shoulddo work
for society
Thermocline
Museums are for…
In exchange for publicfunds and public trust,
museums shoulddo work
for society
Thermocline
Museums are for…
What could you accomplish with$1b /year for 50 years?
Thermocline
…all of this is relevant for stimulating
discussion, but the truth is in the middle,
and the issues are complex…
Thermocline(a metaphor)
Overcoming the thermoclineRequires stirring the water.
Urgency.Full engagement.
Making progress on “workthat matters.”
Public Humanities LunchJohn Nicholas Brown Center forPublic Humanities and Cultural HeritageBrown University, November 18, 2009
Michael EdsonDirector, Web and New Media StrategySmithsonian Institution, Office of the CIO
Haven’t had enough?• SI Pan-Institutional Strategy
http://www.si.edu/about• Web and New Media Strategy
http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com• Imagining a Smithsonian Commons:
http://www.slideshare.net/edsonm/cil-2009-michael-edson-text-version
• Other stuff on slidesharehttp://slideshare.net/edsonm
Thanks!