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!