Museums, Libraries, and Archives in a Digital Age

Best ofBothWorlds

By G. Wayne Clough, Secretary
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Museums, Libraries, and Archives in a Digital Age

Best ofBothWorlds

By G. Wayne Clough

Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

WASHINGTON, D.C.
2 Best of Both Worlds

Today’s digital revolutionis providing

a dizzying array of tools that offer opportunities for learning

institutions all over the world to become more vibrant

and accessible. This revolution provides the means to

share vital information, enabling people to learn more,

shape informed opinions, and make decisions in their

daily lives. Suddenly, everybody can have access to information that previously was only available to the experts.

Everybody can take part in the creative processes of institutions that once were not even in public view. However,

this unprecedented and continuous shift has left many

institutions struggling to adapt and is forcing them to

rethink how to maintain their unique qualities while at the

same time adding value. Today, no organization is immune

to the disruptions caused by technological innovation.

We at museums, libraries, and archives must ask:

How can we prepare ourselves to reach the generation of

digital natives who bring a huge appetite — and aptitude

— for the digital world? Are we capitalizing on the limitless

possibilities that digital technology creates by applying it

in innovative ways across our institutions? We must also

consider an even bigger challenge: Are we using our content and new technologies to bridge what New York Times

columnist David Brooks calls the “opportunity gap,” an

increasing disparity between the educational opportunities

available to children in upper income groups and those

from lower income groups?

Actually, for the Smithsonian, and for our peers in

other museums, archives, and libraries, technology has

created a golden age of opportunity. Online access to

digitized objects, images, and records is democratizing

knowledge, enhancing the visits of the many who come

to us in person, and extending our reach to the millions

who cannot. Coupled with social media’s powers of

connection, digital technology exponentially increases

the capacity of individuals to engage with our collections

and upload their own stories. It is also closing the gap

between formal and informal education, allowing museums,

libraries, and archives to step in and assist the K–12

Best of Both Worlds:

Executive Summary
3

educational system with intellectual

and physical resources. And by facilitating partnerships and collaborations

among institutions, digital technology

offers the public a streamlined way

to access information and take advantage of powerful, jointly curated

exhibitions.

If — as declared by the founding

fathers — education is essential to

democracy, then it stands to reason that so are museums,

libraries, and archives. These institutions are prime

providers of informal education and serve as resources

for scholars of all ages. Certainly the challenges of digital

transformation are formidable, but if museums, archives,

and libraries can learn different behaviors, they can take

on a new and elevated role. By combining the strengths

of our physical collections with the potential afforded by

digital technology, we can truly offer the best of both

worlds.

A CHANGING ROLE FOR

MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES,

AND ARCHIVES

Even before the advent of

today’s enabling technology,

thought leaders in museums,

libraries, and archives recognized the need to connect with

visitors in ways that prioritized

public learning and advanced

all forms of literacy. However,

it was in the academic world

where digital technology began

early on to have a transformative impact. Universities were

created that exclusively used

virtual offerings, computers

were required on many campuses for all students, and the

old models of the classroom

were questioned. Today this

evidences itself in innovations

like the flipped classroom

concept, which allows faculty to spend less time lecturing

and more time interacting with students, and MOOCs,

or Massive Open Online Courses, where enrollments

swell to more than a hundred thousand participants.

At the secondary level, disruptive technologies like the

Khan Academy’s elegant electronic-blackboard math

lessons offer learners everywhere free access, and reinforce building knowledge as opposed to advancing

through classes regardless of whether the fundamentals

are mastered.

LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES, which often belong to

academic institutions, were among the early adopters of

digital technology. With their “open access” ethic, they

embraced both digitization and social networking early

on and began to ask, “What would the model look like

if visitors could explore the collections on their own

We at museums, libraries, and

archives must ask: How can we

prepare ourselves to reach the

generation of digital natives

who bring a huge appetite —

and aptitude — for the digital

world?
4 Best of Both Worlds

terms?” This led to a shift in focus from dispensing information to facilitation and assistance. Documents once

hidden in stacks or in storage facilities are suddenly

becoming accessible on demand. The Biodiversity Heritage

Library, a Smithsonian-led consortium of libraries operating

on six continents, is digitizing and making accessible the

legacy literature of biodiversity. The European Unionsponsored digital archive Europeana is capturing that

continent’s cultural heritage. Across the world, large collectives of libraries and archives with overarching collections

provide access that spans institutional boundaries and

scales the walls of both disciplines and geography. Other

impressive examples of success include the Library of

Congress, whose priority focus called for digitizing special

collections such as presidential papers, and the National

Archives, who prioritized the digitization of heavily used

records, such as the landmark 1940 census, which captured

massive American population shifts caused by the Great

Depression, the Dust Bowl, and early mobilization efforts

for World War II.

MUSEUMS have had a tougher road, complicated by

a low level of technical infrastructure, the complexity of

collections, and a culture that is built more around curated

exhibitions than open access. Still, there have been successes. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn

Timeline of Art History, an early digital model for art

collections, is today a respected scholarly resource and

digital learning vehicle that attracts millions. Maintained

through endowment funding, the Timeline makes 5,000

years of art accessible to the public. Impressive regional

efforts include the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s ArtBabble,

a video channel providing documentary videos about art

with an interactive component. And more and more highquality digital collections are being made available online;

some museums, notably the National Gallery of Art, the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Rijksmuseum

in Amsterdam, place no restriction on the use of their

high-definition digital images.

Museums are also building technology into physical

spaces to expedite learning. For instance, the nation’s

science museums are improving virtual field trips by

adding interactive components that let presenters talk

to students in real time. They employ data visualization

methods and interactive tools that allow visitors to

explore “what if” scenarios. Cloud technology offers the

next quantum leap, helping museums upload their

collections and records and enabling visitors to connect

to an infinite variety of sources.

The lesson to be learned is that there is a place for

both the physical and the digital, with one complementing

and leveraging the other. The physical museum offers

visitors the opportunity to experience the real object and

to share their impressions with family and friends, and

also provides the content, expertise, and collections that

digital museums draw upon. Digital access can then provide limitless opportunities for engagement and lifelong

learning.

Libraries and archives were among

the early adopters of digital technology.

With their “open access” ethic, they

embraced both digitization and social

networking early on and began to ask,

“What would the model look like if

visitors could explore the collections

on their own terms?”
5

THE SMITHSONIAN’S DIGITAL JOURNEY

Since its founding in 1846, the Smithsonian has

been free, open to all, and a favorite destination

for people the world over. We know that something important happens to individuals when

they visit in person. The “Smithsonian experience”

is often described as a spark or catalyst that

prompts curiosity. But this raises the question:

why should such an experience be limited to

those who can visit in person?

Within the Smithsonian, some of our museums

have been pacesetters in adopting digital technology; as early as the 1970s our National

Museum of Natural History began to digitize

selected natural history specimens, and the

Smithsonian American Art Museum developed

the first searchable database of American art.

But not until 2009 did the Smithsonian develop

a pan-Institutional approach, taking a hard look

at prioritizing the 137 million objects to be digitized.

Plans include a “charter collection” of objects to

be rendered in 3-D, a technology that will allow

objects to be viewed in ways not possible when

on display in a museum setting.

Digitization is a must for the Smithsonian in a world in which, every day,

people should be able to access its treasures through a wider range of electronic

and mobile devices. Today’s visitors demand a constant supply of fresh material. A website for the National Museum of Natural History’s Human Origins

exhibition connects visitors to related educational materials that are updated

daily. Additionally, the Smithsonian is incorporating digital technology into all

new exhibitions and museums. When the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design

Museum reopens in 2014, visitors can use a digital stylus to generate their

own designs, working with images from the Museum collections. And those

eager to imagine what the new National Museum of African American History

and Culture will look like can download a free app to see a 3-D model of the

building.

To encourage innovative thinking, in 2010 the Smithsonian assembled 30

leading lights of the digital world with an equal number of Smithsonian staff

members to explore imaginative ways to apply technology and further our

reach. From that conference emerged the National Museum of African Art’s
6 Best of Both Worlds

Artists in Dialogue, in which two artists on different continents interacted in real time to create two works of art

based on a common idea, and Smithsonian Wild, a website

that shows the public what scientists see in their research

through the use of camera traps — automated cameras

with motion sensors that record the diversity of animals

and behavior that passes in front of them in real time

around the world.

From social media to digital games and from online

courses to crowdsourcing, the Smithsonian is taking

advantage of digital technology to identify species and

verify objects; we are inviting students to participate in

scientific exploration and members of the general public

to contribute stories of their own. We have done a great

deal in the last decade, but recognize that there is much

left to do.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

After years of promise, digital technology is transforming

society as we know it. Either institutions embrace it or

they risk becoming marginalized. That said, we have to

recognize the often formidable challenges of implementation, such as the high cost in dollars and manpower, the

question of how to make progress when the technology

constantly changes, and the relative lack of standards,

just to name a few.

To succeed, we must focus on a few principles. These

begin with the use of digital technology to enhance the

in-person visitor experience, engage and involve the public,

and extend the benefits of our scholarship and collections

to audiences not served today. Our organizational structures

should emphasize adaptability to speed accommodation

to new technology, and our oversight organizations

should share best practices, encourage use of common

technology, and standardize methods. We should encourage

the use of digital volunteers who can help with the largescale task of converting handwritten records and historical

documents to a digital format.

Equally important, museums, libraries, and archives

need to adopt a “one for all and all for one” attitude,

recognizing that partnerships and collaborations will help

us serve the widest possible audiences. Cloud-based

technology is critical to these partnerships, allowing us to

link digital assets, offer powerful ways for users to search

for information across institutions, and curate joint

exhibitions.

One of the greatest benefits of digital technology is

the opportunity to support K–12 education as never before.

Museums in particular can bridge the gap between

formal and informal learning with lesson plans, online

summits, real-time connections to experts, and better

credentialing of informal digital learning. Cultural institutions and museums are here to stay, and they will continue

to inspire people by giving them an opportunity for shared

learning and the experience of the real thing. But despite

the challenges of implementation, digital technology

allows us to do what we have never done before: to reach

the millions who do not or cannot visit in person; to help

all the people, not just a few, understand our culture, the

cultures of others, and life in all its dimensions.
7

Contents

CHAPTER 1

Introduction 8

CHAPTER 2

Fundamental to a Democracy 12

CHAPTER 3

Delivering on Education’s Promise 16

CHAPTER 4

A Smithsonian for One and for All 20

CHAPTER 5

A Changing Role for Museums 28

CHAPTER 6

Putting It in Perspective 36

CHAPTER 7

The Smithsonian’s Digital Journey 52

CHAPTER 8

Unfinished Business 62

CHAPTER 9

Conclusion: Unlimited Possibilities 70

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 74

CREDITS AND PERMISSIONS 76
8 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 1

Introduction
9

Nobody predictedit would come this fast

— a world where digital technology has become utterly

pervasive, populated by almost 7 billion cell phones and a

growing legion of tablets that allow access to information

unimagined in the past.

1 In today’s environment of continuous and accelerating technological change, organizations are constantly pressed to adapt not only to new

technology, but also to the ways people use it.

The ready availability of digital learning resources is

enabling a free-form approach to education that empowers individuals and self-forming groups with new opportunities. Consumers of knowledge are coming to view

traditional educational institutions differently, even those

formed specifically to deliver information via digital technology. Formerly captives of the purveyors of education,

consumers now have choices about how to access information, who delivers it to them, and when and where

they learn.

Not only is this new flexibility threatening to the orderly world of conventional

education delivery, but it has

also ushered in a period of experimentation in higher education. Universities

increasingly offer traditional

courses and degree programs

over the Internet and are creating innovations such as free

Massive Open Online Courses

(MOOCs) with enrollments

of 100,000 students or more.

2

K–12 education is confronted with a new generation of

kids, including my own grandchildren, who are learning

on their own through access to websites with a remarkable array of educational assets. The Khan Academy, with

its simple and elegant free math lessons, now touts 6 million users a month.

3 No one really knows how digitization

will ultimately reshape education, but a hunger for knowledge and learning clearly exists, and given access, information will be consumed.

Somewhere behind the scenes of this moving circus of

digital change you will find museums, libraries, and

archives searching for their role. All three of these entities

are often hampered by a modest technology infrastructure and resource base. However, archives and libraries,

which were founded on the premise of open access for

users, have moved into the brave new digital world with

more ease than museums, which have been centered on

offering carefully curated exhibitions from their collections. Museums have moved slowly — frequently project

by project — toward digitization, and there are many

good reasons for caution. Nevertheless, the time for toe

dipping is ending, since museums can no longer stand

aloof from the rising tide of information convergence.

Even before digital communications changed the world,

museum thought-leaders recognized that their institutions

were at risk of losing relevance, and they called for new

approaches that gave more consideration to the needs

and interests of users. Now digital technology, used

appropriately and well, offers the

means for museums not only to

create more powerful exhibitions,

but also to move beyond serving

only the relatively small number

of in-person visitors to reach a

broader audience with a broader

purpose.

In fact, the digital revolution offers

museums, archives, and libraries a

Formerly captives of the purveyors

of education, consumers now

have choices about how to access

information, who delivers it

to them, and when and where

they learn.
10 Best of Both Worlds

golden age of opportunity, because they are ideally suited

for a world in which learning is informal and centered on inspiration and self-motivation. Of course, online access to

digitized documents and images from their collections

opens the doors of these institutions to a much wider audience. But digitization also offers museums, archives, and libraries striking new avenues to engage with those who use

their services and to become fuller partners in formal and informal education programs.

Museums, for example, can move beyond merely showcasing collections by offering members of the public an opportunity to engage in their

own research, to sort out

and access the portions of

collections they personally

find mostinteresting, and to

interact directly with the

museums.

Pursuing such

prospects is more than

just a matter of considering a nice opportunity;

they represent a critical

issue given data showing the percentage of Hispanic and

African American populations who visit museums dwindling to less than 15 percent.

4 Reaching out to the other

85-plus percent is essential not just to the future viability

of museums, libraries, and archives, but also to the future

of our nation as a democracy with an educated citizenry.

If we can learn new behaviors and diversify our collections, the opportunity exists for museums, archives, and

libraries to take on a new and elevated role, not just in the

communities where they are located, but in the world.

As one who has been fortunate to serve in leadership

roles at universities, museums, and research centers, I

have helped to guide institutions through times of change,

including accommodating digital technology. I participated in an initiative to require computers for all engineering students at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and

State University, and then guided an initiative to require

computers for all students at Georgia Institute of Technology. Both of these initiatives went beyond technological

changes to encompass programmatic enhancements and

alter the institutional culture. Now at the Smithsonian, I

am proposing a transition to broad-based use of digital

technology across the Institution.

This discussion offers my personal perspective on how

museums, libraries, and archives, and the Smithsonian in

particular, can turn the challenge of the digital revolution

into a golden opportunity. I ground my ideas in the fundamental purposes of cultural and science institutions

rather than the technology

that will drive the change,

as I believe technology

should serve as an enabler

and not as an end in itself.

Technology at its best improves our lives and helps

humans to comprehend

the world in an era of information explosion. Thus I

begin the discussion of

what technology can offer

in the future with a look at the role educational institutions serve within our democratic form of government.

1. United Nations International Telecommunication Union, “ITU Releases Latest Global Technology Figures.” Press release, 27 February

2013.

http://www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/press_releases/2013/05.aspx#.UTEYNaG18E

2. Kevin Carey. “Into the Future with MOOC’s.” The Chronicle of Higher

Education, 3 September 2012.

http://chronicle.com/article/Into-the-Future-With-MOOCs/134080/

3. Anupama Chandrasekaran. “Lacking Teachers and Textbooks, India’s

Schools Turn to Khan Academy to Survive.” The New York Times,

15 October 2012.

4. Betty Farrell and Maria Medvedeva. Demographic Transformation and

the Future of Museums, Center for the Future of Museums, 2010.

http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu/publications/DemographicTransformation.pdf
11
12 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 2

Fundamental

to a Democracy
13

The Constitution of the United States created a government like no other in the world at the time

— a representative democracy. The founders understood

that our nation would not long survive if it did not also

have new social constructs to sustain the republic.

Among these were education and a system to deliver it.

In its early years our nation had no form of public education; universities were largely private and religiously affiliated, and museums and libraries were rare. Washington,

Jefferson, Madison, and Adams, among others, wrote

about the need for public education, expressing the view

that it was necessary to enable citizens to

make informed decisions and to protect liberty. They also believed that education

should serve all segments of society.

George Washington, in his Farewell Address in 1796: “Promote then, as an object

of primary importance, institutions for the

general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives

force to public opinion, it is essential that

public opinion should be enlightened.”5

Thomas Jefferson: “If a

nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of

civilization, it expects what

never was and never will

be."6

John Adams: “Before any

great things are accomplished, a memorable

change must be made in the system of education and

knowledge must become so general as to raise the lower

ranks of society nearer to the higher. The education of a

nation, instead of being confined to a few schools and

universities for the instruction of the few, must become

the national care and expense for the formation of the

many.”7

James Madison: “The American people owe it to

themselves, and to the cause of free government, to

prove by their establishments for the advancement and

diffusion of knowledge, that their political institutions,

which are attracting observations

from every quarter ... are as favorable to the intellectual and moral

improvement of man as they are

conformable to his individual and

social rights. What spectacle can be

more edifying or more seasonable,

than that of liberty and learning,

each leaning on the other for their

mutual and surest support.”8

Thomas Jefferson,

James Madison,

George Washington
14 Best of Both Worlds

Noah Webster: “In our American republic, where

government is in the hands of the people, knowledge

should be universally diffused by means of public schools

... the more generally knowledge is diffused among the

substantial yeomanry, the more perfect will

be the laws of a republican state.”9

The founders knew that our nation needed institutions

to provide universal access to learning and education,

and that education was fundamental not only to individual growth and fulfillment, but also to the viability of the

nation itself. Thomas Jefferson submitted his Bill for the

More General Diffusion of Knowledge to the

Virginia Assembly in 1778 and again in 1780. It was defeated both times, but he persisted, and in 1796 a version

was passed that led to the establishment of elementary

schools. He also obtained passage of a bill in 1818 that established the University of Virginia, a public university

which he personally designed.

10

The founding mission of the Smithsonian was “the

increase and diffusion of knowledge.” For 167 years, it has

lived up to its promise by providing exhibitions in its own

and affiliate museums, conducting original research, and

documenting branches of knowledge in its libraries and

archives. Today, digital technology offers the Smithsonian,

and the larger community of museums, archives, and

libraries, an opportunity not only to build on and improve

what they have always done well, but also to serve a

larger national role, potentially reaching every state, city,

and town, every school, and every single citizen.

5. George Washington’s Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799:

Series 2 Letterbooks, George Washington, 17 September 1796, Farewell

Address, p. 233.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mgw2&fileName=

gwpage024.db&recNum=242

6. Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Colonel Charles Yancey, January 6, 1816. Series 1 Thomas Jefferson Papers, Image #731-724, Manuscript Division,

Library of Congress. http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mtj.mtjbib022264

7. John Adams to Mathew Robinson Jr., 23 March 1786. Reel 113, Adams

Family Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

http://www.masshist.org/adams/slipfile/single_slip_viewer.php?

id=051738

8. James Madison letter to W.T. Barry, 4 August 1822. The James Madison

Papers, The Library of Congress: American Memory Collection.

http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mjm.20_0155_0159

9. Noah Webster. A Collection of Essays and Fugitiv Writings: On Moral,

Historical, Political and Literary Subjects. Boston, 1790. Reprint (Delmar,

N.Y.: Scholars’ Facsimiles & Reprints, 1977).

10. Merrill D. Peterson, ed. Thomas Jefferson: Writings: Autobiography,

Notes on the State of Virginia, Public and Private Papers, Addresses, Letters.

The Library of America, Book No. 17 (New York, NY: Literary Classics of

the U.S., Inc., 15 August 1984).

The founders knew that our nation

needed institutions to provide

universal access to learning and

education, and that education was

fundamental not only to individual

growth and fulfillment, but also

to the viability of the nation itself.
15
16 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 3

Delivering on

Education’s Promise
17

During the 1800s, the Founding Fathers’

ideas were first manifested in mandatory elementary education, which was subsequently extended to include

high school.

11 The 19th century also saw the creation of

non-sectarian universities and colleges, and religious affiliations within many private universities were loosened.

When Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act in

1862, land grant universities were created to serve the

needs of society and the nation's economy by helping

advance agriculture and technology.

12 After World

War II, the creation of federal agencies such as the

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

(DARPA) and the National Science Foundation (NSF)

energized the research agendas of universities.

13 Federal funding led to explosive growth of research and

graduate programs and drove specialization with an

ever-expanding set of

majors and departments. Specialized research and graduate

programs soon became essential components within the

umbrella concept of a

university campus.

Today the model

for universities is

again in flux, because

the rapid spread of digital technology offers greater

opportunity to deliver education to adult learners and

traditional students alike. Although some elements of

university culture are tradition-bound, in a larger sense

universities have successfully adapted to a series of

rapid and substantial changes in society.

Then there are the museums, archives, and libraries

that form the third leg of America’s public education

stool. Museums developed on a slower curve than universities and evolved along a very different path. Their foundation was centered on collections, with one of the first

established in Philadelphia in 1786 by Charles Willson

Peale as a “Cabinet of

Curiosities” using artifacts documenting the

seminal moments of

discovery in the new

world.

14 Museum construction in the United

States flourished in the

late 19th and early 20th

centuries, during what

is commonly known as

the Museum Age. Their

role was to educate and

inform the public

through exhibitions and

dioramas. Conservators

maintained the collections and curators developed exhibitions, but neither was commonly visible to the museum-going public.

With time, research and scholarship grew in

importance, and larger museums developed

the resources to maintain sophisticated laboratories and staff for this purpose.

As with universities, early museums were encyclopedic, and specialization became a driving force in their development. Unlike universities, where large campuses

provided a single home for dozens of specialties, museums tended to focus around single themes such as art,

history, culture, or science. While this approach allowed a

clear identity, it limited museums’ ability to address issues that cut across disciplines. Universities have also

had the advantage of targeting and serving specific

groups, while museums aspire to reach a much broader

and less well-defined audience.

Today the model for

universities is again in

flux, because the

rapid spread of digital technology

offers greater opportunity to

deliver education to adult learners

and traditional students alike.
18 Best of Both Worlds

11. Michael S. Katz. A History of Compulsory Education Laws, (Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation, 1976).

12. “Morrill Act.” Primary Documents in American History, Library of

Congress. http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Morrill.html

13. Homer Neal, Tobin Smith and Jennifer McCormick. Beyond Sputnik:

U.S. Science Policy in the 21st Century (Ann Arbor, MI: The University of

Michigan Press, 2008).

14. Sidney Hart, Lillian B. Miller, and David C. Ward, Eds. Charles Willson

Peale: The Artist in His Museum, 1791-1810. The Selected Papers of Charles

Willson Peale and His Family, Vol. 2 (New Haven, CT: Yale University

Press, 1988).

15. “About Museums.” American Alliance of Museums.

http://www.aam-us.org/about-museums/museum-facts

Museums were largely insulated from the growth engines that changed universities in the 20th century as research and graduate programs expanded rapidly. Given

their reliance on collections and their limited ability to

grow resources, the nature of museums changed relatively little over the last century, although the focus of

their missions recently

began to shift from collecting and preserving

objects to serving their

visitors. Nevertheless,

communities and cities

continue to value museums, and they serve an

essential role in providing

places where families can

learn about culture, history, and science in an informal

setting. According to the American Alliance of Museums,

the United States presently has more than 17,500 museums attracting 850 million visits a year.

15

Archives and libraries preceded the establishment of

museums, although in their first incarnation they were

largely in private hands. Over time, archives and libraries

have evolved into stand-alone entities like the National

Archives and the Library of Congress in this country. They

have also become integral parts of universities and organizations such as the Smithsonian. The archive and library

world and its role are changing rapidly as a result of digital technology, as will be shown in this document.

The looming question is: What is the future role of museums, archives, and libraries in a digital world with an insatiable appetite for information and knowledge? While I

have a bias from my own professional career, I believe

their role will change, and these entities will be coupled

more closely with our nation's other educational institutions. Access to digital information will not respect arbitrary institutional boundaries, and digital delivery will

transform them all.

The looming question is: What is the

future role of museums, archives,

and libraries in a digital world with

an insatiable appetite for information and knowledge?
19
20 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 4

A Smithsonian

for One and for All
21

The Smithsonian Institution was

founded in 1846 at a time when universities, libraries, and

museums were growing in importance in the nation. Its

origins lay in a will written in 1826 by James Smithson, a

prominent English scientist who never set foot in this

country. His will left his estate to the United States, and,

echoing the words of our founding fathers, he called for

the establishment of an institution for the "increase and

diffusion of knowledge" to be founded in the nation's capital.

16 The charter for what became the Smithsonian was

written by members of Congress and passed in 1846. The

Institution was created as a federal trust, with its revenue

initially derived from the Smithson endowment. However,

when demands from the rapid growth of the collections

— in some cases imposed upon the Institution — outstripped funds from the endowment, a federal appropriation was

secured. Today, the Smithsonian

is funded by a combination of

federal and private revenues. It is

governed by a Board of Regents

composed of the Chief Justice of

the United States Supreme Court

as Chancellor, the Vice President

as Vice Chancellor, three members of the Senate, three members of the House of

Representatives, and nine private citizens.

With no explicit directions from Mr. Smithson as to the

organization of the Institution, it evolved into something

unique, with flavors of library, museum, and university

mixed into a recipe that ultimately included science, art,

history, and culture. In its earliest days, the Smithsonian

was one of the nation's first federal entities with a science

mission, and the first secretary, Joseph Henry, was the de

facto science advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

Henry was a prominent scientist in his own right and a

leader in the field of electromagnetism, which was fundamental to the development of the telegraph. He was also

interested in predicting the weather, a science which at

the time was in its infancy. These twin interests led to

what was likely the first use of an emerging digital technology as a crowdsourcing tool. As telegraph lines were

strung westward along railways, Henry realized that if

people along the lines had basic tools such as a thermometer and a barometer, they could send him a steady

stream of readings by telegraph. With enough such observations, he could plot weather systems moving from

west to east, which he displayed on maps in the Great

Hall of the Smithsonian Castle. In linking new technology

with people power, Henry formed the basis for what became the National Weather Service. He also foreshadowed what we know today about the power of digital

technology when he said, “The worth and importance of

the Institution are not to be

estimated by what it accumulates within the walls of

its building, but by what it

sends forth to the world.”17

James Smithson

“The worth and importance of the

Institution are not to be estimated

by what it accumulates within the

walls of its building, but by what it

sends forth to the world.”

— JOSEPH HENRY
22 Best of Both Worlds

Over time, the Smithsonian’s science role

changed, supplanted in some cases by other

federal agencies and science-based organizations that emerged to meet growing national needs. Science remains a prominent part of the Institution, but over

the years, art, history, and culture have grown in importance as well.

At the Smithsonian, growth was sometimes a matter

of choice, but it has also come in response to needs identified by Congress or the Executive Branch. As a result,

the Institution came to be an amalgam of entities, encompassing a broad and unusual institutional reach unlike any other in the federal government.

Today the Smithsonian Institution consists of 19 museums and

galleries, 20 libraries, nine research centers, and the National

Zoo. It includes its own considerable historical archives, the

Smithsonian Institution

Archives, as well as the Archives

of American Art, a repository of

historical documents from and

about great American artists and

art collectors, and more than a

dozen topical archives and special collections within its museums. The Smithsonian collections

now include 137 million objects,

specimens, and works of art, and

163,000 cubic feet of archival

material. The Institution conducts research on a far-reaching

agenda in its museums and research centers as well as in more

than 100 countries. Its science

agenda is focused on astrophysics, environment and ecology, and natural and physical sciences, and its science collections are the largest in

the world.

Education has always been at the core of the Smithsonian, but today this role is growing. The Smithsonian

provides materials and lesson plans for K–12 curricula,

presents courses and entertainment programs for adults

and students alike, and partners with universities to offer

advanced-level degree programs. At the same time, the

museums remain one of the most visible aspects of the

Smithsonian, and some 30 million visits are made to

them and the National Zoo annually. Many more visitors

access the Smithsonian using the Internet, and their numbers are growing.

18

Could not the impact of

the Smithsonian be even

greater if its resources and

research activities were

more accessible to more

people?
23

In 2009 and 2010 the Smithsonian undertook a comprehensive strategic

planning process involving more than 1,500 people to shape its focus and set

a course for the future. Four Grand Challenges were chosen that framed the

majority of the work of the Institution: (1) Unlocking the Mysteries of the

Universe; (2) Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet; (3) Valuing

World Cultures; and (4) Understanding the American Experience.

Institutional goals were set in support of the Grand Challenges. One of

these was to become a Smithsonian for one and for all through an aggressive

use of digital technology, providing access to the Institution’s remarkable resources and reaching far larger audiences than in the past, particularly those

who have traditionally not been served. Among other things, the strategic plan

called for the Smithsonian to:

• Use new tools and technologies to broaden our worldwide access exponentially.

• Leverage the power of technology using new media and social networking

tools to deliver information in customized ways to those who cannot visit

in person.

• Digitize the collections and make them accessible online.

• Take advantage of a range of interactive, Web-based technologies to encourage continuous exploration by learners of all ages.

MUSEUMS AND

GALLERIES

LIBRARIES

RESEARCH

CENTERS

19

OBJECTS, SPECIMENS &

WORKS OF ART

137 MILLION

NATIONAL

1ZOO

20

137,000cu.ft.

9

23

The Smithsonian

By Numbers:

ARCHIVAL MATERIAL
FOUR GRAND CHALLENGES FRAME

THE MAJORITY OF THE WORK OF

THE INSTITUTION: 1. UNLOCKING

THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

2. UNDERSTANDING AND SUSTAINING

A BIODIVERSE PLANET 3. VALUING

WORLDCULTURES4.UNDERSTANDING

THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

24 Best of Both Worlds
25

The concept of "reaching new audiences" takes on a

new, more personal meaning when you hear people describe their “Smithsonian experience.” Most remember

their first encounter with the Smithsonian, even if they

have not visited in many years. They recall their parents

taking them to the Smithsonian, where they saw something that inspired them and changed their life. Some

lived in the D.C. area and visited the Smithsonian often.

We frequently hear comments like, “Each time was an education. I learned something about the world I did not

know, and it was free.” That is the Smithsonian experience, and those of us fortunate enough to work there

hear such stories frequently.

The Smithsonian experience illustrates

the long-lasting impact the Institution has

on people, not just when they visit, but

throughout their lives. Thus, it is important

that Smithsonian museums and galleries

remain accessible and free of charge, enabling anyone who lives nearby or can afford to travel there to have their very own

Smithsonian experience.

Still, that nagging question remains as

to why this experience should be limited

just to those two aforementioned groups

— the ones who can afford the trip to visit or who have

the good fortune to live nearby. Could not the impact of

the Smithsonian be even greater if its resources and research activities were more accessible to more people?

Today, many thoughtful people rightfully worry about

what columnist David Brooks has referred to as the “opportunity gap” in our nation.

19 As he points out, growing

evidence demonstrates an increasing disparity in our society between the educational opportunities available to

children from upper-income groups and those stranded

and increasingly mired in lower-income groups. As

Brooks states, “It is not only that richer kids have become

more active [in enrichment programs]. Poorer kids have

become more pessimistic and detached.” He cites Harvard University sociologist Robert Putnam, who said, “It is

perfectly understandable that kids from working-class

backgrounds have become cynical and paranoid, for virtually all of our major social institutions have failed them.”

This dichotomy now extends up the food chain as

our nation’s public universities, which once offered

high-quality education at low

tuition rates, have now responded to severe state

budget cuts by raising tuition, cutting off economically disadvantaged

students. Add in the fact that fewer than 70 percent of

our minority youths even graduate from high school,

20

and it becomes clear we are retreating from a society

with a strong middle class and a widespread belief that

upward societal mobility is possible.

Having grown up in a small rural town in the Deep

South, I can appreciate what the lack of cultural enrichment opportunity means. We had no museums and few

cultural amenities, but fortunately my parents encouraged our intellectual growth as best they could, and the

We need to allow learners

and seekers to access not only

our museums but also the

marvelous science resources

at the Smithsonian.
26 Best of Both Worlds

availability of affordable, accessible public education gave

me a better life. For me, the opportunity to attend the

Georgia Institute of Technology to obtain a B.S. and M.S.

in civil engineering, and then receive my Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley, was transformative. These

opportunities were due in part to the fact that I was a reasonably bright kid, but the doors would not have opened

without low tuition and a generation of faculty who understood that one of the privileges of working at a research university was encouraging young people to reach

their full potential.

My cultural education was largely the result of my

being a voracious reader, but I had little guidance in this

quest. I consumed William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor,

biographies, and historical novels, and over time learned

to appreciate art and culture. Yet my first visit to the

Smithsonian did not occur until I was in early adulthood —

an all-too-common story for millions of other Americans.

It is time to change this pattern, not only in the interest

of equity, but because our country needs it. We need to

allow learners and seekers to access not only our museums but also the marvelous science resources at the

Smithsonian. Fortunately, our generation has been given a

once-in-a-lifetime, golden opportunity to open the Smithsonian’s great store of resources to all the American people.

16. Steven Lubar and Kathleen M. Kendrick, Legacies: Collecting America’s

History at the Smithsonian (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Press, 2001).

17. “Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution for the Year 1852” (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing

Office, 1853), p. 20.

http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/henry/joseph-henrys-life

18. “About Us.” Smithsonian Institution. http://www.si.edu/About

19. David Brooks. “The Opportunity Gap.” The New York Times. 9 July

2012.

20. Robert Stillwell and Jennifer Sable. Public School Graduates and

Dropouts from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2009–10: First Look

(Provisional Data). U.S. Department of Education NCES 2013-309rev

(Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics, January

2013). http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013309rev.pdf
27
28 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 5

A Changing Role

for Museums
29

Even before the arrival of present-day

digital technology, thought leaders among museum professionals recognized the need to make museums more

relevant and revitalize their role. Their work provides the

philosophical groundwork for the appropriate use of digital technology.

The Smithsonian's Stephen Weil, once the longtime

deputy director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture

Garden, was an early leader in seeking to redefine the role

of the museum to serve the greater public good, and he

wrote extensively on the subject, including his 2002 seminal book, Making Museums Matter. As Weil put it, “Museums matter only to the extent that they are perceived to

provide communities they serve with something of value

beyond their mere existence.”21

He was also an advocate for a cross-disciplinary approach for museums, and wrote of “two other aspects of

American museums that may

be considered ripe for compensating changes. One is the

way they are divided along disciplinary lines by the types of

collections they hold — most

typically art, history and science. The other is the way they

are staffed and how museum

workers are trained. In both respects, the overwhelming majority of American museums and museum training

programs continue to operate as if World War II had only

just ended and as if collections were still at the center of

the museum’s concerns.”22

Weil understood that to change the dynamic required

rethinking how museums connected to people, which in

turn related to collections, exhibitions, museum curators,

and the nature of the museum experience. In questioning

the role of the museum, he found it could be strengthened.

David Anderson of the Victoria and Albert Museum

argued in a talk in 2005 that "since abandoning their

commitment to ‘useful learning’ a century or so ago, museums ... have lacked a credible definition of their role."

He called for museums to recognize that “cultural democracy can only be achieved if museums and other institutions now give priority to public learning.”23 The 2009

National Science Foundation report on Learning Science in

Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits (LSIE),

provided a new assessment of the significance of the kind

of informal learning that occurs in museums, pointing out

that its natural advantages are growing in importance

given the nature of the challenges faced in educating

young people today.

24 Informal environments are perfect

for experiential learning, team exercises, and working

across disciplines — the very forms of learning that are

de-emphasized in formal learning environments.

Over the past few years I have visited dozens of the

178 regional art, history, and science museums that are

members of our Smithsonian Affiliations program, and I

have been encouraged by an

almost universal movement

toward more effective use of

informal learning. Exhibitions

“Museums matter only to the extent that

they are perceived to provide communities

they serve with something of value

beyond their mere existence.”

— STEPHEN WEIL
30 Best of Both Worlds

are more engaging, and they provide opportunities for extended, post-visit learning. Many science museums offer

schools the opportunity for both physical and digital field

trips that include follow-up activities and allow data-sharing and interaction among student groups. These are all

positive signs, but this is only a good first step, because

the opportunities that are going to be offered through developments in digital technology will go beyond any of

our present expectations.

In a key paper in 2008, Elaine Gurian made the case

for what she termed “The Essential Museum,” by asking

the question, "What if our profession created a museum

in which visitors could comfortably search for answers to

their own questions regardless of the importance placed

on such questions by others?" As she noted, the old museum paradigm appeals largely to a narrow segment of

the population that is more and more unlike the changing

demographic profile of the United States. She argued for

the introduction of new digital search tools that allow

users to access collections to meet their own needs,

rather than those perceived by the museum, requiring a

change in the role of curator from "teacher and transmitter" to "facilitator and assister." She concluded with a call

for museums to "respect each visitor's individual quest ...

provide access to information systems that are easy to

understand and transferable ... and include ways for the

public to add information to the system and respond to

the information left by others.”25 This is a perceptive case,

made before the advent of the technology that has the

potential to achieve her expectations.

Robert Janes, in his provocative book Museums in a

Troubled World, published in 2009, stated the call for renewing the relevance of museums: “I will argue that the

majority of museums, as social institutions, have largely

eschewed on both moral and practical grounds, a broader

commitment to the world in which they operate. Instead,

“What if our profession created a

museum in which visitors could

comfortably search for answers to

their own questions regardless of

the importance placed on such

questions by others?”

— ELAINE GURIAN
31

they have allowed themselves to be held increasingly

captive by the economic imperatives of the marketplace

and their own internally driven agendas.” He uses the

term resilience to identify “innovative and progressive

museum practice,” because “resilience ... suggests a

frame of mind not bound by deadening routine, habit or

traditional practices. Most importantly for museums, becoming resilient allows systems and organizations to absorb large disturbances without changing their

fundamental natures.” He concludes, “I suggest that upholding decency at a

time of extraordinary

change will also require a new breed of

museums grounded in

consciousness of the

world around them —

renouncing complacency and fulfilling

their latent potential as

community organizers

of the highest order.”26

Another clarion call for a new framework

for museums was issued by Nina Simon in

2010, in her book, The Participatory Museum.

She imagines a future in which a museum is

“a place where each person's actions are networked with those of others into cumulative

and shifting content for display, sharing, and

remix. A place where people discuss the objects on display with friends and strangers,

sharing diverse stories and interpretations. A

place where people are invited on an ongoing

basis to contribute, to collaborate, to co-create, and to

co-opt the experiences and content in a designed, intentional environment. ... A place that gets better the more

people use it.”27

Weil, Anderson, Simon, Janes, and Gurian all make the

case for museums to become more relevant to society,

and they provide ideas and insights to accomplish this

goal. The challenges for achieving their vision are real,

and there is a risk in making choices to get there. But it is

clear that digital technology provides an approach that is

rich with potential. The use of such technology has to be

focused on education and learning, some of which should

be structured and purpose-driven, and some of which

should be open-ended and curiosity-driven.

The path forward requires making choices. How much time do

we have to make them? It would

be easy to equate our circumstances with those described by

Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen in his

book, The Innovator’s Dilemma.

28

This concern fundamentally goes back to Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter’s "creative destruction" concept,

in which one generation of technology displaces another,

causing a disruption in the business cycle and the society

around it.

29 The Industrial Revolution is replete with such

examples, one of the most famous being when steam engines were used to automate textile mills in England. This

change was a boon for society at large, since it lowered

“The use of digital technology has to be

focused on education and learning, some

of which should be structured and purposedriven, and some of which should be

open-ended and curiosity-driven.”
32 Best of Both Worlds

For today’s museums, the institutional question at

hand is: Are brick-and-mortar museums, with their curators and expensive collections, going to be victims of the

digital museum? The answers are no and maybe. People

continue to place great value on a physical visit to a museum, as noted by those who have had the “Smithsonian experience.” In fact, overall museum visitation is up in recent

years, and the experience is one that brings families together. Through their cultural outreach programs and performances, museums also provide far more than

exhibitions to their local communities. And in the end,

digital museums depend on physical museums for content, expertise, and collections.

However, as digital technology becomes more pervasive and expectations continue to change rapidly, the role

of the digital museum will grow. New technology will also

continue to enhance the possibilities of digital access. For

example, in the not-too-distant future we are likely to be

able to pull up holograms in our homes

of museum objects that have been rendered in three-dimensional digital

image files. Already the Smithsonian is

producing such files, which can be

used with 3-D printers to allow objects

from museums to be copied at schools

and homes. Using digitized collections

in this way enables members of the

public to put together their own stories

and exhibitions without the help of the

museum that maintains the collections.

As they use digital collections, the connections that individuals make will be as diverse as the individuals themselves, which in turn will help museums find new ways to

connect to the public they serve. The possibilities for use

of digital technology are eye-opening to say the least.

That said, physical museums will always hold their

value. As historian and National Museum of American

History Board member David McCullough has said, "The

thrill — the essential, never-ending fascination — of all to

the cost of clothing enormously and gave average citizens

previously unimagined choices of fabrics and colors. But

it also caused thousands of skilled loom workers to lose

their jobs, some of whom took matters into their own

hands and tried to destroy the steam engines and the automated mills. We came to know these folks as "Luddites," a name that still sticks to those among us who

choose to avoid the advantages of new technology because of its detrimental side effects.

Part of the innovator's dilemma is deciding when to

implement a full-scale conversion to a new technology,

particularly when an existing product line is still eminently successful. The classic story here is that of RCA,

which in the 1960s focused on its very successful and

profitable business of manufacturing and selling vacuum

tubes, and neglected to protect the low end of the electronic consumer market. That provided an opening for a

small Japanese company named Sony to enter the market

with an inexpensive product called a Walkman based on

new transistor technology. The rest of the story is history

as Sony ate its way up the electronics food chain, while

RCA only realized that its vacuum-tube market had vanished when it was too late to change.

For today’s museums, the institutional

question at hand is: Are brick-andmortar museums, with their curators

and expensive collections, going to be

victims of the digital museum?
33
34 Best of Both Worlds

be found here within these walls ...

is that they are all the real thing.

There are no facsimiles here, no

reproductions, no approximations."30 People will continue to be

drawn to the power of the real

thing, and museums serve as destinations for families

and the site of generations of shared experiences. At the

same time, the growth of the digital museum is inevitable,

and its potential for expanded outreach is too important

to resist.

Those of us who are presently responsible for physical

museums, research centers, libraries, and archives must

continually improve them and what they do, while also

embracing the opportunities offered by the digital world.

In fact, the two can ultimately be mutually reinforcing. If

digital linkages elevate an awareness of what museums,

libraries, and archives have to offer, then the desire to actually visit them should increase. This is a trend museums,

archives, and libraries should rush to encourage.

21. Stephen E. Weil. Making Museums Matter (Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Press, 2002), pp. 4, 5, 41.

22. Ibid.

23. David Anderson. “New Lamps for Old: Museums in the Learning

Age.” Paper presented at the Museums Australia Conference, 2005.

http://audience-research.wikispaces.com/file/view/Anderson+MA+

keynote.pdf

24. Philip Bell, Bruce Lewenstein, Andrew Shouse, and Michael Feder,

Eds. Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places and Pursuits.

Report of the National Research Council Board on Science Education,

Committee on Learning Science in Informal Environments (Washington,

D.C.: National Academies Press, January 2009).

25. Elaine Huemann Gurian. “The Essential Museum.” The Informal

Learning Review, No. 89, March–April 2008.

26. Robert R. Janes. Museums in a Troubled World: Renewal, Irrelevance or

Collapse? (London: Routledge, 2009), pp. 13, 141, 185.

27. Nina Simon. The Participatory Museum (Santa Cruz, CA: Museum

2.0, March 2012), p. 350.

28. Clayton Christensen. The Innovator’s Dilemma (New York: Harper

Business, 2000).

29. Joseph Schumpeter. Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (New York:

Harper, 1975 [originally published 1942]).

30. David McCullough. Keynote address, National Museum of American History re-opening ceremony, 19 November, 2008.
35
36 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 6

Putting It

in Perspective
37

Withina relatively short period of time, digital

technology has permeated virtually every aspect of society.

The Internet has become central to our lives as an information resource; there are almost 7 billion cell phones in

use; human kind generates 1200 exabytes of data annually

(each exabyte equals 100 billion gigabytes); and computers are found in the simplest of consumer products.

31 By

the end of 2013, 1.4 billion smartphones and 268 million

tablets are projected to be in

use.

32 Their users are expected to

download 56 billion smartphone

apps and 14 billion tablet apps this

year.

33 Some call the 3.5 billion

people born after the onset of the

digital age, about 1980, “digital

natives” — a generation who think

and communicate differently from

previous generations.

34 As a result

of these differences, there is a huge demand for digital

content and learning resources, which universities, museums,

libraries, and archives are perfectly positioned to meet.

Learning providers have had an on-again, off-again

romance with digital technology. Early adopters often

found their efforts frustrating because the hype about

the abilities of digital technology exceeded the reality;

equipment was less than facile; only a small percentage

of the public had access; and an institutional investment

in a large-scale software or hardware system took so long

to implement that it could often be declared a loss before

it was used. Many institutions found themselves caught

in a “start-stop” pattern in which their decision to start

with a major investment in one generation of technology

was overrun by new technology, leading them to stop

implementation while a new approach was developed.

Today's technology is more robust and pervasive and may

be less prone to "start-stop," but it is useful to consider

not only where we are, but also the road we travelled to

get here.

What follows is a review of the use of digital technology in learning and cultural institutions. It is not intended

to be encyclopedic, but rather to illustrate trends and cite

examples, challenges, and best practices. In many cases

the information about libraries, archives, and museums

was obtained through interviews with colleagues in the

United States, Great Britain, and Europe who generously

shared their insights about their own experiences with

progress and setbacks.

EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Educational institutions that are considered to represent

formal learning, primary, secondary, and post-secondary,

for-profit and nonprofit, are being fundamentally changed

by digital technology. A new model merging education

with technology seems to be announced each day. Most

recently, the two largest providers of what are known as

MOOCs (massive open online courses) announced new

worldwide partnerships with leading universities in

Canada, Mexico, Europe, China, Singapore, Japan, and

Australia, in addition to signing more American universities.

35

9%

32%

IN THE FALL OF2002 ABOUT OF THE ENROLLMENT

IN DEGREE-GRANTING INSTITUTIONS WAS ONLINE, BUT BY FALL

OF2011 THIS FIGURE HAD RISEN TO .
38 Best of Both Worlds

iTunes U, the online digital education outlet, recently

passed the 1 billion download mark, and Apple claims to

have sold more than 8 million iPads directly to educational institutions worldwide. iTunes U actually became a

stand-alone app, complete with its own course marketplace and catalog, in June 2012.

36

Overall, more middle- and high-school teachers are

using digital tools in their classrooms and professional

lives, according to the most recent study by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project. Teachers are actually becoming users of advanced technology,

and when surveyed, 92 percent of Advanced Placement

and National Writing Project teachers across the United

States said the Internet has a “major impact on their ability to access content, resources, and materials for ...

teaching.”37

The history of digital engagement in the educational

establishment is replete with the “start-stop” experiences

referenced above, in which large experiments foundered

because of technological over-reach, lack of technical

support, and lack of resources to refresh content, software,

and equipment. Adoption and use of digital technology,

especially within secondary education, is irregular, and

gaps are found in poorer school districts where there is

little access to resources and in rural areas where broadband access is still problematic.

But the old saying, “timing is

everything,” applies here. For example,

the remarkable success of the Khan

Academy would not have been possible

without a new generation of digital technology and the widespread adoption of

mobile technology. Created in 2008 by

Salman Khan after his experience mentoring his cousin online in 6th-grade

math, the Academy features lessons

developed by Khan using an electronic

blackboard to lay out concepts of math

and science in elegant simplicity. Today

the Khan Academy has thousands of

such lessons available for free, and millions of satisfied

users are accessing them on a regular basis.

38 This

approach is particularly effective in allowing students to

repeat lessons until they master the subject matter

before they move on to a more advanced topic.

The future of approaches like the Khan Academy is

still unclear. Thus far it has served as a complement to

formal education, but it may replace some formal courses

altogether for students who are motivated and given the

option to test out of courses and grade levels. To date, the

Academy has focused on primary and secondary education, but Khan has indicated he believes there is a role to

play in higher education.

39

While there are a few large-scale success stories such

as the Khan Academy, the more common model is a

gradual accommodation of digital technology. That is not

to imply that educational institutions are intentionally
39

moving slowly, but rather that it takes time for institutions to change, to find

the rightful place for technology in helping teachers do their work, and to

ensure that students are actually benefiting from advances in technology.

At the university level, digital technology is changing even the most basic

model, beginning with the way the classroom works. Many universities,

including my former employer, Georgia Tech, now require computers for each

student and have built their curricula around the technology. Recent changes

move beyond a simplistic interpolation of technology into the classroom

toward enhancing the experience and offering both faculty and students a

more meaningful learning environment.

A good example is the flip teaching concept or the flipped classroom, which

leverages technology to enhance classroom learning. It is designed to enable

a teacher to spend more time interacting with students instead of lecturing.

Rather than using the traditional top-down teaching structure, a student is

provided with online teacher-created or other educational videos that serve as

preparatory materials for the classroom. The student then comes to class to

apply the knowledge learned, and the role of the teacher is to tutor students

and facilitate class discussion.

40

Beyond the classroom, higher education has long used digital technology to

deliver distance education, and this endeavor is becoming more pervasive and

sophisticated. In the fall of 2002 about 9 percent of the enrollment in degreegranting institutions was online, but by fall of 2011 this figure had risen to 32

percent, and all signs point to continuing increases.

41

In the early days, distance-learning enrollments were often driven by special

needs. For example, the University of Maryland University College (UMUC)

was founded with a focus on learners who were in the U.S. military, at bases in

the United States and overseas, but it has now expanded to a more general

population, with a total enrollment today of around 92,000.

42

In the for-profit world of higher education, distance learning has been

embraced by organizations such as the University of Phoenix. In business for

about 30 years, it now enrolls more than 300,000 students, with an average

age of 36, and offers degrees in a wide range of fields. Tuition for the courses

is not cheap, but is offset in many cases by federal government subsidies and

loans to students. Recently this particular model has had its challenges. The

University of Phoenix has been forced to shutter 25 main campuses and 90

smaller satellite learning centers. Enrollment decline due to competition from

other online providers is blamed, but low graduation rates and high default

rates are also factors. Similarly, Kaplan Higher Education, a division of The

Washington Post Company, announced that it was closing nine of its campuses and consolidating four others.

43

SMARTPHONES

WILL BE IN USE

BILLION

SMARTPHONE APPS

WILL BE DOWNLOADED

BILLION

1.4

TABLETS WILL BE IN USE

268 MILLION

14BILLION

56

By the end of 2013,

it is projected that:

TABLET APPS WILL

BE DOWNLOADED
40 Best of Both Worlds

Beyond the for-profit and nonprofit university models

that emulate traditional education but use digital delivery,

there are others. A prominent pioneer was the MIT

OpenCourseWare project which made its debut over a

decade ago and allowed anyone to access MIT courses,

or some of their content, using video and digital technology.

This approach did not lead to a degree but proved very

popular with the general public and set the stage for new

models that are now emerging.

As mentioned previously, the newest kid on the block

is the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), which can

enroll more than 100,000 students at a time, and its

opportunities are growing. Recently, a group of top universities agreed to offer free courses working through

Coursera44 while another group has formed around EDx.

Coursera and EDx provide the infrastructure to support

MOOCs for the participating universities. The

courses that have proven

most popular are in fields

like computer science

that are in high demand

around the world and do

not require sophisticated

laboratories. MOOCs

open access to far more

people than traditional

models of education and

can serve as a tool to

help students have

choice and break scheduling log-jams when courses are

not offered for them at the time needed on their own

campuses. They also potentially can serve as a brake on

the spiraling cost of higher education. However, MOOCs

are not without issues. Upwards of 50 to 90 percent of

the students in some classes drop out; the business

model is yet to be established; and the approach to

credentialing remains to be resolved.

45 Still, the MOOC

model illustrates the hunger for learning that spans the

globe.

Variations on the MOOC approach are continuing to

emerge and meeting with mixed success. On behalf of

the California State University System, San Jose State

recently partnered with the Silicon Valley start-up Udacity

to offer students who needed remedial education a

professor-guided course following the MOOC format.

After the first term, results were disappointing, with pass

rates of 20 to 44 percent, rates that fell below comparable traditional courses. The collaboration with Udacity

has been suspended pending review to determine whether

the experiment should be continued using a revised

format.

46 Udacity has also teamed up with the Georgia

Institute of Technology and will

offer the first MOOC-based

degree program this fall. M.S.

degrees are being offered in

computer science and the

courses can be taken part-time

over three years. Students will

pay for the degree program

although at a reduced amount

compared to those working on

computer science degrees in

the traditional campus-based

program. Development costs

for the MOOC courses were

offset by a $2 million grant from AT&T. There is optimism

that this experiment will be successful given Georgia

Tech’s extensive experience with online courses and ability

to attract top students from around the world.

47

Much is still to be learned about how all of the changes

wrought by digital technology will play out in the long run

in formal educational settings. However, time and experience have led to improved understanding of the best uses

for technology, while at the same time new devices have

improved functionality and digital content has increased

exponentially. We are approaching a tipping point where

Adoption and use of digital technology,

especially within secondary education,

is irregular, and gaps are found in

poorer school districts where there is

little access to resources and in rural

areas where broadband access is

still problematic.
41

a tool that has played only a marginal

role in formal educational settings is

now shifting the faculty/teacher role

from the authoritative information

source to facilitator and mentor.

LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Libraries and archives have had their

share of starts and stops along the

digital transition path, but overall they

were among the early adopters of digital

technology. These institutions were

founded to be repositories of knowledge and information that users

accessed and organized according to

their own tastes and desires. In the

case of libraries, the librarian has traditionally been a generalist whose job is

to help the user find material he or she

wants. This model is different from the

museum, where information and

knowledge are held in largely inaccessible collections, which are organized

and offered to the user through exhibitions based on the experience and

choices of the curator.

Because of the open access ethic of libraries and archives, it was natural to

use whatever means possible to make their information and knowledge available to users. Libraries have been quick to embrace social networking. By the

end of 2011, almost 90 percent of American libraries reported using Facebook

and almost half were using Twitter to promote their services, provide user

updates, and reach potential new users.

48 A second factor allowing libraries

and archives to adapt to the digital world is collections that are largely twodimensional and easier to digitize than complex museum collections. Libraries

also have a long history of comprehensive cataloging systems that are standardized across institutions, smoothing the way for digital cataloging, which

began in the early 1970s.
42 Best of Both Worlds

THE PROGRESS IN DIGITIZING

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVAL MATERIALS

BY THE GREAT INSTITUTIONS OF

THE UNITED STATES AND EUROPE

HAS CREATED ACCESS FOR THE

PUBLIC THAT WAS UNIMAGINED

ONLY A DECADE AGO.
43

An impressive example of what can be accomplished

by digitization of library resources through a collaborative

approach is the Biodiversity Heritage Library project

(BHL), founded in 2006 with the goal to “digitize and

make accessible the legacy literature of biodiversity” from

around the world.

49 The BHL is an effort by a consortium

of libraries with significant natural science collections,

with the Smithsonian Libraries serving as the lead. The

BHL has become a global enterprise with nodes operating

in Europe, China, Australia, Egypt, Brazil, and Africa. It

now has more than 40 million pages digitized, and they

are available through the BHL website. The BHL has also

placed content on iTunes U and Flickr.

Perhaps nothing illustrates the power of the BHL better

than the goal to digitize Charles Darwin’s library; in large

part this library is held in trust at Cambridge University,

but parts remain in the hands of Darwin family members.

Before the BHL, only a few people in the world might see

even parts of the library; today all of us can have access.

Individual libraries that have been leaders in the digital

movement include the Library of Congress and the New

York Public Library. The first digital projects at the Library

of Congress date as far back as the late 1980s, when CD

ROMs containing digitized manuscripts, photographs,

and maps from the original American Memory collection

were sent to nearly 60 schools. In 2007 a partnership

was established with the National Endowment for the

Humanities (NEH), to create the “Chronicling America”

website, which provides public access to newspaper

archives that have been digitized. The project recently hit

a milestone of digitizing nearly 6 million pages. Over the

course of the last decade, the Library of Congress has

become more targeted in its digitizing efforts, with a

focus on special collections such as the presidential

papers. The papers of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln,

and Madison have been completed and are online.

50

The New York City Public Library was an early adopter

of digital technology, and today is concentrating on digitization of collections of historical importance. Its website

offers access not only to documents but also to a large

collection of images and photographs. Our own Smithsonian Libraries began to digitize its collections in the

1990s, and this work continues today.

With growing online access to their resources, the

purpose of libraries as physical facilities is changing.

When I was at Georgia Tech, we saw that the students

were using the library without ever darkening its doorway,

because digital access was becoming so easy. Early in the

last decade, with the help of an innovative team of digital

specialists and the library staff, an experiment was begun

to reshape the library into a different kind of place — not

just a repository, but also a commons that blended the

physical and digital and provided adaptable space for

group digital endeavors, from working on team projects

and presentations to creative activities such as musical

jamming. Today the library even has a coffee bar.

The staffing of the Georgia Tech library commons

combined digital specialists and reference librarians.

With the help of the furniture company Herman Miller,

all of the fixtures were made mobile so that flexibility was

the rule of the day. This concept was recognized by the

Association of College and Research Libraries’ 2007 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award. It led to a tripling

of students and faculty using the library facility and ultimately resulted in an entirely new educational commons,

which opened in the fall of 2011. Many university libraries

have followed this model, and some are even adding simulation rooms or gaming facilities.

As digital technology is transforming libraries, changing

the way they serve the public, the way the public accesses

collections, and even the design of the physical facilities
44 Best of Both Worlds

themselves, it is changing archives as well. The National

Archives in Washington is proceeding aggressively to

digitize its collections using its own in-house resources,

assistance from volunteers, and third-party agreements

with organizations such as Ancestry.com. Public participation is encouraged through programs such as the Citizen

Archivist initiative, in which volunteers help with special

digitization projects, and “scan-a-thons,” to scan records

for uploading to sites such as Wikipedia. The goal is to

provide public access to all of the collections, but their

size creates a challenge.

Because the National Archives’ collections are so vast,

it has chosen to focus its digitization efforts on the

records that are most critical and heavily used. Priority

was given to digitizing the 1940 census, an important

juncture in history that represented the nexus for the

impacts of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and the

mobilization effort for World War II, which together

caused mass migrations from one part of the country to

another. It also was the first census with large-scale use

of Social Security numbers, providing a means to track

people as individuals.

51

There are digitization success stories

within the sector of

specialty archives.

With funding from the

Terra Foundation, the

Smithsonian’s Archives

of American Art created the Terra Foundation Center for Digital Collections to develop

the virtual repository of its most important

collections. To date, the Center has digitized

more than 130 collections, together with a

substantial subset of images, for a total of

more than 1.5 million digital files. The

Archives website allows scholars and the

public alike to access the papers and writings

of famous American artists, along with supporting articles and documents about them.

Overseas, the British Library and the

National Archives of the United Kingdom have relied

heavily and successfully on third-party agreements for

their digitization efforts. In 2003 the British Library

launched a partnership with ProQuest, a company that

develops a customized, revenue-producing online archive

for publications, to scan microfilm files of 17th-century

books. A partnership with Gale Cengage Learning focused

on digitizing 18th-century collections, while another collaboration with Brightsolid enabled the Library to digitize

the British Newspaper Archive. It is estimated that the

British Library now has 40 million digital assets.

52

The National Archives of the United Kingdom began

mass digitization in 2002, with the 1901 census as the

first project. The U.K. National Archives tracks progress

by comparing the number of times documents are downloaded with the number of times they are accessed in

hard copy by visitors to the reading room. To date, for

every one document produced for a reader in paper form,

230 are downloaded online.

53
45

As noted earlier, there is a growing move toward

aggregating digital library and archival collections, and

in the United States, organizations such as the Internet

Archive, HathiTrust, and Google Books have captured

millions of digitized documents and resources from the

public domain as well as copyrighted materials. These

organizations provide the public with access to enormous

resources, and the collections are continually growing.

However, public access to copyrighted materials has in

some cases led to legal action, an issue which remains to

be resolved. This matter is of particular interest to the

large collaboratives, since they often have interlocking

and cross-referenced materials. HathiTrust, for example,

does not display large portions of copyrighted works

without permission from the copyright holder, but sites

that allow users to upload materials can be vulnerable to

charges of copyright violation.

The World Digital Library (WDL), which was launched

in 2009, is another digital collaborative in the United

States. Although its materials are carefully curated, its

collection is relatively small. While a “library” in name,

the WDL’s digital collections also include audio and visual

files and objects.

More recent developments include the Digital Public

Library of America (DPLA), the Digital Preservation

Network, and the Academic Preservation Trust, with the

latter of the two focused on research university libraries

and resources. The still-growing DPLA now combines

digitized resources from 40 foundations, research institutions, cultural institutions, and libraries within a single

portal that allows the user to link them through thematic

applications. The Smithsonian is a participant and was

one of the first institutions to sign an agreement with the

DPLA to serve as a digital content hub, with the intent to

provide 800,000 records describing the digital holdings

of the Institution. An example of use of the portal is an

exhibition on the national parks, how they were formed,

and what their impact has been. This exhibition draws on

resources from many of the 40 institutions and consists

of written, visual, and audio materials. In time, DPLA will

not only produce many such exhibitions, but also allow

classes, affinity groups, and individuals to create exhibitions as well.

54

In Europe, work began in 2005 on a digital archive to

capture its cultural heritage, which in 2009 became

known as Europeana. Sponsored by the European Union,

Europeana includes a large collection of digital books and

library resources, but it also

has a strong focus on museum

collections, demonstrating that

traditional institutional boundaries break down in the digital

world.

Europeana provides

access to more than 27 million

books, films, paintings, museum

objects, and archival documents

from more than 200 content

providers. The content is drawn

from 31 countries, and the website had 5.3 million page

views in 2012, up from one million in 2010. Europeana

recently collaborated with the DPLA on a new virtual

exhibition, “Leaving Europe: A new life in America,”

which tells the story of European emigration to the

United States during the 19th and 20th centuries.

55

BY THE END OF2011, ALMOST OF AMERICAN LIBRARIES

REPORTED USING FACEBOOK AND ALMOST HALF WERE USING

TWITTER TO PROMOTE THEIR SERVICES, PROVIDE USER UPDATES,

AND REACH POTENTIAL NEW USERS.

90%
46 Best of Both Worlds

Another popular Europeana project involving citizen

engagement has been a series of road shows in collaboration

with Oxford University commemorating the anniversary

of the outbreak of World War I. This project uses “Collection Days,” on which citizens are invited to bring any stories

they have in the form of letters, photographs, films, and

newsreels, which are then digitized. So far the Archive

has gathered 50,000 files of World War I material —

mostly photographs but also uniforms, flags, a cigarette

tin with bullet holes in it, and even a postcard from Adolph

Hitler. A similar content-gathering initiative is underway

focusing on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin

Wall.

56

Linked Open Data is a new priority for Europeana through

the “Europeana Cloud” project, which will produce the

infrastructure to support larger digital resources than

presently available and provide improved digital linkage

to other information sources.

57

The progress in digitizing library and archival materials

by the great institutions of the United States and Europe

has created access for the public that was unimagined

only a decade ago. The results to date show that institutions and large and small collaboratives all have a role

and can fill different niches. Large collaboratives with

overarching collections provide access that spans institutional boundaries, allowing users freedom to explore and

learn at will. More is yet to come, with greater emphasis

on digitization of collections and new access tools, but

the early results are impressive.

MUSEUMS

While museums have experimented with digital technology since its early days, they have found it more difficult

to bring their efforts up to the scale of other learning

institutions. Impediments include the complexity of their

collections, a low level of technical infrastructure, and a

culture that was not built around open access other than

through exhibitions. In spite of the challenges, museums

that are willing to make the commitment and to live with

the inevitable setbacks have made progress.

Organizations that have provided key assistance along

the way include the Institute of Museum and Library

Services, which supports the efforts of these institutions

to be leaders in building digital communities, and the

New Media Consortium in collaboration with the Edward

and Betty Marcus Institute for Digital Education in the

Arts, which have provided valuable information on new

developments in the use of digital technology through

their Horizon Report series.

58

I was pleased to learn that my own institution, the

Smithsonian, was one of the early adopters of digital

technology and began to digitize its collections in the late

1960s.

59 In 1970, a milestone year for the Smithsonian, the

Botany Department of the National Museum of Natural

History took steps to create the world’s first database for

natural history collections, and the Smithsonian American

Art Museum (SAAM) developed the first searchable

database about American art. The Botany Department

was primarily interested in a database that would inventory its collections and make them accessible to scholars.

During the first half of the 1970s an early prototype became

available. In 1976, SAAM published its digital catalog as

the “Inventory of American Paintings,” based on public

and private collections in the United States and abroad.

The catalog, which is still available to the public through

the Smithsonian Institution Research Information System,

is an early example of the potential of digital technology.

Although both the botany and art projects eventually

were overrun by new technology, both of these organizations have built on their early experiences and continue to

lead in the creation of digital assets at the Smithsonian to

this day.

60 Later in this discussion, I will provide a more

comprehensive review of where things now stand at the

Smithsonian in its pursuit of the use of digital technology.

The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History at the Metropolitan Museum of Art provides a successful early digital

model for art collections that has had staying power.

Since 2000, the Met has made 5,000 years of art history

available to the public through online access to assets

including 7,000 objects, 930 essays, and 300 timelines.

Through the years, the Timeline has been updated, and
47

today it serves as a scholarly resource and a digital learning

vehicle for art history that attracts millions of enthusiasts

and students. Thanks to an unprecedented and generous

endowment from the Heilbrunn Foundation, New Tamarind

Foundation, and Zodiac Fund, it can be continually

updated.

61

In the last decade a number of regional art museums

in the United States have committed to digitizing their

collections and placing essentially all of their assets

online. A leader in this movement was the

Indianapolis Museum of Art, which also

launched ArtBabble in 2009, a video channel

providing documentary videos about art,

with an interactive component allowing the

general public to participate in describing

works of art.

62Hiring members of the digital

team from the Indianapolis Museum of Art

has enabled the Dallas Museum of Art to

strengthen its role in use of digital technology.

A new step toward higher-quality digital

collections involves placement of highresolution images from art collections online.

In the past year the National Gallery of Art

and the Los Angeles

County Museum of

Art each put more

than 20,000 highresolution images

from their collections

online, and the Getty

Museum recently announced their Open

Content Program

which will provide high-resolution images of their artwork

with 4,600 images available initially.

63 In contrast to

many museums which prohibit commercial use of

images from their collections, these museums placed no

restriction on the use of their digital images. Overseas,

the Rijksmuseum, the state museum in Amsterdam, started

digitizing its collection in 2006, and today 140,000 highresolution images are available through the Rijksstudio

section of the museum’s website. Users are invited to

download the images for free, create their own gallery,

and even make stationery or t-shirts out of the images.

In just seven and a half months online nearly 100,000

Rijksstudio accounts were created and nearly 300,000

images have been downloaded. The intent is to digitize

the entire collection, which includes one million artworks

spanning eight centuries.

64
48 Best of Both Worlds

The Cleveland Museum of Art, which has the majority

of its collections online and provides digital lessons about

them, also used a major renovation project to build technology into the Museum to enhance the visitor experience. A 40-foot-wide screen welcomes the visitor with

digital images of the objects displayed at the Museum.

With the touch of a hand, an image enlarges and the

screen displays information about the object. A second

touch allows the information to be downloaded onto a

visitor’s own tablet or one they have rented from the Museum. The Museum also features a special gallery of interactive digital technology that enables in-depth

exploration of works of art from its collection.

65

In Great Britain, the Tate, which is composed of four

separate museums (Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St Ives), began its digital push in 1998 with

funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. In 2012, after

several years of research and planning, Tate re-launched

its next-generation digital effort, now providing access to

all 69,000 works of art in its collection. Today 7 million

people visit the museum facilities each year, while the

number of unique visitors to the website totals 14

million.

66 The Victoria and Albert Museum, whose collections include fine arts, furniture, ceramics, tapestry, and

glass, began digitization in earnest about 10 years ago,

and to date 1.2 million records are available online, with

300,000 images. The Museum’s most recent five-year

strategic plan cites digital access to the collection as a

priority.

67

Compared to art museums, many science museums

have relatively small collections, and their use of digital

technology focuses more on experiential activities such

as field trips, presentations, and demonstrations than on

providing access to digitized collections. One of our nation’s oldest and leading science museums, the Museum

of Science, Boston, has been a pioneer in creating digital

materials for engineering curricula used by 50,000

teachers to instruct nearly five million elementary, middle, and high school students. The Museum is now bolstering its “virtual field trip” experience, which allows

online visitors to interact in real time with docents or presenters. In an innovative collaboration with the Department of Computer Science at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, the Museum is developing mobile robots that will image museum exhibits on demand and

transmit them to those who are home or hospital bound.

68

The New York Hall of Science is preparing an interactive digital exhibit for 2014 that will focus on environmental sustainability. Known as “Connected Worlds,” it will

offer visitors the opportunity to learn through data visualization tools, interactive digital technologies, “what if”

scenarios, and a game experience that considers water as

it relates to different habitats and connects to the environment and humans. The museum is also working on

new ways to provide virtual field trips for students who

are unable to come in person and to offer a greater variety of distance learning opportunities.

69

Across the Atlantic, the British Museum, which has

large science and cultural collections, began its digital efforts early with electronic cataloging in the 1970s. The

Museum’s physical collections include 8 million objects,

materials, and records. Two million digital records are

now available online, and more than 700,000 have one or

more images. The Museum is readying a push to take its

digital work to the next level, and recently created a Department of Digital, Publishing, and Broadcasting to coordinate the work of its different units.

70

Museums have yet to take advantage of collaboratives

as fully as libraries and archives do, but that is beginning

to change. Europeana, which combines collections from

museums, libraries, and archives, is a leading example, illustrating what can be done if resources are available. Its

impressive efforts extend beyond putting collections onCompared to art museums, many science

museums have relatively small collections,

and their use of digital technology focuses

more on experiential activitiessuch as

field trips, presentations, and demonstrations than on providing access to

digitized collections.
49

line to allow participating museums to take the lead in

creating innovative digital exhibitions that engage the

public via crowdsourcing tools.

The next quantum leap for collaboratives is emerging

through cloud technology, which enables digital collections to be connected to an infinite variety of information

sources that provide context for them. The Smithsonian

American Art Museum is a leader in exploring this model

under the rubric of the Linked Data cloud. The American

Art Museum is working with computer scientists from

the University of Southern California and a group of likeminded institutions, including the Metropolitan Museum

of Art in New York, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the

Dallas Museum of Art, and the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art to create the tools needed to lift

collection-based materials into the cloud and connect

them to resources like the New York Times archives and

Wikipedia. A user interested in a particular artist would

not only be able to call up digital collections by the artist

from the various museums, but also simultaneously be

directed to biographical information about the artist from

other archival sources. This powerful concept will change

the fundamentals of accessing information not only about

art, but about all other fields.

Beyond extending the reach of museum collections

and exhibitions, digital technology also offers new opportunities to deepen learning and research about them

through online courses and seminars. The Museum of

Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City has launched an

expanding online program of study focused on modern

and contemporary art. The courses explore art from the

perspective of the artists, curators and conservators as

well as art historians, allowing users to learn how art is

made and how the process works. MoMA charges a

nominal fee for each course, which supports the development of content. In the sciences, the American Museum

of Natural History (AMNH), also in New York City, has

developed an online array of seminars and courses, some

of which can be used as credit toward graduate degrees

at local universities.

Given their leading role in offering online courses, it

is not surprising that MoMA and AMNH are among the

first museums to offer MOOCs. This new development

is in process as this document is written, and the first

MoMA offering attracted over 17,000 participants. It is

likely a precursor of many more online courses and seminars to be offered by museums in the MOOC format or

using alternative approaches.

This review shows that museums are increasingly recognizing the possibilities inherent in using digital technology — both to enhance the physical visit and to provide

online access to collections and programs — but getting

there is not simple. The challenges reside in lack of sustained resources, complexity of the collections, rapid

changes in technology, and the need to adapt museum

culture to the expectations of a digital world. While these

issues are not insignificant, the museum community can

overcome them with sustained commitment and an

appreciation for the need to balance the digital with the

physical museum experience.

31. Brian Vastag. “Exabytes: Documenting the ‘Digital Age’ and Huge

Growth in Capacity.” The Washington Post, 10 February 2011.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/

10/AR2011021004916.html

32. ABI Research. “45 Million Windows Phone and 20 Million Blackberry Smartphones in Active Use at Year-end; Enough to Keep Developers Interested.” Press Release, 31 January 2013.

http://www.abiresearch.com/press/45-million-windows-phone-and20-million-blackberry

33. ABI Research. “Android Will Account for 58% of Smartphone App

Downloads in 2013, with iOS Commanding a Market Share of 75% in

Tablet Apps.” Press Release, 4 March 2013.

http://www.abiresearch.com/press/android-will-account-for-58-ofsmartphone-app-down

34. Brian Vastag. “Exabytes: Documenting the ‘Digital Age’ and Huge

Growth in Capacity.” The Washington Post, 10 February 2011.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/

10/AR2011021004916.html

35. Tamar Lewin. “Universities Abroad Join Partnerships on the Web.”

The New York Times, 21 February 2013.

36. Darrell Etherington. “Apple Has Sold Over 8 Million iPads Direct to

Education Worldwide.” Tech Crunch, 28 February 2013.
50 Best of Both Worlds

37. Kristen Purcell, Alan Heaps, Judy Buchanan and Linda Friedrich.

“How Teachers are Using Technology at Home and in Their Classrooms.” Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project, 28

February 2013.

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/teachers-and-technology

38. Salman Khan. The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined

(New York: Twelve, 2012).

39. Ibid.

40. Holly Epstein Ojalvo and Shannon Doyne. “Five Ways to Flip Your

Classroom With The New York Times.” The New York Times, 8 December 2011. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/five-ways-toflip-your-classroom-with-the-new-york-times/

41. I. Elaine Allen and Jeff Seaman. Changing Course: Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States. Report of the Sloan Consortium’s 2012 Survey of Online Learning, Newburyport, MA, January

2013.

http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/changing_course_2012.

42. University of Maryland University College. “What’s With the Name

UMUC? A Lot, Actually.” UMUC Experience: The Official UMUC Blog,

12 June 2012.

http://www.experienceumuc.com/2012/06/whats-with-name-umuclot-actually.html

43. Tamar Lewin. “University of Phoenix to Shutter 115 Locations.” The

New York Times, 17 October 2012.

44. Laura Pappano. “The Year of the MOOC.” The New York Times, 2

November 2012.

45. Steve Kolowich. “Coursera Takes a Nuanced View of MOOC

Dropout Rates.” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8 April 2013.

http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/coursera-takes-a-nuancedview-of-mooc-dropout-rates/43341

46. Carla Rivera. “San Jose suspends collaboration with online

provider.” LA Times, 18 July 2013.

47. Michael Horn. “Udacity and Georgia Tech cross the Rubicon.”

Forbes, 13 June 2013.

48. Curtis R. Rogers. “Social Media, Libraries, and Web 2.0: How

American Libraries are Using New Tools for Public Relations and to

Attract New Users – Fourth Annual Survey November 2011.” South

Carolina State Library, 29 February 2012.

http://www.statelibrary.sc.gov/docs/pr/201202_com_social_media_survey

_dec_2011.pdf

49. Biodiversity Heritage Library. “About.” Biodiversity Heritage Library

website. http://biodivlib.wikispaces.com/About

50. Interview with Michael Neubert, Supervisory Digital Project Specialist,

Library of Congress, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, December 2012.

51. Interview with Rebecca C. Warlow, Supervisor for Digitization and

Description, National Archives and Records Administration, by Cynthia

Kennard, Smithsonian, November 2012.

52. Interview with Rachel Marshall, Licensing Director, British Library,

by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, December 2012.

53. Interview with Caroline Kimbell, Head of Licensing, National

Archive of England and Wales, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian,

December 2012.

54. Digital Public Library of America website. http://dp.la

55. Interview with Beth Daley, Public Relations and Editorial Officer,

Europeana, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, 7 May 2013.

56. Ibid.

57. Interview with Antoine Isaac, Europeana scientific coordinator,

by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, 3 May 2013.

58. L. Johnson, S. Adams Becker, H. Witchey, M. Cummins, V. Estrada,

A. Freeman and H. Ludgate. The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Museum Edition (Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium, 2012).

59. Smithsonian Institution. Creating a Digital Strategic Plan. August

2006.

60. Ibid.

61. Interview with Deborah Howes, current Director of Digital Learning,

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian,

11 January 2013.

From 1998 to 2009 Howes served as the Project Manager for The

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History as part of her duties as Museum

Educator in charge of Educational Media at the Metropolitan Museum

of Art.

62. Interview with Rob Stein, Dallas Museum of Art, by Cynthia Kennard,

Smithsonian, November 2012.

63. Robinson Meyer. “A Guide to the Web's Growing Set of Free Image

Collections.” TheAtlantic.com, 14 August 2013.

64. Interview with Peter Gorgels, Internet Manager and Editor,

Rijksmuseum by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, 24 June 2013.

65. Fred A. Bernstein. “Technology That Serves to Enhance, Not

Distract.” The New York Times, 20 March 2013.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/arts/artsspecial/at-clevelandmuseum-of-art-the-ipad-enhances.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

66. Interview with John Stack, Head of Tate Online, by Cynthia Kennard,

Smithsonian, January 2012.

67. Interview with Sophie Walpole, Acting Head of Digital, Victoria and

Albert Museum, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, January 2013.

68. Interview with Mark Check, Museum of Science, Boston, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, January 2013.

69. Interview with Dr. Margaret Honey, President and CEO, New York

Hall of Science, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, 7 February 2013.

70. Interview with Matthew Cock, Head of Web, British Museum, by

Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, December 2012.
51
52 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 7

The Smithsonian’s

Digital Journey
53

At the Smithsonian, the creative use of

new communication technology goes back to Secretary

Joseph Henry’s use of the telegraph in his citizen science

experiments that led to the creation of the National

Weather Service. Henry set the standard for early adoption of technology and exploration of its possibilities, and

his lead has been followed by both art and science units

within the Smithsonian. The 1995 Smithsonian strategic

plan was the first to call for a large-scale effort to digitize

collections and create the portals to reach larger audiences. This goal reinforced the early efforts to digitize collections and resulted in the creation of the “Collections

Information Systems Pool,” which provided funds for

equipment and supported digitization at the museum and

center level. This small grants program is still going, and

has spawned dozens of digitization efforts while providing modest funding for institutionally based infrastructure. It has kept the Smithsonian flirtation with its digital

future alive, but has not been focused enough or large

enough to move a full pan-Institutional approach forward.

When I arrived as secretary in 2008, digital technology

had become pervasive in society, with enormous advancements in power and capacity. Because I

came from a university where digital technology

was widely used to promote teaching and learning, it was clear to me from the outset that it

could greatly increase

the reach and relevance

of the Smithsonian.

Given our position and

disciplinary breadth, I believe we should be a

leader. I was pleased to

find that the Institution

had pockets where digital efforts were strong and that interest

in ramping up such efforts was substantial.

The strategic plan developed for the Smithsonian

in 2009 stated our intent to build on this momentum,

and laid out ambitious goals for the digital future of the

Smithsonian. Since 2009, remarkable progress has been

made, but at the same time, new technological developments have continually raised the bar.

LAUNCHING THE JOURNEY

In 2010, a conference named Smithsonian 2.0 explored

the possibilities of Web-based technology at the Smithsonian. It matched 30 of the leading lights of the digital

world with an equal number of Smithsonian staff members who had a strong interest in the use of digital technology. This meeting was a revelation as the outside

experts learned about the resources provided through our

collections, our curators, and our scholars, and our staff

learned about new Web technology from our visitors.

Everyone agreed that melding the power of digital technology with the resources of the Smithsonian had huge

potential.

The conference resulted in a Smithsonian seed grant

program to fund innovative applications for digital technology thatwould

engage the public in new ways.

It generated
54 Best of Both Worlds

exciting ideas such as the National Museum of African

Art’s Artists in Dialogue, in which two artists on different

continents interacted in real time to create two works of

art based on a common idea. Parents and their children

could listen in on the creative process and ask questions.

The artists and other participants were overjoyed by the

experience, and Artists in Dialogue illustrated the power

of using digital technology to reinforce the physical museum experience.

A second example from the seed grant program is

Smithsonian Wild, a website developed to show camera

trap photographs of wild animals from around the

world. It came about when researchers from the National Zoo and the National Museum of Natural History realized that they both actively used remote

cameras, but in different parts of the world. Combining their photographs on

one website provided a new

learning resource, and the

site transformed research

tools formerly used only by

scientists into a live resource for the public to explore the behaviors of the

wild creatures that share

our planet. The website continues to enthrall us because it reports new

pictures every day.

Artists in Dialogue and

Smithsonian Wild illustrate

how digital technology can

expand the education role of museums. They demonstrate that members of the public can become engaged in

the creative process of art and become participants with

our scientists in studying nature as it changes day by day.

DIGITIZATION AND ACCESS

Great buildings begin with strong foundations, and for the

future of the digital Smithsonian that foundation consists

of digitizing collections and providing avenues for digital

access by the public.

At 137 million objects, scientific specimens, and works

of art, Smithsonian collections pose a challenge to digitization because of their vastness and complexity. Given

the size of our collections, just deciding where to start

digitizing is not easy. In part, this decision was made for

us by museums that chose on their own to digitize their

collections. Exemplars

include the Botany Department of the National

Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian

American Art Museum.

As noted earlier, both of

these units began their

digitization efforts in the

1970s and they have

continued to adapt to

new technological platforms. Today, more than

1 million of an estimated

5 million specimens in

the botanical collections of the United States National

Herbarium have been digitized.

71 SAAM has digital

records for its entire art collection, and images for more

than 80 percent are available on its website. Beyond our

museum collections, our Center for Folklife and Cultural

Heritage has digitized 16 percent of its audio recordings

(which are available on iTunes). Of our archival material,

24,000 cubic feet, which constitutes 30 percent of what

is considered priority material for digitization, is now in

digital form. A new agreement with the company Gale

Cengage has led to the digitization of the entire back collection of Smithsonian and Air & Space magazines. We are

exploring further use of their services for other archival

collections.

At 137 million objects,

scientific specimens,

and works of art,

Smithsonian collections

pose a challenge to

digitization because

of their vastness and

complexity.
55

On the main website for the Smithsonian,

the Collections Search Center now provides

access to eight million digital records, including more than 800,000 images. More records

and images are being added daily through a

pan-Institutional system that allows museums

to automatically upload their digital assets to

the main site.

Even with the progress we have made,

however, the task of digitizing our collections

remains daunting and will require us to use an

array of approaches to cut the job to size. The

creation of a formal digitization division within

our Office of Information Technology and

bringing in talented professionals to staff it

has led to a concentrated effort to make

strategic choices about digitization efforts. A comprehensive survey and review has concluded that of the 137 million objects in our collections, about 13 million should be

considered as priority for digitization. This prioritization

reduces the task considerably, but much work remains to

be done.

At the top of the digitization ladder, work is underway

on three-dimensional imaging. Obviously all objects with

shape are candidates, but the process is time consuming

and labor intensive, so establishing priorities is essential.

The present goal is to create a “Charter Collection” of

such images and use these to demonstrate the power of

the technique. The high definition of the images and the

capability to see them from all angles are already providing new insights into works of art and allowing scientific

specimens to be viewed in ways not possible by physical

observation. Connecting the files to 3-D computer printers allows the objects to be replicated here at the Smithsonian as well as at remote sites where the capability

exists. This new development offers exciting possibilities

as the cost of the technology drops and 3-D printers become available to schools and museums around the nation.

In addition to the Collections Search Center on our

main website, access to Smithsonian digital assets is

available through various museum websites and mobile

devices, and digital visitation is increasing substantially:

• More than 102 million unique visits were made to the

Smithsonian’s websites and blogs in 2012, up from 83

million in 2011.

• Thirty-two mobile apps and 11 mobile websites are

available. Some support specific exhibitions while others help people design their visits and locate themselves within our museums. Still others are educational,

such as the enormously popular Leafsnap, which allows

users to identify a tree by taking a picture of a leaf.

• More than 450,000 downloads were made to mobile

devices in 2012, a number that is growing rapidly.

Twenty-four percent of Web traffic at the Smithsonian

is now from mobile devices — up from eight percent in

2010. By 2014 it is predicted to exceed 50 percent.
56 Best of Both Worlds

• Thousands of teachers have downloaded the more than

2000 lesson plans available on our main website, with

most designed to meet state standards.

• Smithsonian Magazine is now available in digital form on

tablets, and has received more than 100,000 downloads. Smithsonian.com, the Web portal for the magazine, now received more than 2.5 million visits over

calendar years 2011 and 2012. Its unique visitor count

has more than tripled.

• The Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) project has the goal to

provide a Web page for each of the 2 million known

species of life on

Earth. Today the

website has more

than 1.2 million

species pages, and

with the help of volunteers around the

world it is rapidly

moving toward its ultimate goal. The EOL

has also developed

new programs to engage students and teachers in interactive activities and to provide

information for lesson plans. The content can be downloaded in any one of 13

languages, and the website was visited

by more than a million people last year.

ENHANCING THE PHYSICAL VISIT WITH

DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

The most opportune way to use digital technology to enhance the physical visit is to build in the technology during the development of a new exhibition or the

construction or renovation of a building. The Smithsonian

pursues all of these avenues. The design of the “Human

Origins” exhibition in the National Museum of Natural

History incorporated technology allowing visitors to connect to content not shown in the exhibition itself, and a

website was developed to provide educational materials

related to the exhibition that are updated daily. A lighthearted touch included a station to allow visitors to

morph themselves into a former human species (Neanderthal is the most popular), and an app to do the same is

available through iTunes.

The Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design

Museum, housed in the Carnegie Mansion in New York

City, is building in technology during its facility renovation. Future visitors can become designers on the spot,

viewing digital images of objects in the Museum’s collection and using a digital stylus to generate their own designs. Their

completed designs can be downloaded to their mobile devices to take

with them. The renovated Museum

will be open in 2014.

The new National Museum of

African American History and Culture, now under construction and

scheduled to open in

2015, will also incorporate technology into its

structure to enhance

the visitor experience.

The Museum has already developed a new

app that uses a form of

augmented reality to allow visitors in the vicinity of the

construction site on the Mall to see a 3-D model of the

building and view information about the building from all

angles.

All our museums offer applications for smartphones

and tablets to assist the visitor in choosing exhibitions

and learning about them. The apps also allow our visitors

to leave their impressions of their visits.

Beyond mobile technologies, a number of techniques

for augmented reality have emerged that allow visitors to

see and hear realistic moving 3-D images of animals, hisAll our museums offer applications

for smartphones and tablets to

assist the visitor in choosing exhibitions and learning about them. The

apps also allow our visitors to leave

their impressions of their visits.
57

torical figures, or extinct species like dinosaurs in open spaces without need of

special glasses. The Smithsonian has

more than one such approach in testing,

and several of our museums are moving

forward with prototypes. Trials of this

technique have delighted visitors while

complementing the content of exhibitions.

DIGITAL PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

As Clay Shirky points out in Here Comes

Everybody, social media are empowering

individuals to participate in society in new

ways.

72Ordinary citizens can spawn

movements with Twitter or weblogs, or

become amateur photojournalists with

their smartphone cameras, instantly

uploading on-the-scene photos that may be picked up by

news media or provide crime scene evidence.

The Smithsonian is finding exciting ways to incorporate this new capacity for public engagement. From a

base of zero a few years ago, more than 400 social media

accounts are in operation at the Smithsonian, with almost

three million Twitter and Facebook followers alone, a

number that is climbing at an annual rate of 50 percent.

Digital games have been used at the Smithsonian

American Art Museum (Ghost of a Chance, Pheon) in the

form of scavenger hunts built around the art collections.

Vanished, a digital game developed by the Smithsonian

Center for Digital Learning and Access and MIT, was used

in middle school competitions to solve problems related

to an environmental disaster

which unfolds over time, teaching students new science lessons. The 2012 exhibition “The

Art of Video Games,” at the

Smithsonian American Art Museum, was the first of its kind.

More than five million people

voted on what they deemed the

best computer games for the exhibition, and more than 500,000

visitors attended the exhibition

itself.

YouTube has proven a popular

means to connect with the public,

and as of early 2013 the Smithsonian was operating 55 channels

with more than 5,000 videos

available to the public, which collectively have been viewed more

than 23.6 million times.

Crowdsourcing is finding a

growing role in both the sciences

and the arts. The Encyclopedia of

Life conducts “BioBlitzes” that

encourage citizen scientists to

identify new species not yet covered by the Encyclopedia,

and users of the app Leafsnap are helping to identify and

map the range of tree species by establishing GPS coordinates when they take pictures of leaves from trees they

want to identify. The National Postal Museum is using

160 vetted volunteer researchers to document its artifacts. At the National Museum of American History, the

Access American Stories app invites visitors to describe

180 of America’s most evocative historical objects, helping the visually impaired to “see” the collections.

Ordinary citizens can spawn

movements with Twitter or

weblogs, or become amateur

photojournalists with their

smartphone cameras,

instantly uploading on-thescene photos that may be

picked up by news media

or provide crime scene

evidence.
58 Best of Both Worlds

ALL OF OUR DIGITAL ACTIVITY

POINTS TO THE PROMISE OF A

NEW AND A MORE DEMOCRATIZED

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION,

A SMITHSONIAN FOR ONE AND

FOR ALL.
59

A new forum for public engagement called MySI uses

open-source technology that allows a wide variety of

tools to be added and has applications in science, art, and

history. One of its first uses has been for an agricultural

history project in the National Museum of American History that allows individuals to contribute stories about

growing up on farms. A new science website designed for

use through MySI allows current events to be used for

learning lessons and encourages readers to add blogs and

pictures. Many other applications for MySI are in the

pipeline.

Astronomy provides yet another means of public engagement, courtesy of the Smithsonian Astrophysical

Observatory (SAO), through an innovative project entitled “Youth Capture the Colorful Cosmos.” SAO, based in

Cambridge, Massachusetts, is involved in the operation

of observatories around the world, and even in outer

space, working with NASA. In addition to its large telescopes, SAO maintains small land-based telescopes in a

number of countries and locations that are operated remotely using digital instructions. The Colorful Cosmos

project, funded by our Youth Access Grants program, provides youth groups at regional science museums digital

access to SAO’s land-based telescopes, allowing them to

perform experiments, in many cases with direct help from

SAO scientists and staff. The project illustrates how digital connections allow SAO and its scientists and telescopes to become a resource to thousands of students,

who before did not even know SAO existed.

This brief review of some of our digital engagement

activities is instructive in showing their diversity and impact. It is surprising to realize that most only emerged on

the scene in the last three or four years. This area is filled

with opportunity for the future.

ONLINE COURSES AND DIGITAL CERTIFICATION

The Smithsonian’s online courses and programs began

years ago as one-way exercises with little opportunity for

interaction. More recently, however, new tools are inviting

users to participate through interactive videoconferencing, webinars with blogging, and real-time programming.

For nearly a decade, a partnership between the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and the Department of

Defense has provided curriculum resources about art

through interactive videoconferencing for K–12 teachers

and students in schools for the children of American

military personnel and Department of Defense civilian

employees around the globe. The lesson plans and curriculum units are created on demand and are based on

the Museum’s collection. The program has now expanded

to reach other schools nationwide.

Using experts from across museums and research

centers, the Smithsonian Center for Digital Learning and

Access offers monthly, interactive Smithsonian Online

Education Conferences on topics from climate change to

the presidential inauguration. Upwards of one million students and educators have participated from all 50 states

and six continents.

73

National Youth Summit programs are offered online by

the National Museum of American History. While the

core content emanates from the Museum, these programs also include complementary live content from

Smithsonian Affiliate museums. A recent summit on the

Freedom Riders of the 1960s included commentary from

Freedom Riders in seven different cities. More than

20,000 students participated.

Our growing portfolio of online courses and other educational offerings raises the question of certification for

participants. At present the most promising alternative is

“digital badges” earned by students who complete a

“mission,” which could include taking a series of courses

or participating in seminars and/or completing on-line asMost digital engagement activities

emerged on the scene in the last three

or four years. This area is filled with

opportunity for the future.
60 Best of Both Worlds

signments. Participants who enroll in Smithsonian Quests

— an offering through the Smithsonian Center for Digital

Learning and Access that inspires students to explore

their interests online — can earn digital badges by completing assignments from online conferences. Those in

the badge program have the opportunity for live interaction with experts in the topic area.

74 Other badge-earning

programs are offered in Smithsonian museums, and more

than 100 badges are now available.

ON THE HORIZON

New digital opportunities continue to arise as this document is being written. An important link to the university

world was created recently with a partnership between

the Smithsonian and Internet2, which connects more

than 220 universities in the United States with a high-capacity network. This collaboration will allow the Smithsonian to deliver content to 24 million college and

university students in the United States and provide a link

for our growing partnerships with universities and colleges. Because Internet2 is connected to other high-capacity networks in Europe and Asia, Smithsonian content

can be delivered to millions of additional students overseas.

The Smithsonian is also actively expanding its use of

high-performance computing. In the natural sciences,

new work in animal and plant genomics and with ocean

observatories will create large-scale databases that require high-performance computing to manipulate. In art,

history, and culture, new efforts to link written, digital,

audio, and video archives will rely on high-performance

computing. Discussions are underway to shape opportunities for future collaboration with the high-performance

group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and with the

Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social

Science at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

SUMMARY

This review of digital activities at the Smithsonian illustrates how extensive the use of digital technology has become and how fast changes are occurring. The rate of

adoption of digital technology is increasing as we learn

more about its appropriate use. The real beneficiaries are

the hundreds of millions of people who can now access

Smithsonian resources in ways not possible only a few

years ago. Along the way we are also moving beyond the

conventional, one-sided communications of the traditional museum and learning how to interact with our digital user community. All of our digital activity points to the

promise of a new and a more democratized Smithsonian

Institution, a Smithsonian for one and for all.

Yet, while there has been much progress and we can

see the possibilities, much remains to be done. Too few of

our collections are online; too few opportunities exist for

interaction and coordination among our museums, libraries, and research centers, and between the Smithsonian and the public. The capabilities of our search engines

must improve and we need to learn to spread the use of

new technologies across the Institution at a faster pace.

71. Interview with Warren Wagner, Chair, Department of Botany,

National Museum of Natural History, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian,

27 June 2013.

72. Clay Shirky. Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without

Organizations (New York: The Penguin Press, 2008).

73. Interview with Lynn-Steven Engelke, Smithsonian Center for Digital

Learning and Access, by Cynthia Kennard, Smithsonian, 6 February

2013.

74. Ibid.
61
62 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 8

Unfinished Business
63

As has been shownin the previous sections, digital technology is profoundly changing museums, libraries, and archives and the way they reach and

interact with people. While the promise for use of digital

technology has hovered around these institutions for several decades, the reality has now arrived. Progress has

been made, and is being made, on many fronts, but we

are only at the beginning of what is to come. The challenge for these institutions is how to make progress on

the basics even as the technology continues to change,

offering yet more opportunities. This task will require new

ideas and approaches.

Every great innovation has ridden a train of inevitability. The introduction of railroads, electric lighting, automobiles, radio, and television transformed society

whether society was ready or not, and now digital technology is taking its turn. But this one feels different, because it touches our lives in more ways than any previous

innovation and because it is coming at us in rapid waves.

While it is true that the traditional role of our cultural institutions is still valued by the public and is needed, they

must find ways to accommodate digital technology or

risk becoming marginalized. The trick is to find the means

to balance what is good about the long-established embodiment of museums, libraries, and archives with the

virtues offered by digital technology, and to do it seamlessly. It is easier said than done, given that resources for

our cultural institutions are under stress and their bench

of digital talent is thin.

How can it be done? I suggest we begin with principles

that can guide the change:

Digital technology should first and foremost

enhance and reinforce the in-person visitor

experience.

Digitization of collections should be a primary

institutional goal.

Digital assets should be accessible to the public,

within limits set by constraints such as copyright.

Digital technology should be used to connect to audiences not served today.

The public should have opportunities to be active

participants in the creative processes of the

institution.

Institutional organizational structure should emphasize flexibility and adaptability to speed accommodation to new technology.

A systematic approach should be taken to understanding and responding to consumer expectations.

Collaborations and partnerships should be the rule,

not the exception, and best practices should be

widely shared both within the institutional walls

and with other institutions.

Digital options to serve educational goals for K–12

and adult learning should be emphasized.

Digital activities should have aspirational goals and

specific performance metrics that are evaluated on

a regular basis.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10
64 Best of Both Worlds

Principles such as these will guide an institution in doing

what is needed despite the challenges. Getting the work

done will take a combination of reframing strategic approaches, re-budgeting, improving efficiency, obtaining

funding from donors and supporters, and creating new

revenue streams within the digital framework.

PARTNERSHIPS AND COLLABORATIVES

If museums, libraries, and archives are to serve the widest

possible audiences and successfully embrace the possibilities of digital technology, “One for all and all for one”

should be their motto. The digital work of museums, libraries, and archives is going to be so large and varied

that no one entity or organization is capable of grasping it all.

The key to the future is partnerships and collaboratives, ranging from the large — such as

Europeana and the Internet

Archives, which attempt to encompass collections from hundreds of museums, archives,

and libraries — to the tidy and

focused, such as the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) which addresses historical

documents in botany and ecology. Not only is there room

for them all, but they overlap. The collections of the BHL,

for example, are included in the Internet Archives. For the

user, two points of access are better than one, since they

differ in focus. While the Internet Archives provides access to the information, the BHL is a better resource for

assistance with the subject matter. The larger collaboratives are also logical focal points for developing strong

search engines that can be updated frequently, which will

in turn serve smaller collaboratives.

Although it is early, it is clear that cloud-based technology offers tremendous possibilities for collaboratives

and partnerships. Once a set

of digital assets is successfully placed in the cloud, it

can be linked to just about

any other set of digital assets, offering a powerful tool

for users to search for connections among not only museums, libraries, and archives,

but also universities and information sources like

Wikipedia.

An unappreciated aspect of partnerships and collaboratives is the possibility

they offer for digital curation that can lead both to digital

exhibitions and to more powerful physical exhibitions.

The recent joint digital exhibition between Europeana and

the DPLA on immigration from Europe to the United

States is a good example of the power of the digital exhibition and its ability to allow the public to participate and

enrich the exhibition content. When the exhibition is concluded, the stories contributed by the public will provide

rich content for archives on the subject of immigration.

Beyond sharing digital collections, collaboratives can

also provide an extended reach for cultural institutions. A

good example is the new partnership signed between the

Smithsonian and Internet2, which will allow content deAn unappreciated aspect of

partnerships and collaboratives

is the possibility they offer for

digital curation that can lead

both to digital exhibitions and

to more powerful physical

exhibitions.
65

livery to 222 universities in the United States and provide a simple means for

the Smithsonian to receive online courses from universities. The Smithsonian

is also using its growing digital capability to enable member museums and

centers of Smithsonian Affiliations to participate in programs such as Youth

Capture the Colorful Cosmos and the Youth Summits of the American History

Museum.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Like weeds, digital tools to allow the public to engage with museums, libraries,

and archives are sprouting up every day and becoming more powerful as well.

While still too recent to be commonplace, it is nevertheless clear from the enthusiastic response that social media, crowdsourcing, and other engagement

platforms are welcomed and will spread quickly. At the Smithsonian, the new

open source platform MySI has already demonstrated how this approach can

have wide application in arts, history, culture, and sciences.

However, if institutions are to adapt to the possibilities available for public

engagement, the present wide variety of approaches will need to settle down

into standard methods that can be updated. Organizations like the Institute of

Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the American Alliance of Museums

(AAM), and the Smithsonian with its Affiliate Museums can help by sharing

best practices and encouraging use of common technology.

ONLINE COURSES

Because formal education is not part of their core mission, museums, libraries,

and archives do not typically have teaching faculty like a university. However,

they do offer their own courses and sometimes contribute experts to university courses. Many scholars at the Smithsonian teach courses offered by local

universities and participate in degree programs jointly governed by the Smithsonian and education institutions such as Parsons The New School for Design

and George Mason University.

Such arrangements are the exception rather than the rule, so it is not surprising that museums, libraries, and archives are not well represented in the

online course business. Yet they appear to have a growing market, whether in

more traditional form or as MOOCs or some future variation. If this market is

large enough, it will ultimately require that cultural institutions form a teaching

staff, possibly hired on contract. This undertaking probably is only feasible for

larger institutions or for collaboratives with a number of allied institutions who

each agree to put up a certain number of faculty to meet specialty needs. The

step beyond courses to degree programs is a long one for most institutions, including the Smithsonian. To date the Smithsonian has chosen to partner with

universities to offer degrees and this would appear to continue to be the right

Take a Course

SEE THE

NIGHT SKY

IDENTIFY A

SPECIES

conduct an

EXPERIMENT

Engage Digitally:

contribute

stories

65
66 Best of Both Worlds

model. In this approach, the Smithsonian, and other like

institutions, can bring specialty offerings to the educational table that only they can deliver, while universities

can use their broader programmatic menu to give students options they want while taking care of admissions,

core courses, and accreditation and degree requirements.

FORMAL K–12 EDUCATION

It has been a dream of many to see the resources of museums, libraries, and archives become more integral to

the nation’s K–12 education system. When universal education was envisioned in the early days of our republic, it

was seen through the lens of a “school.” Through the

years, only libraries were actually integrated into the concept of an educational institution, while museums and

archives remained apart. This evolution had as much to

do with the space and staff required to house and maintain museum and archival collections as it did with the

separate cultures that developed around them.

Today our K–12 schools face significant challenges, including access to educational enrichment activities, keeping students engaged and retaining them, and pressure to

focus their efforts within the boundaries defined by increased emphasis on standards and testing. It is clear

that museums in particular offer an intellectual resource

that can help to address these issues. Some examples of

the useful digital tools the Smithsonian already offers,

such as providing lesson plans that meet state standards,

were described earlier. However, the gulf is still too wide

between “formal education” and “informal education.”

Digital technology offers museums, archives, and libraries the means to bridge that gap, but these institutions need to understand what teachers need and

students want, and not just assume they know best and

proceed blindly. At the Smithsonian, we have engaged the

Today our K–12 schools face

significant challenges, including

access to educational enrichment activities, keeping students

engaged and retaining them,

and pressure to focus their

efforts within the boundaries

defined by increased emphasis

on standards and testing.
67

CLOSING THE GAP BETWEEN

FORMAL AND INFORMAL EDUCATION WILL INCREASE RELEVANCY

FOR MUSEUMS, LIBRARIES, AND

ARCHIVES, GIVING THEM MORE

VISIBILITY IN THEIR COMMUNITIES AND AMONG UNDERSERVED

POPULATIONS.

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68 Best of Both Worlds

teachers named annually as the nation’s best by the

Council of Chief State School Officers to serve as a focus

group that guides the development of our materials for

teachers. We now have a cadre of four cohorts of these

professionals working with us, and their insights are invaluable. Of course, feedback can be gathered in many

ways, but this one is personal and ongoing. One message

we have heard is that teachers are less in need of fixed

lesson plans and more in need of “plug and play” elements that can be pieced together to form lesson plans

tailored by teachers for their particular classes and neighborhood. We are adjusting our approach accordingly.

Beyond formal learning tools, our cultural institutions

can use digital technology to give teachers, parents, and

students alike the tools to “learn by doing.” We already

have some of these tools in Smithsonian apps such as

Leafsnap and in programs such as Youth Capture the

Colorful Cosmos and the Smithsonian interactive online

education courses. Much more is on the horizon with

platforms like MySI, which will allow participants not only

to “like” data from experiments, but also to share stories

and ideas. Combining these offerings with those of partner

institutions will provide the K–12 schools a rich content

source to enhance learning and education.

One of the remaining keys to bringing informal and

formal education closer together is the credentialing of

informal digital learning through certificates and badges.

For a student, a credential provides a means to legitimize

and document commitment and achievement in informal

learning programs. For example, the transcripts of high

school students could show not only their performance in

formal courses, but also the badges or other certificates

they have received for the informal education exercises

they have completed successfully. And informal education programs that provide certification can fill gaps that

schools themselves cannot address.

Credentialed digital offerings provide other advantages

such as:

• Packaging content in small increments that students

can pursue as time allows.

• Focusing on motivation through practical applications

and active learning exercises.

• Building an ethic of independent learning outside of the

formal process.

• Exploring multidisciplinary topics.

• Encouraging teamwork through collaborative efforts.

• Developing multilingual competency.

For optimal effectiveness, credentialing must be standards-based and utilize a well-designed assessment system.

Closing the gap between formal and informal education will increase relevancy for museums, libraries, and

archives, giving them more visibility in their communities

and among underserved populations. However, to assume this role, these institutions must move beyond

merely posting digital collections online to develop a context for understanding and applying the knowledge those

collections contain. In the process, museums, archives,

and libraries will become a resource that is infinitely more

valuable than a passive set of digital images and will play

a larger role in helping our nation meet some of its most

pressing educational challenges.

The possibilities for museums, libraries, and archives

to serve the public through digital technology are immense, but none of them will become reality without

commitment, resources, effort, and innovation. As the

swamp philosopher Pogo once said, "We are surrounded

by insurmountable opportunities." But we have learned

that we can pare the task down to size by making wise

choices, working with our partners, and inviting wisdom

from the crowd.
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70 Best of Both Worlds

CHAPTER 9

Conclusion:

Unlimited Possibilities
71

You have probably heardthe story of

the dog that obsessively chases a bus for years, but when

he finally catches it, he does not know what to do with it.

So it is that after many years of trying, digital technology

has become so powerful it has finally overtaken education. Today digital technology is pervasive; its use, particularly by the world’s youth, is universal; its possibilities

are vast; and everyone in our educational and cultural institutions is trying to figure out what to do with it all. It is

mandatory that museums, libraries, and archives join

with educational institutions in embracing it.

The review in this document illustrates how many cultural institutions have already found innovative applications for digital technology, but it is more than just a

matter of “using.” Digital technology will also change the

basics of how these institutions work as we move forward. Collections will be shared across institutions

through the linked data cloud; the public will participate

in the creative activities of cultural institutions through

engagement platforms; and informal education will

merge with formal education. Cultural change is never

easy, and while an institution might be able to avoid it for

a while, this time it will be so big that no one will escape

in the long run.

The key to making this dramatic transformation work

is to stick to the fundamentals of good learning and education. Cultural institutions like museums are not going

away and they will continue to inspire people by giving

them an opportunity to see the real thing and informing

them of its rightful context. They are a singular source for

families and friends to learn together and share the experience across generations. So it is essential that the starting point for use of digital technology is in enhancing the

physical experience. But beyond in-person visits, digital

technology will allow cultural institutions to do something

they have not done in their history — reach millions of

people who do not visit in person. That offers a once-ina-lifetime opportunity for cultural institutions to find the

relevance they have always wanted and needed.

The adoption of digital technology by museums, libraries, and archives is not going to be easy because of a

lack of technical infrastructure, cost, and the pace of

change. But the process will be easier if they work together. I have cited many examples of successful collaborations and partnerships in this review, and these are

going to be more important in the future. In addition, support will be needed from philanthropic institutions,

donors, and corporations who can supply equipment and

expertise.

The past has shown that it is almost impossible to predict which technologies will arise in the future to displace

those thought to be important today. However, we do

know that this disruption will occur and that the world

will continue to use whatever is introduced to best advantage. In his book What Technology Wants, Kevin Kelley

demonstrates that humans are continually seeking new

devices to advance the capabilities that nature has

granted them through millions of years of evolution — so

much so that humans are evolving themselves through

technology.

75 Institutions must be able to make their way

in a world in which changes occur at a rapid pace that is

not only beyond their control, but also offers little in the

way of advance notice.

While digital technology poses great challenges, it also

offers great possibilities. For the Smithsonian and our nation’s other museums, libraries, and archives, today is a

time when we can serve the role our founders envisioned

for the educational systems of our republic. We can help

all the people, not just a few of the people, to understand

our culture, the cultures of other countries, and life in all

its dimensions.

75. Kevin Kelley. What Technology Wants(New York: Penguin Group, 2010).
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74 Best of Both Worlds

Acknowledgements

I AM INDEBTED to those who provided the valuable information and advice that helped shape this story of how digital

technology is transforming museums, libraries, archives,

and educational institutions around the world and — perhaps

most important to me — here at the Smithsonian.

The assistance, insights, and data provided by my colleagues from the Smithsonian helped shape my ideas and

thoughts about the future of this remarkable institution.

They made me appreciate that no matter how large the

challenge, we are committed to inspiring more people

than ever before by taking advantage of this unique

opportunity.

Several people working outside the Smithsonian to

expand the role of museums, libraries, and archives

through digital technology participated via interviews.

They were open and more than generous with their views,

sharing information about the challenges and providing

a context to help corral this ever-changing topic.

Those outside the Smithsonian who graciously gave of

their time and energy include:

• Rachel Marshall, The British Library

• Matthew Cock, The British Museum

• Caroline Kimbell, The National Archives (United Kingdom)

• Beth Daley and Antoine Isaac, Europeana

• Deborah Howes, The Museum of Modern Art

• Rob Stein, Dallas Museum of Art

• Peter Gorgels, Rijksmuseum

• John Stack, Tate

• Jane Burton, Tate Media

• Sophie Walpole, Victoria and Albert Museum

• Margaret Honey, New York Hall of Science

• Ioannis N. Miaoulis and Marc Check,

Museum of Science, Boston

• Brent Seales, University of Kentucky

• Rebecca Warlow, National Archives and Records

Administration (United States)

• Juan Garces, Göttingen Centre for Digital Humanities

• Phyllis Hecht, The Johns Hopkins University,

Museum Studies

• Beth Dulabahn, Michael Neubert, and Aaron Chaletzky,

Library of Congress

My deepest gratitude to my Smithsonian colleagues who

reviewed various drafts of the book, offered valuable

comments, and identified oversights:

• Patricia Bartlett, Chief of Staff to the Secretary

• Elizabeth Broun, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director,

Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick

Gallery

• Claudine Brown, Assistant Secretary for Education

and Access

• Deron Burba, Chief Information Officer

• Barbara Rehm, Chief Content Officer, Smithsonian

Enterprises

• Sarah Sulick, Public Affairs Specialist, Office of

Communications and External Affairs

• Anne Van Camp, Director, Smithsonian Institution

Archives

• Nancy Gwinn, Director, Smithsonian Libraries

Numerous others within the Smithsonian shared important

information and insights though discussions, including:

• Bill Allman, Chief Digital Officer, Smithsonian Enterprises

• Erin Blasco, New Media Education Specialist,

National Museum of American History

• Sebastian Chan, Director of Digital and Emerging

Media, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

• Kinshasha Holman Conwill, Deputy Director, National

Museum of African American History and Culture

• Lynn-Steven Engelke, Director of Programs,

Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access

• Georgina Goodlander, Web and Social Media Content

Manager, Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Martin Kalfatovic, Associate Director, Digital Services,

Smithsonian Libraries

• Effie Kapsalis, Head of Web and New Media,

Smithsonian Institution Archives

• Chris Liedel, President, Smithsonian Enterprises

• Nancy Proctor, Head of Mobile Strategy and Initiatives,

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Education and Access

• Sara Snyder, Webmaster, Archives of American Art
75

• Warren Wagner, Chair of Botany, Research Botanist,

and Curator, National Museum of Natural History

• Günter Waibel, Director, Digitization Program Office,

Office of the Chief Information Officer

I would also like to recognize the “Smithsonian x” committee chaired by Anne Van Camp in 2012. This panInstitutional group identified key hurdles and opportunities

facing us in the digital arena and motivated me in the

research that is documented in the eBook.

Members:

• Bill Allman, Smithsonian Enterprises

• Kimberly Arcand, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

• Deron Burba, Office of the Chief Information Officer

• Richard Burgess, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

• Sebastian Chan, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

• Robert Costello, National Museum of Natural History

• Joanne Flores, Office of the Under Secretary for History,

Art, and Culture

• Georgina Goodlander, Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Peter Haydock, Office of the Assistant Secretary for

Education and Access

• Martin Kalfatovic, Smithsonian Libraries

• Effie Kapsalis, Smithsonian Institution Archives

• Carrie Kotcho, National Museum of American History

• Marly Norris, formerly with Office of Advancement

• Rusty Russell, National Museum of Natural History

• Rebecca Snyder, National Museum of Natural History

• Sarah Sulick, Office of Communications and

External Affairs

Finally, this would not have been possible without the

tremendous research, reporting, and advice of Cynthia

Kennard; the expert assistance of Janet Abrams, who

helped take inventory of the Smithsonian Institution and

its digital efforts; the superb edits of Sarah Eby-Ebersole;

and the graphic design, editing, and production assistance

of SteegeThomson Communications.

Photography Credits

p. 3,(left) Eric Long,(right) courtesy Smithsonian Libraries;

p. 5, (top) courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum,

(bottom) Hugh Talman; p. 8, courtesy IMAX; p. 9, courtesy

Smithsonian Institution; p. 10, Jeff Malet; p. 11, Dane Penland;

p. 12, Amy Hutchins; p. 13, (top) James Madison, by John

Vanderlyn; (bottom left) Thomas Jefferson, by Rembrandt

Peale; (bottom right) George Washington, by Gilbert Stuart;

p. 15, Chip Clark; p. 16, Amanda Lucidon; p. 17, Eric Long;

p. 18, (top) Jeff Malet; (bottom left) Amanda Lucidon;

(bottom right) Amanda Lucidon; p. 19, Chip Clark; p. 20,

Eric Long; p. 21, courtesy Smithsonian Institution; p. 22,

(left) Smithsonian American Art Museum/photographer

unknown; (right) Hugh Talman; p. 23, Eric Long; p. 24,

(left to right) NASA image; Jeff Malet; Jeff Malet; Richard

Strauss; p. 27, Chip Clark; p. 28, Ron Blunt; p. 29, Brian

Ireley; p. 30, (left) Jeff Malet; (right) courtesy Smithsonian Institution; p. 31, Jeff Malet; p. 33, (top left) courtesy

Smithsonian Institution; (top right) Don Hurlbert; (bottom)

Chip Clark; p. 34, (left) Jeff Malet; (right) Eric Long; p. 35,

John Steiner; p. 36, courtesy Smithsonian Institution;

p. 38, Jessica Nuñez; p. 41, (top) Hugh Talman; (bottom)

courtesy Library of Congress; p. 44, (top) Eric Long;

(bottom) James F. Gibson, courtesy Library of Congress;

p. 47, (top) courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum;

(bottom left) Neil Greentree; (bottom right) Eric Long;

p. 51, Jason Salavon and Travis Saul; p. 52, courtesy

IMAX; p. 53, (top left) courtesy Smithsonian Institution

Digitization Program Office; (top right) Sandra J. Raredon;

(bottom) Eric Long; p. 54, Sandra J. Raredon; p. 55, Eric

Long; p. 56, courtesy Smithsonian Institution; p. 57, (left)

courtesy Smithsonian Institution; (right) Steve Sniteman;

p. 58, (left to right) Jeff Malet; courtesy Smithsonian

Institution Digitization Program Office; Pinhead Institute;

Eric Long; p. 61, Eric Long; p. 62, Eric Long; p. 64, courtesy

Smithsonian Institution; p. 66,(left) Timothy Smith Network;

(right) Jeff Malet; p. 69, Amanda Lucidon; p. 70, Mark

Haddon; p. 72, Jeff Malet