I’ve just spent a few days in Miami Beach, Florida at the Web Wise 2.0 Conference, an annual event sponsored this year by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Wolfsonian-FIU, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. This year’s theme focused on community and the sessions addressed several different ways to engage users in the collections of museums and libraries. Attending were about 100 people representing museums and libraries across the country, including a few from National Trust Historic Sites: L’Merchie Frazier (Museum of African American History) and Cheryl Bachand and Zarine Weil (Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust)–and yes, Site Directors, we were all in the dark windowless meeting room, not on the beach (although greatly tempted).
The conference included sessions packed with information and concurrent demonstrations of diverse projects, so my posting will only highlight those portions that most closely relate to historic sites. If you want to learn more, visit webwise2008.fcla.edu for the agenda and links to the demonstration projects (and there was a mention that the entire proceedings will be available on line, but so far nothing has been posted). To avoid one incredibly long post, I’ve separated it into different postings.
Opening Remarks
Ron Berkman, provost at Florida International University noted that universities know little about the uses of technology and that delivering courses and improving the student and faculty experience through technology are only recently being explored. He noted that the business school was the first to launch online courses and there were concerns that arts and humanities could not be successfully delivered online. That has changed and FIU now offers courses in a wide range of disciplines. He has observed that online teaching and learning both engage and distance teacher and student, and is creating new communities that we are only beginning to understand and is also eroding traditional communities. [Museums seem to be really far behind in providing on-line and distance learning. I can think of less than a handful of on-line courses for historic sites at museum studies programs at universities or through professional associations--yet it may be an ideal way to serve the remote historic sites community. I know IMLS supports ventures like this but capacity is a challenge by both the developer and the user in this particular situation.]
Anne Imelda Radice, director of IMLS stated her interest in extending collections and programs through Web 2.0, including conservation efforts, and that computerization can be an important part of stewardship obligations. [Radice has made conservation of collections a major emphasis but I'm unclear how Web 2.0 can make this happen. I wish she had provided some examples so I could better understand what she's thinking.]
Bruce Cole, chair of NEH mentioned they have launched several grant programs to address Web issues, especially tools and planning. Most applicants for digital projects are first-time. He noted that scientists use “data sets” for their research and that the data sets in the humanities are cultural heritage materials; museums and libraries are keepers of these data sets in the humanities. A major challenge, however, is how to research and synthesize these materials. [It's great that NEH has expanded its grant programs to encourage more with the Web, but the application process is so painful and competition so keen, it usually not worth the effort to apply.]
Jonathan Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation: This was the most intriguing and wide-ranging of the opening speakers, so I apologize for the disjointed and lengthy nature of my notes; you’ll want to read his entire speech if it becomes available. Fanton noted that “community” is a different dimension for the Web Wise conference and exploring how to keep people engaged is important. Due to the overabundance of information, people need trusted sources. Internet is hailed as a democratic force yet its use raises vexing legal and ethical issues. Fanton listed various statistics related to teen’s widespread use of computers and the Internet, and noted that although there is lots of activity, he’s unsure what it all means, which prompted the Foundation to explore this area to understand skills, identity, community, multiple perspectives for digital media and learning (funding research, games, MIT Press series, journal). He noted there is greater levels of participation on the Internet (Users can alter code, build new relationships, change roles and rules) but that this also changes ideas of privacy, validation, credibility, authority, sharing knowledge, rights, ownership, resources, identity, and participation. He referred frequently to the work of Howard Gardner for inspiration (I assume he’s referring to the Harvard professor and creator of “multiple intelligences”). Fanton is very concerned about what participation and community means on the Internet because it not truly democratic (access, invitation, denial, relationships can be ended without notice or explanation; terms and rules can be ended without notice; creation of private town spaces meant to make a profit; accounts closed, content censored, individuals eliminated; attacks, hacks, harassment; lack of due process, which government laws prevails). He expects legal responses will grow, but hopes there will be forums about this first—the courts are not best place to settle this. Stanton proposed three principles for organizations operating on the Internet:
- provide clear guidance for acceptable behavior and examples of what has resulted in termination
- provide specific notice for inappropriate behavior for use of images, materials (plagiarism, rights)
- allow the opportunity of appeal to clear up factual errors or misunderstanding and hearing by a neutral third party and that the User’s data will preserved in the meantime.
These principles will be incorporated into projects funded by the Foundation.
Q&A: Will Internet change ideas of citizenship? Yes, people are now living in borderless worlds and that will have profound impact on public policy. Some countries, such as Korea and Finland, are ahead of us in thinking about social networking. Foundation wants to develop translation tool between Arabic and English to create a bridge to the Islamic world. Hard to develop rules when different cultures are involved (e.g. Norway allows freer expression of language than in US). Will digital divide continue? Yes, but it different today. Not just about a computer, but access to media rich environments. Will people jump to environments that don’t abuse their rights? Eg. Will people move from MySpace to Facebook. This is not a satisfactory solution because Users have made investments in the environment. The US Supreme Court has ruled that some private spaces take on the character of a public space, so this may apply to the Internet in some cases as well. [For a useful discussion on this, see Intellectual Property: The Attack on Public Space in Cyberspace by Howard Besser.]
More on Web Wise 2008 to be posted later.
