Smithsonian Commons Prototype

  • Author(s)
    Lynda Kelly
  • Category
    Museullaneous
  • Published
    05 July 2010
  • Read time
    2 minutes

The Smithsonian Commons is doing more than "... enabling discoveries. It will make possible new fields of discovery". What is the Smithsonian Commons and how will this be made possible?

The Smithsonian Institute (US) has been doing some amazing and interesting things in the web world. First was the public development of their Web and New Media Strategy via their wiki.

Now, they have developed the Smithsonian Commons Prototype, which, in their own words, is "... a new part of our digital presence dedicated to stimulating learning, creation, and innovation through open access to Smithsonian research, collections and communities. The Smithsonian Commons will, in many ways, be the platform through which we accomplish the Four Grand Challenges articulated in the Smithsonian Institution Strategic Plan." These grand challenges are:

  1. Unlocking the Mysteries of the Universe
  2. Understanding and Sustaining a Biodiverse Planet
  3. Valuing World Cultures
  4. Understanding the American Experience

Their Strategic Plan is worth a read and the Commons is certainly worth a look! The videos are a great way to explain what's planned (although a tad too long for me), but the whole concept is totally exciting and I really liked the Millenials video in particular.

Interested to see where they take this.