UNLOCKING THE SMITHSONIAN
We’ll only be able to get to that
That is why I have focused much of
to flower once most of the
vision of the future, where the
my Smithsonian career on sharing
remaining barriers are removed.
digital and real elevate each
the story of American art online
Under the international Creative
other by using the right tools, and
via digital projects and platforms—
Commons license, roughly
making the processes and outputs
websites, social media channels and
3.3 million of our 2D and
of what we do. Today, I remind
video. The web series Re:Frame and
3D images will be released,
myself to go slow, and take the
behind-the-scenes stories in the
making our eligible collections,
time to make sure that the work
Meet the Artist video series are two
media, metadata and research
I do has as much lasting value as
favorite recent examples of what we
data available for educational
that of my predecessors at the
at the museum have produced.
and research endeavors,
museum. I think it will be worth it. Nick Pyenson is a research geologist and curator of fossil marine mammals at the National Museum of Natural History and a Young Scientist at the World Economic Forum. He is author of Spying on Whales: The Past, Present and Future of Earth’s Most Awesome Creatures.
WIKI AND BEYOND
The internet has made it possible to share our amazing collections and engage in meaningful dialogue with
computational analysis, and all sorts of innovative explorations by the public.
researchers, students, art lovers,
Here’s what I look forward
teachers and creators around the
to: better representation of
globe. Technologically cutting-
our collections, research and
edge, linked open-data projects
knowledge in Wikipedia and its
have the potential to contribute
sister projects, such as Wikidata
to open knowledge at an even
and Wikimedia Commons, and
greater scale, by publishing data
seeing a greater number of
sets that could be reused by digital
our gorgeous, professionally
humanities scholars and major
photographed images of
collaborative data-sharing projects.
artworks from the Smithsonian’s
That’s how the Smithsonian
collection given greater prominence in search results.
By Sara Snyder
Open Access initiative will
I love encountering an artist whose
expand access to our treasures
Now, we truly have the chance
exponentially. For me, this is a
to inspire the whole world with
foundational step in implementing
the power of American art, and
the Smithsonian’s audacious goal
empower creativity and new
to “reach 1 billion people a year
research by the public.
work inspires me to think about the world in new ways—one who raises powerful questions or ignites my imagination. Works such as Nam June Paik’s chaotic television assemblages and Alma Thomas’s colorful painted canvases are among
with a digital-first strategy.” We will take many paths to make this happen. But, imagine the types of creative reuse that will begin
Sara Snyder is chief of external affairs and digital strategies at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery.
my favorites in the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where I have worked for the last five years. Living in a city like Washington, D.C., I have access to great art museums, which is a privilege that is easy to take for granted. For many people around the world, such museums are geographically beyond their reach. Nam June Paik, Electronic Superhighway: Continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, 1995; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, Smithsonian American Art Museum © Nam June Paik Estate 9