I had the opportunity back in 2011 to be a speaker at the Smithsonianâs Ignite Conference. I had recently held the role as one of a handful of expert reviewers for the Smithsonianâs next generation digital strategy encompassing technology, education and the digitization of content. A true privilege and I was so honored to be asked. The subject matter is near and dear to my heart and a passion stemming from my days as the Chief Digital Officer for the Library of Congress.
The world continues to move physical content into the World of Digital but there is still so much more content that sits in repositories and archives that has yet to see the light of day. Important content that offers opportunities for inspiration, learning and gaining knowledge.
While at the Library of Congress I functioned and ran my digital and education departments with the understanding that we had the opportunity to inspire.
Inspire a young child to become a lover of science.
Inspiring a young child to gain knowledge from playing educational games with primary source material.
Inspiring a teenager who potentially is so taken by the content we made available that it guided their choices in life to be an Author, Doctor or Scientist.
An adult who gained great inspiration from the content to move their idea and make it known in the World.
Results in any of those regards is of course elusive, how can you possibly quantify or qualify. Access is Denied!
To me, It was simply just knowing that the inspiration was possible and that is was happening somewhere and everywhere in the World.
There is still significant content to digitize and that which is available still has what I call âaccessâ issues.
Two of the major challenges are searching and managing content that is digitized while ensuring the content is âaccessibleâ. Accessible via multiple screens, form factors and interfaces but also in terminology known and understood by the masses we seek to reach.
Most mass content digitized from Library and Archive collections reflects the metadata (descriptive data) of Library subject headings, data in finding aids and the like.
Of equal importance is the demonstration of content with context. It isnât enough to simply make the content âavailableâ and âaccessibleâ. One needs to tell the story of the content and act as a curator and navigator who is helping teach and inform. Even in digital, a navigator and curator is needed and ensures the significance and importance of the content and its story is told.
Often we get caught up in the technology. Often we get caught up in ontologies, architectures and structures that seem right and comfortable for only those in the âknowâ.
We forget the 12 year old student searching for content who most likely doesnât have a deep vocabulary that reflects the terminology a researcher might use.
We forget the grade school teacher who needs content that is easily understood by her pupils .
We forget the life long learner who seeks to explore new subjects but doesnât think in library and archive terms.
In this regard, those in Digital are still paving the way of the Wild Wild West.
What seems mature really isnât.
What seems cooked still is raw.
What seems best practice is only a tip of a much larger iceberg.
The dynamism of digital, the multiple screens and fast moving and changing customer/member and constituent preferences compound the environment but keep it still highly engaging and stimulating.
We must all recognize that we remain the stewards and leaders to create inspiration through content and via the medium we know best. We see the possibilities and we know when and how those possibilities can take form in reality.
Download the Opportunity to Inspire PowerPoint or Inspire PDF file.
What follows is my âThe New White Spaceâ script and slides from the formerly mentioned Ignite talk. Every bit is still very relevant today as it was 5 years ago. You can view the video here: Kevin Novak and the New White Space.
The New White Space
In the beginning: disruption, a new white space was created, the web came to life.
The web, an immature space which offered great possibilities and opportunities to those that understood it.
The newness created excitement, bandwagon rolling, one must be first out the gate, the trailblazer before everyone else jumps onto the new exciting wagon rolling into the future.
The great time of experimentation, prototyping, testing and building began.
An explosion of approachesâ¦
An explosion of informationâ¦.
An explosion of services and experiencesâ¦..
Which would take hold in the present and in the futureâ¦..
How would this new white space be filled?
As information, services and experiences exponentially increased, so did usageâ¦. The public was excited to be a part of this great new but undefined white spaceâ¦
Those working or responsible for the âspaceâ began to solidify, justify and prove the possibilities and opportunities within and outside of public, private, non profit and other organizationsâ¦.
Strategies, tactics, paint ball throwing and large sums of money created one stop shops for information and services⦠all about communication, service, availability, more and more and more and moreâ¦..
Libraries began digitizing their collections en mass to be made available in the strange new frontierâ¦
Governments began publishing documents to shareâ¦â¦.
Businesses explored the web as a marketing and service toolâ¦..
New businesses, attempts, prototypes came and went bouncing off of the new âwhite spaceâ
We ran and we ran hardâ¦.. evaluating every new technologyâ¦. Every new idea..copying and applying what other trailblazers were doing and tailoring it to our business and projectsâ¦
Further defending why we were doing what we were doing, why it was of value, why it was cool, and what impact it would and could haveâ¦..
The result: .COM, .GOV, .ORG and a myriad of other websitesâ¦.
Large websites⦠millions of pagesâ¦. Millions of interfacesâ¦.. massive repositories of contentâ¦. Thousands of interactive experiencesâ¦. Portalsâ¦.. search enginesâ¦. And moreâ¦..
The growing monsters and their needs to be fedâ¦. Ever growing⦠ever increasingâ¦. Exploding
Users adjusted⦠it is what is availableâ¦.
GIVE ME ALL OF IT AND GIVE IT TO ME NOWâ¦â¦.
Response: We will give you everything we can, everything we haveâ¦.. HERE TAKE ITâ¦â¦..
Calamity ensues and the monster growsâ¦
We think we have it downâ¦.
We have a strategyâ¦
We know the tacticsâ¦.
We have the talentâ¦..
We have operationalized the web into an organizationâ¦.
We understand the userâ¦â¦
Isnt it only very recent that we did âgetâ it, that we did operationalize? That we have finally begun maturing the execution and direction?
WHAM!!! EXPLODE!!! EVOLUTION, DIRUPTION, DIRECTION
Disruption is here againâ¦.
Devices of all sorts: Tablets, PADS, Mobile, Smartphones, talking cars, smart homesâ¦..
Begin their quick, fast, crazy and short adoption track for the massesâ¦.
Faster than a speeding trainâ¦
Faster than Supermanâ¦..
Leaping tall buildings better than Spidermanâ¦..
In the proverbial blink of an eye the playing field has changedâ¦.
A new âwhite spaceâ now exists that isnât quite the same as the old one⦠its differentâ¦
The delivery medium has changed⦠it isnât a single glowing rectangle anymoreâ¦
It is many rectangles, squares, circles⦠who require different, directed, single, task based experiences..
What was required has now fundamentally changedâ¦. Is there any similarity?
Our conceptionsâ¦. Those things we have grown and rooted, actually matured⦠are altered..
New strategies need to be formedâ¦. The new white space is upon usâ¦.
We are once again in the great undefined and unknown frontierâ¦..
How do we fill in the âwhite spaceâ
Will .COM, .ORG, .GOV exist in the future? Have we created something short term that now needs to fundamentally change in focus, intent, and shape?
How long with the great BIG RICH COMMUNICATIVE websites last?
What is their future to an organization?
To us in the âwhite spaceâ and the mature space?
Are we ready once again to evolve?
Can we change our strategies? Can we create new ones? How do we adapt ourselves and our organizations for the future?
How do we define the future?
The new great âwhite spaceâ is upon usâ¦â¦. All that is there are a couple of new pencil linesâ¦.
What is the picture we will draw, how will we build off of the little that is there?
Do we know how to fill it?
The time is now and the time needs to be quickâ¦. Disruption is here once againâ¦. It needs to be fed, grown, and matured before the next great leap comesâ¦â¦.
TIME TO DEFINE WHERE WE GO NEXTâ¦â¦ ARE YOU READY??????
