Comments on: [2b2k] Curation without trucks

By: Nate Hill

Nate Hill — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:25:41 +0000

“cultural heritage organizations need their missions adjusted to accommodate the Web”

I like that. I have a pretty clear vision of what I believe that should mean for public libraries, but as long as we are extending it to all cultural heritage organizations I’d love to hear a bit more about how, say, an art museum or a science museum might adjust its mission to accommodate the web…

By: Ed Summers

Ed Summers — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:14:24 +0000

I definitely agree. Although, I think sites like Flickr, Pinterest, Gojee, Wikipedia etc are evidence that curation is already happening on the Web, and that libraries actually need tools, recipes, and permission for participating in it. Perhaps even more than permission cultural heritage organizations need their missions adjusted to accommodate the Web.

By: davidw

davidw — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:34:14 +0000

I think we are agreeing, Ed. I take your warning as meaning that the DPLA needs to be more than a search engine that lets us find Web content. I certainly don’t take it as a disparagement of the Web!

So, how could the DPLA do something that the Web does not? One way would be to curate a collection. But, imo, that curation needs to be more than a collection; it should also help us to collectively appreciate that collection by enabling links to explanatory works, a social layer, etc.

Now are we in agreement?

By: Ed Summers

Ed Summers — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 17:17:17 +0000

Hey, hold on a sec, I don't have "web-nerd" in my Twitter profile for nothing! I actually think the potential of the DPLA is to help libraries fit into the Web better. We should be so lucky if the DPLA turned out to be as useful, diverse and distributed as the Web. I think I may be violently agreeing with you, and balking just a little bit at my warning that the DPLA needs to be different from the Web...