A Report on the Openlab Workshop December 1-2, 2015 Arlington, Virginia

Written for the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) Diane M. Zorich Cultural Heritage Consultant

Posted June 26, 2016 by user:edsonm

About this Report

This report summarizes and synthesizes the discussions that took place at the Openlab Workshop held on December 1-2, 2015 in Arlington, Virginia. It focuses primarily on the second day of the event, which was held at the offices of the American Alliance of Museums [Note 1].

Sources used to develop this report include the author’s own “real-time” notes, audio and written transcripts of discussions from Day 2 of the event, social media feeds and blog postings that document the event, and post-workshop discussions with Openlab’s organizers.

The narrative outline of this report follows the agenda and general trajectory of discussions that occurred on the second day of the Openlab Workshop. The report is not a refined transcript but a summary account that highlights the key ideas and themes to be discussed further by the project’s stakeholders. Major discussion points are synthesized and reported in sections where they were most frequently discussed rather than in strict chronological order.

For purposes of clarity the term “GLAM” (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) is used throughout this report to represent all memory, knowledge, and humanities-based organizations. The term “technology” is used to represent the entire spectrum of technology and practices related to computers, mobile devices, the Internet, and the World Wide Web. “Openlab Workshop” is a rubric used to refer to all events that took place on December 1st and 2nd, including a smaller workshop meeting held on the second day of activities.

1. What is Openlab?

The Backdrop

The idea for Openlab emerged from several years of work, collaboration, and discussion with people trying to bring the concepts and practices of ‘new technology’ into the work and thinking of GLAMs.

There is broad consensus in the GLAM sector that GLAMs are struggling with technology and change. Many Openlab Workshop attendees and stakeholders feel that GLAMs are conservative, 1950s-style institutions that often wrap themselves in a veneer of 21st century technologies but don’t understand or utilize these technologies to their full extent. They acknowledge that GLAMs have created exciting and innovative projects, but these initiatives have had little lasting impact sector-wide. For many attendees and stakeholders, GLAMs are not leveraging their use of

Notes

#note11. A parallel and complementary effort will focus on the Unconference and Ignite talks that began the workshop on December 1st. See the Openlab wiki at https://openlabworkshop.wikispaces.com for more information.