What?

Why?

How?

2003

Collective power as

knowledge institutions

2003

•What might be the future value of collections convergence?

•What are the challenges and opportunities of a digital future for knowledge institutions?

•What are the barriers to progress and how to overcome them?

A concept ahead of its time

“The Internet has become a vital part of our lives and our society”

Willliam Dutton et al. Next Generation Users: the Internet in Britain, Oxford Internet Institute, 2011

Look at the big picture

Take a strategic viewIdentify contentions and opportunitiesNot a proof or solution, but a blueprint for exploring strategic possibilities

KNOWLEDGE (COLLECTING) INSTITUTIONS

Is the traditional institution-based service paradigm of knowledge institutions (museums, libraries and archives) suitable to maximise the value of knowledge collections delivered digitally?

Is it possible to model a service paradigm better fitting the needs of the Network Society and how might such a conceptual model be exploited in support of professional practice?

PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTION

What?

Why?

How?

Once upon a time...

Akio Morita 1946

1983 Compact disc

1955 Transistor radio

1979 Walkman

1991 Playstation

1955

1991Sony Music Entertainment

?1991 2000

CD heaven Napster

MP3

iTunesiPod

Smartphones

??

?

Evolution Revolution Extinction

DEMAND SIDE TRENDS, 2011

77% of population online (48m)

Data from Oxford Internet Survey 2011; Office of National Statistics (2011a). Statistical Bulletin: Internet Access - Households and Individuals, 2011; Office of National Statistics (2011b). Statistical Bulletin: E-Commerce and ICT Activity, 2010.

- 86% travel and local information (41m)

- 86% online shopping (41m)

- 96% email (46m)

- 60% social networking (29m)

- 79% news (38m)

- 61% music downloads (29m)

- 51% games (24m)

- 34% public information (16m)

- 44% Next Generation Users (21m)

95% of UK companies online- 92% using broadband

- 78% public websites

NEXT GENERATION USERS

•Always on

•New patterns of work, shopping and leisure

•Ease of use

•Personalisation

•Engagement

•Accessibility

EMERGENT EXPECTATIONS

“Networks have become the predominant

organisational form of every domain of human activity.. The space of

flows has taken over the logic of the space of

places…”

Castells, M. (2010). Rise of the Network Society, 2nd ed.

What of public knowledge collections?

THE INSTITUTIONAL MODEL

•Monopolistic merit good

•Destination

•Component of wider organisation

•Physical collection defines professional values

•Long-established model

•Trusted, reliable

•High sustainability costs

•Value not well understood

Knowledge Institution Schematic

PolicyResourcesArtifacts

PolicyResourcesArtifacts

Users and potential

users

Users and potential

users

Demand sideDemand sideSupply sideSupply side K. InstitutionK. Institution

Processes

Active

Passive

Collecting Curating Disclosing

Warehousing

Contestable market

From shellac to iTunes

From desk to desktop?

APPisation

Competition

The raw material

“The objects of culture are no longer secured behind glass cases or tied to the

walls of museums and galleries or constrained by the control over publishing

and broadcasting, but are created and recreated in the social process.”

Tredinnick, L. (2008) Digital Information Culture: The Individual and Society in the Digital Age

Fragmentation

Disintermediation

Loss of Authenticity

New marketsNew channels

New Relationships

Status Quo 2.0(Sustaining innovation)

Europeana Jisc Content Board Artstor

Old Weather

Jisc Open Access NOF-Digi

Reference OnlineDigital NZ

DPLA

“Many librarians who work in physical libraries see the

Internet as providing a digital mirror of their own

institutions: the digital library as a surrogate for the physical

library.”Attribution redacted

email from xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, 7th March 2012

1001 websites

Knowledge Institution Schematic

PolicyResource

sArtifacts

PolicyResource

sArtifacts

Users and

potential users

Users and

potential users

Demand side

Demand sideSupply sideSupply side K. InstitutionK. Institution

Media

shift

New behaviours

and expectations

Lack of policy

Declining resource

s

Competition

structures

practitioner worldview

“Our governance arrangements are for the most part designed to maintain hierarchical, command and control decision making”.

Ison, R. (2010). Governance that Works

“Dynamic conservatism - the fight to remain the same”

Schon, D. (1991). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action

Is the traditional institution-based service paradigm of knowledge institutions (museums, libraries and archives) suitable to maximise the value of knowledge collections delivered digitally?

Is it possible to model a service paradigm better fitting the needs of the Network Society and how might such a conceptual model be exploited in support of professional practice?

PRIMARY RESEARCH QUESTION

?Hunter/gatherer Agrarian harvester

?Hunter/

gatherer

Agrarian harvester

?Hunter/

gatherer

Agrarian harvester

?Hunter/

gatherer

Agrarian harvester

What?

Why?

How?

Change

Uncertainty

Complexity

STRATEGIC RESEARCH CHALLENGESMulti-disciplinary

ECONOMICS•Innovation•Value and exchange•Cultural policyECONOMICS•Innovation•Value and exchange•Cultural policy

Michael Finkenthal. Complexity, Multi-disciplinarity and Beyond. (2008), p100

“...a holistic approach may be the only route to dealing with today’s complexity.”

STRATEGIC RESEARCH CHALLENGES

Social Realism

•Interpretive

“The real world is not only

very complex but also

stratified into different layers.

Social reality incorporates

individual, group, institutional

and societal levels...

understanding the

mechanisms at work and the

contexts in which they

operate provides a theoretical

understanding of what is

going on.”

ECONOMICS•Innovation•Value and exchange•Cultural policyECONOMICS•Innovation•Value and exchange•Cultural policy

•Phenomenology

•Multiple perspectives

•Verstehen rather than erklären (Weber)

Colin Robson. Real World Research: A Resource Guide for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers. (2002), p36

•Organisation theory

General Systems Theory, systems approach, systems dynamics, Soft Systems Methodology, Vanguard Technique, boundary critique, Critical Systems Heuristics, Systemantics, ecological systems theory, sociotechnical systems, ecosystems, open systems, cybernetics, operations research, fuzzy systems theory, process improvement, Syntegrity, Viable System Model, social systems theory, systemics, systems philosophy, systems engineering, systems analysis, critical systems thinking, systemography, critical systems practice, total systems integration, adaptive systems theory, applied multi-dimensional systems theory, living systems theory, complex systems theory, holon, link

Reductionism Holism

The problemSituation in context

Solution ResolutionMultiple perspectives

Single view

THE SYSTEMS APPROACH

Soft Systems Methodology

Soft Systems Methodology

Phenomenological approach

Focus on modelling (rich pictures)

Support actors to greater understanding

An iterative process (understanding different

worldviews)

Soft Systems Methodology

PolicPolicy y

makmakerer

ManaManagerger

UserUser

PractitioPractitionerner

Transformation process

Do tasks P by undertaking

processes Q to achieve outcome R

CustomersActorsTransformationWorldviewOwnersEnvironment

Rich pictures

Soft Systems Methodology

“These ROOT DEFINITIONS are

turned into conceptual models that

are explicitly one-sided

representations of reality expressing

a particular Weltanschauung. A

debate is then structured around the

implications of these different

perceptions of the way things could

be” Jackson, 2003, p211

Root definition

Soft Systems Methodology

ANALYSIS

SYNTHESIS

MODELLING

VALIDATION

Technical rationality

Strategic thinking

clarity of purpose and mission in the digital space

“You cannot blow an uncertain trumpet”

Thanks for listening

e. cbatt@mac.com

b. chrisbatt/wordpress.com

tw. chrisbatt

www.digital-futures.org