As part of the Smithsonian 2.0 event, the "Web and New Media Fair" highlights 31 projects from around the Smithsonian.
Today (January 22) we opened up the Fair to all Smithsonian staff to mix and mingle with some of our very own "digerati"!
About 120-130 SI staffers dropped by to learn about a host of exciting SI 2.0 sites and projects. It was great seeing Smithsonian staff representing art museums (Smithsonian American Art Museum), National Museum of Natural History, education offices from a couple of different units, Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Libraries, the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Global Sound & Smithsonian Folkways Recordings (ok, gotta stop now, I've broken the cardinal rule of once you mention one name, you gotta mention them all! - but I'll stop - wait, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, American History, Freer and Sackler Gallerers, Environmental Research Center, Tropical Research Institute - stop me! - African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Photography Initiative, Arago from the National Postal Museum, the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum, Air & Space, and, National Museum of the American Indian - whew - I bet I forgot someone!
On Friday, our visiting guests will get an intense 5-7 minute "speed dating" experience with each of the projects!
Here are a few highlights:
Chandra Observatory (SAO)
The Chandra Observatory is an X-ray telescope in space, operated by SAO in Cambridge. The public website chandra.harvard.edu describes the discoveries made with Chandra through text, images and videos. The professional website http://cxc.harvard.edu provides terabytes of science data also freely available to the public, as well as the software needed to use it.
SIRIS Cross Searching Center (SI Wide)
EDAN is a metadata and services layer that will sit between SI’s collection systems and web applications. It will provide cross-Institutional, search and delivery of Institutional collection data and digital assets. SI has prototyped this cross-platform search functionality in the SIRIS Cross Catalog Searching Center and currently provides single-point access to 184,000 digital assets and data on 1.9 million collection objects.
Smithsonian Flickr Commons (SI)
In June 2008, the Smithsonian Institution was the fourth institution to launch on the Flickr Commons. The Commons gives the Smithsonian the opportunity to reach larger audiences with its photo collections. Currently, there are nine SI units on the Commons (Anacostia Community Museum, Archives of American Art, Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, National Museum of the American Indian, National Museum of Natural History, Division of Fishes, National Postal Museum, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Smithsonian Institution Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution Libraries).
Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum (Smithsonian Latino Center)
The Smithsonian Latino Center, in partnership with Ohio University Vital Lab and Second Life’s Linden Labs are pleased to present the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum (LVM), an avatar-based 3D virtual learning environment whose unique navigational features will provide access to the vast and rich collections, research and scholarship, exhibitions and educational activities of the Smithsonian Institution as they relate to U.S. Latinos and Latin America.
Be sure to take a look at the gallery of additional sites, not all of which were represented at the Fair due to space limitations. And for you Twitterites out there, follow us at: http://twitter.com/SmithsonianRSS
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