This is the text of my speech that I delivered at the Ignite Smithsonian Conference, April 11, 2011 at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Click this link for the USTREAM Video (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13933930/highlight/166074#utm_campaign=smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com&utm_source=166074&utm_medium=social).
Ignite Smithsonian: (http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/Ignite+Smithsonian)
15. 14 Users need meaningful opportunities to contribute content from their own experiences to the museum’s official streams.
16. 15 We are living in a digital culture where people are mixing, mashing and creating instantly with technological palettes.
17. 16 Our current copyright practices are barriers to the fluidity of dissemination and creation enabled by new media tools.
18. 17 We must differentiate between what is legal with regards to copyright and what is ethical and in the best interest of the public good.
19. 18 The museum is a commons –a place where peace and virtue flourish as resources are shared without restriction for the good of all constituents.
20. 19 Museum workers are empowered through digital technology to interact with the public in a civic discourse that vitally reshapes the future of the republic.
21. 20 It is time now for museums to take bold and courageous risks to renew American democracy!