ERIC ED595804: Smithsonian 2018

2018·5.7 MB·English

by  ERIC

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Smithsonian | 2018

LOOKING AHEAD David Skorton 1
S ecretary, Smithsonian Institution
F
ifty years ago, as the Apollo program prepared
to put man on the moon, the future arrived at
America’s doorstep all at once. Our astronauts
ushered in a new age of exploration and innova-
tion, pushing humanity to consider horizons
once deemed unreachable.
Today we live in an even more rapidly changing era — a time
when new technologies enable cultural institutions even
more effectively to honor history and heritage, invoke wonder
and make our aspirations possible.
In 2018, the Smithsonian embraced innovation as a driving
force — our openness, creativity and capacity to take risks
have never been more robust, as evidenced by our new
strategic plan. It’s a collective legacy I’m extremely proud
of as I look back on my four years as Secretary of this wonderful
institution. Though my time here comes to an end in June
2019, I leave the Smithsonian in the hands of enormously
talented colleagues, and I am more confident than ever that
it is primed to harness new ideas to create a better world.
Contents I am particularly excited about our collaboration with the
Google Arts & Culture Lab. Together, we are applying tech-
nology like 3-D capture, machine learning and visualization
1 David Skorton Reflects
to broaden access and change the way audiences can
experience our nation’s history. In 2018, Google VR teamed
3 Because of Her
up with the National Air and Space Museum to capture
NASA’s space shuttle Discovery in 3-D and provide an
4 Democratizing Knowledge astronaut’s view inside the orbiter’s flight deck — something
by Everyone for Everyone the public had never seen before.
Increasing our reach through digital platforms and new
8 Adding Three-Dimensional Depth
partnerships has become a core focus for the Smithsonian.
For instance, the Institution is working with Washington, D.C.,
12 Teaching Machines to See
public schools to implement educational programs and
resources for all pre-K–12 students in the District. At the
17 Finding My Story
same time, our Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition
Service brings exhibitions to museums, libraries, community
26 All in a Day
centers, botanical gardens, schools and other institutions
across the country.
29 Recognition and Reports
Our goal? To meet and empower young people wherever
they are, whether in our own backyard or halfway around
the globe.
2 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 David Skorton SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Ariana Curtis 3
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution Curator, Latinx History and Culture
National Museum of African American History and Culture
This year, as we celebrate the mixing genes from different coral This year’s annual report features Because
centennial of women’s right to vote, populations — a technique that experts from across the Smithsonian
we’re launching the Smithsonian speeds up adaptation. whose work represents the best of
of Her
American Women’s History Initiative, innovation for the public good. They
In 2018, scientists from the
which strives to tell more complete provide an excellent bird’s-eye view
Smithsonian Conservation Biology
stories of women and their contribu- of the many new approaches we
Institute and partners in Florida
tions to the nation — in art, design, are taking, each with the goal of
and Curaçao became the first to
science, politics, education and opening new opportunities for
use cryopreserved coral sperm to
more. This spirit informs a new learning and discovery.
support gene migration of corals.
exhibition at the National Portrait
Researchers fertilized live eggs We often think of agility as a concept
Gallery, Votes for Women: A Portrait The Smithsonian American Women’s History
from endangered elkhorn coral in applied in the tech world, an apti-
of Persistence, exploring the lives Initiative seeks to amplify diverse representations
Curaçao with frozen elkhorn coral tude that can streamline and improve
and experiences of women often of women in every possible way so that women
sperm collected in Florida, Puerto com merce. At the Smithsonian we
overlooked in the complex history show up not only in our contemporary realities
Rico and Curaçao. The team then are proud to practice agility for
of women’s suffrage. Google is but in our historical representations.
transported 20,000 larvae to different ends: to help people under-
also helping to develop digital
Florida, where they are growing stand the world around them, intro- Too often our public representations of women
content for the initiative. Here,
successfully in a lab environment. duce big ideas and tell a diverse are enveloped in superlatives: ”the first American
machine learning can help us
range of human stories. woman to.…” They don’t reflect daily realities.
delve into our collections and
Innovation in our museums
archives and “uncover” previously some times takes surprising forms. I remain in awe of the many creative Museums can literally change how hundreds of millions
untold stories about women. Last spring, we introduced a group minds that build, teach and explore of people see women and which women we see. So
of museum guides straight out in our museums, research centers rather than always being the first, or the most famous,
Our creative work applying tech-
of a sci-fi novel: four-foot-tall and educational programs every day. it is also our responsibility to show every day women
nology to history and education is
humanoid robots named Pepper. They continue to expand our sense whose stories have been knowingly omitted from our
matched by our innovative efforts
I have watched Pepper delight of what is possible and push toward national and global histories.
in science and sustainability. For I will continue to collect objects
people of all ages as it chats new horizons — a great gift to the
instance, Smithsonian scientists As a curator, I am empowered to change that from extraordinary history makers.
with visitors, offers directions nation and world. I cannot wait to
are working to make coral reefs narrative. I research, collect and interpret objects Their stories are important. But what
and interesting facts, poses see where they take us next.
more resilient to the harmful and images of significance. drives me to show up, today and
for selfies and even dances.
impacts of global warming by every day, is the simple passion to
Celia Cruz, the queen of salsa, is significant—and write our names in history, display
We intentionally stationed Pepper
an Afro Latina. The Smithsonian has collected her them publicly for millions to see,
in some of our oldest areas,
costumes and shoes, her portrait, her postage stamp and walk in the ever-present light
including the Castle, our first
and this reimagining by artist Tony Peralta. When I that is woman.
building, marrying our longest-
displayed this work it was a victory for symbolic
lived cultural inheritance with
contradictions: pride in dis playing a dark-skinned
the newest ideas.
Latina, a black woman in large rollers who straightens
her hair, perhaps a nod to white beauty standards—
a refined glamorous woman in oversized chunky
gold jewelry. When this work was on view, it was one ABOVE
M. Tony Peralta’s Celia con Rolos, 2015, was in the
of our most Instagrammed pieces. Visitors told me
exhibition Gateways/Portales at the Anacostia
LEFT they connected with the everyday elements of her Community Museum and is now part of the museum’s
Pepper, a humanoid robot, greets collection. The exhibition explored the experiences
brown skin, or her rollers or jewelry.
Smithsonian visitors, offers directions of Latino immigrants in Washington, D.C.; Baltimore;
and even poses for selfies. Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.
4 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Effie Kapsalis SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone 5
Senior Digital Program Officer
Democratizing
Knowledge
by Everyone
for Everyone
The birth of the Smithsonian in 1846, an institution dedicated
to “the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men,”
occurred alongside the birth of photography, a technology
that democratized what we see as human beings.
At the time, Thomas Smillie, the Smithsonian’s staff photog-
RIGHT
rapher, experimented with the new medium to document
Through his photographs, Thomas Smillie,
the Smithsonian’s first staff photographer,
the developing Smithsonian; its collections, exhibitions and
recorded American life at the turn of the
20th century. Pictured clockwise from top expeditions; and the growing U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.
left, Mrs. Rhoda Oshkosh (Menominee), 1905;
Roland Oshkosh (Menominee), 1905; David His photographs, now in the Smithsonian Institution Archives,
Tohin or Blue Hair (Iowa), 1903; He-cha-mon-in,
Heskamai, or White Horns (Osage), 1904. provide an important window into how the Smithsonian
National Anthropological Archives,
made sense of its ambitious mission.
National Museum of Natural History.
6 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Democratizing Knowledge by Everyone for Everyone 7
I

THE GREAT was surprised to learn of students and lifelong learners The stunning — yet daunting —
other “early adopters” in create learning sets with our part is that we have an amazing
OBJECT OF HUMAN
our institution’s history. collections and digital resources breadth of resources from our
THOUGHT IS Pam Henson, the through the Smithsonian Learning 172 years of existence that cut
Smithsonian historian, Lab. At the National Museum of across women’s and girls’ experi-
THE DISCOVERY
tells a story of the first Natural History, 2,545 citizen scien- ences. However, these stories
Smithsonian Secretary, physicist tists on six continents have set up of women represented in our
OF TRUTH OR,
Joseph Henry, setting up a network camera traps — infrared-activated objects, archives and libraries
IN OTHER WORDS, of citizen weather observers in cameras — and uploaded them to are not always obvious and often
1849 to collect information across the museum’s eMammal project, reflect our culture’s point of view
TO ARRIVE AT
the United States. He used the capturing nearly 10 million pictures on women at that particular time.
CONCEPTIONS telegraph, a new technology he of species in their locales. Each Additionally, some of the technol-
had a hand in developing. The data year the number of people helping ogies we will employ, like machine
AND EXPRESSIONS
he collected from these volun- transcribe our collections through learning, have inherent gender
OF THINGS WHICH teers — or as we call them today, the Transcription Center grows. biases, so we will need to improve
“the crowd” — helped demonstrate Today, more than 12,000 Digital ourselves and take the algorithms
SHALL AGREE
that weather patterns move from Volunteers around the world are on the journey with us.
west to east, information critical to transcribing our bee specimen
WITH THE NATURE
This is the virtuous cycle we need
our agricultural industry. labels, Frederick Douglass papers
to enter. We are an institution
OF THINGS. and early Alaska expedition records
Henry’s early crowdsourcing established for the increase and
so the texts can be accessible to
experiment was the seed for the diffusion of knowledge among
human and machine queries.
establishment of the U.S. National men, which in the 1800s was a
Weather Service. His experiment
JOSEPH HENRY But the current crowd will look thin bold statement because, at the
is so notable that Wikipedia cites it
once we reach our audacious goal time, knowledge was largely the
as the fourth documented example
set out in the Smithsonian’s new purview of wealthy male land-
of crowdsourcing in history.
strategic plan — to reach 1 billion owners. Now, in the early decades
Since our forebears were experi- people a year with a digital-first of the 21st century, we have a duty
menting with technology and strategy. How do we leverage tech- as one of the most trusted resources
crowdsourcing, I point to them if nology and partner with people, in the world to share stories of and
I ever get pushback on involving aka “the crowd,” to do this? for all Americans, including women.
“the crowd” in my projects. Where
One way will be through the I am reminded of the importance
my work deviates is in the technology
Smithsonian American Women’s of this by one of our foremothers,
I use, which is more complex and
History Initiative. With this initiative Edith Mayo, curator emeritus
ubiquitous, and the crowds, which
we have an opportunity and a of the National Museum of
are more diverse and far-flung.
challenge to use technology and American History: “When you’re
Henry’s crowd — more than 600 — partner with “the crowd” in new invisible people assume you’ve
pales in comparison to the numbers ways to identify gaps in our collec- done nothing.”
of citizen scientists and virtual tions and surface new stories
RIGHT volunteers who contribute to the about women to add to the web
Nearly 10 million pictures of species
in their locales have been uploaded Smithsonian’s mission today. to present a more balanced view
to the eMammal project by citizen Nearly 48,000 U.S. teachers, of U.S. history.
scientists around the world. Visit
emammal.si.edu to see more.
8 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Vince Rossi 9
3-D Program Supervisor
Digitization Program Office
Adding Three-
Dimensional
Depth
Throughout human history we have used a near-infinite
range of tools to share our knowledge and insight into
the world around us. Hand drawings bring the natural
world into sharper focus. Microscopes and telescopes
bring the unseen into view. Photography and video
make it possible to capture a moment in time and
share it with virtually anyone.
These methods have one common quality: They are
two-dimensional representations of a three-dimen-
RIGHT sional world. However, with the recent development
The technology of 3-D scanning makes
thousands of Smithsonian objects— of noncontact three-dimensional (3-D) scanning devices,
from ancient Chinese coins to starfish—
our ability to document the world has been revolutionized.
instantly accessible.
10 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Adding Three-Dimensional Depth SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Adding Three-Dimensional Depth 11
oday, by 3-D
T
scanning an object
we make it instantly
accessible via the
web, and allow
anyone to experi-
ence the object using any number
of platforms, from an augmented
reality (AR) app on a cellphone to
an immersive virtual reality (VR)
experience using a headset. We are
expanding our perception beyond
I now scan objects and specimens Portrait Gallery. I thought users would to access our data, whether for
the constraints a two-dimensional
across the Smithsonian. The variety and make 3-D prints of the busts. This an augmented reality experience
depiction offers. How we leverage
breadth are humbling —from million- student took it much further, creating on a smartphone or virtual gallery
this revolution will help define the
year-old whale fossils in Chile to the his own home museum. experienced through a VR headset.
Smithsonian of the future.
Apollo 11 Command Module.
And his is not an isolated case. With the development of this public
My career followed a similar trajec-
More than ever I understand how Teach ers are using our scan of the data hub we are meeting the mem-
tory from the concrete world to a
3-D digitization will transform the 1903 Wright Flyer to teach the fun da- bers of our audience where they
virtual one. A sculptor most of my life,
Smithsonian and how our scholars mentals of flight, an artist in Japan live, by allowing the platforms they
I consider form a means of commu-
and scientists document, study added joints to a model of a woolly already use to become portals to
nication. I studied art in Philadelphia,
and share our enormous collection. mammoth and printed a movable Smithsonian content. We position
then worked as a fabricator of props
toy (sharing his creative data back ourselves not as the gatekeepers of
and costumes for film, opera and With less than 1 percent of our nearly
with the Smithsonian), and students this information but as gateways to
theater in London. By 2004, I was 155 million objects on display, 3-D
around the world can now virtually a new know ledge. We hold the raw
using molds and casts for Smithsonian scanning renders what was once
sit inside the Apollo 11 Command ingredients for discovery, but the
Exhibits to create objects from images, inaccessible readily available. We
Module and explore its details down future of know ledge lies with those
many of which found their way into created the first Smithsonian 3-D
to the astronauts’ handwritten who will unlock it. After all, it is there
museum exhibitions. viewer online through a partnership
graffiti. By allowing free access we for anyone, anywhere, who wishes
with Autodesk to revolu tionize
My life as a sculptor — working with encourage educators to bring the to turn the key.
our storytelling, where the object
clay, resins and metal — was trans- Smithsonian’s content directly into
becomes a window for storytelling.
formed when the Digitization Program their classrooms in powerful,
This viewer is a powerful new tool
Office purchased the Smithsonian’s engaging and immersive ways.
that allows us to share our data with
first 3-D scanner, then an industrial
the world — setting it free for users So, what does the future hold for
3-D printer. The ability to scan an ABOVE
to experience online or download. us at the Smithsonian?
object without touching it and create Renderings: Tyrannosaurus rex (vertebra cast),
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha district
a lifelike replica was pure magic. The examples of what happens when We are introducing more and more and The Museum of the Rockies, Montana State
you unleash data are astounding. A high automation into our work, pulling University; Triceratops horridus (composite cast),
National Museum of Natural History; Massimiliano
school student in Colorado Springs, content out from the shadows of
Ravenna, George Washington, 1819, after
RIGHT Colo., created his own virtual reality our hidden collections, and devel- Giuseppe Ceracchi, 1792, National Portrait
A rendered 3-D scan of astronaut Neil Armstrong’s Gallery; Lace coral (pocillopora damicornis),
exhibition of our recently scanned oping a Smithsonian 3-D data hub
space-suit helped conserve the suit and will collected 1992, Bismarck Sea, Papua New Guinea,
provide the public with a new view of the artifact. presidential busts at the National (API), which will enable any platform National Museum of Natural History
12 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 A dam Metallo Ken Rahaim [TYPE SECTION HERE] [SUBSECTION HERE] 13
Senior Program Officer Mass Digitization Branch Manager
for Digitization Impact Digitization Program Office
Digitization Program Office
Teaching
Machines
to See
The potential for artificial intelligence (AI) to make
sense of our era’s deluge of big data is enormous.
And the Smithsonian, with an encyclopedic collec-
tion of objects and specimens spanning centuries,
is an ideal AI test bed.
RIGHT How? AI could allow for a more intuitive search for
Unknown, Moonwatch Volunteers, 1965.
Smithsonian Institution Archives images by cross-referencing other images, or with
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
rapid, automatic transcription of handwritten labels.
(SAO) launched Operation Moonwatch in
1956, training citizen astronomers to spot It also might reveal artistic influences between
artificial satellites and gather statistics for
SAO’s computation center, in an era before unrelated works, or ease the daunting task of
the launch of optical tracking stations. This
was an early example of how machines charting genetic relationships among the planet’s
revolutionized research by facilitating the
biodiverse organisms.
collection and interpretation of scientific data.
14 SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Teaching Machines to See SMITHSONIAN | 2018 Teaching Machines to See 15
A
re volution is After these successes, we recog- Zorich adds that the Smithsonian
underway, in fact. nized that similar AI approaches also might play a role in correcting
It started with the could be applied across all different biases that remain prevalent in AI.
most unassuming kinds of collections at the Smithsonian. For instance, AI that initially identi-
of things: plants. fies a particular Hopi object as a
Along with the Smithsonian Research
doll might be taught to correctly
Specifically, using thousands of digital Computing Office inthe Office of
identify it as a kachina. And once
photos of mosses and ferns in the the Chief Information Officer and
this identification is made, AI might
National Herbarium collection at the the Google Arts & Culture Lab, we TEACHING
be taught to differentiate the types
National Museum of Natural History, convened a workshop in late 2018
of kachinas used in certain ceremo- MACHINES TO
two pilot projects showed the enor- bringing together more than
nies. That’s where the hand of a
mous potential for artificial intelligence 40 experts from 22 Smithsonian “SEE” NUANCES
curator comes in, the person
to com pletely reshape how scholars museums and research centers
familiar with an object’s deeper
AND BRINGING
can quarry the Smithsonian’s vast to introduce AI’s possibilities.
story, and the input of data scientists,
holdings for research.
who can program the machines TOGETHER OBJECTS
One result: a real-time demon-
with data context.
Using super-fast computers, stration of how to train a machine FROM ACROSS
Smithsonian researchers initially to learn algorithms to recognize
“We’re hoping that our work may
THE SMITHSONIAN
put an AI computer program to unique hand gestures that can
help drive AI development, to
work analyzing more than 15,000 call up $1, $5 and $10 bills from
push companies doing AI to COLLECTION
digital photographs of mosses. the National Museum of American
address biases better in the work
Some specimens had been treated History’s numismatics collection. WOULD BE A
they’re doing,” Zorich says. “It’s just
with mercury to protect them
“Artificial intelligence has the a theory now, but the Smithsonian GAME CHANGER.
from pests, while others had not.
— and all museum collections —
potential to help us re-examine
could bring something valuable
Though the staining is evident to and recatalog our collection so
to the table for tech companies
the human eye, researchers sought that objects have more context
jumping on the AI bandwagon.” DIANE ZORICH
to determine whether a computer and can be used in different ways,”
could learn to “see” the discoloration says Diane Zorich, director of the
too. It did, 91 percent of the time. Digitization Program Office.
Next, they used 140,000 images
The next challenge is to expand
of ferns from 86 different genera.
the processes like those tested on
The goal: to test whether the program the botany collections, streamlining
could teach itself to identify the genus them into a systematic approach
with no infor mation other than the that can be used across the Smithsonian
image of the plant. The computer and eventually in other museums
was successful 95 percent of the time. and research institutions.
Where it missed the mark was between
closely related species with only
LEFT
microscopic physical differences. Tony Reyna (Taos Pueblo), Kachina Doll Mother,
1960–1963. Gift of Elsie W. Latham, National
Museum of the American Indian
Artificial intelligence might be taught to
differentiate among types of kachina dolls
used in Hopi ceremonies.