How The Smithsonian Is Using Crowdsourcing To Transcribe History

“Launched in 2013, the project invites anyone with access to a computer to choose from a buffet of documents supplied by 14 of the Smithsonian’s libraries, archives and museums. Volunteers participate anonymously or create profiles, and each project comes with specific instructions. Participants read scanned pages and type their transcriptions into a field below.”

Zebel: How The Arts Could Have Greater Impact On Our Culture

“We have an opportunity right now, to really change how our culture values art, creativity and artists themselves. I believe we can do it by being an integral part of building new, more equitable and sustainable structures and systems that work for not only artists, but for lots of other people as well. To capture this opportunity, we need to look beyond small artist-specific solutions to systems level problems, and instead engage in the bigger, most urgent questions of our time.”

Mindlessly Engaged? What Happens To Culture When We’re Addicted To Our Devices

“What does it mean to shift overnight from a society in which people walk down the street looking around to one in which people walk down the street looking at machines? We wouldn’t be always clutching smartphones if we didn’t believe they made us safer, more productive, less bored, and were useful in all of the ways that a computer in your pocket can be useful.”

How Did This Chicago Theatre Go From Playing To 60 People In A Bookstore To Getting A $28 Million Complex?

“An interesting paradox: The fewer seats you have in a theater, the less money you can bring in at the box office, but the more you can connect with your audience, and your audience includes your best donors. No arts organization can fund a building of this scale from ticket sales. It can from donors.”