Hi all, this is a request for your insights and wisdom. And for some fun and interesting conversation.
I'll be giving a talk next week at the Chautauqua Lecture Series, addressing the "Future of History" to an audience of ordinary folks. (In the US, Chautauqua is a famous intellectual summer camp for lifelong learners).
So my request to you: In what ways is the Wikimedia movement addressing the challenge of crafting the future of history? I'd love to quote some insights from WREN to a larger audience.
The full description of the topic is below. Thanks!
-Andrew
The Future of History
We live our lives swimming in a vast sea of information; what will wash up on the future’s shores and be deemed our history? When data is stored in the cloud rather than compiled in physical files, when we send emails and tweets rather than letters, how do the records of today become primary sources tomorrow? There are more ways to record history than ever before, but how can those records live in a useful way for the historians of the future — or, with everyone having the technology, and thus the capability, to be their own historian, their own librarian, will a need to study history as a formal vocation even exist? Beyond the logistics of such questions, broader issues are at play: Who are the gatekeepers of our stories, and who do we trust to be stewards of our lives and memories?