The Monticello Website

We were asked to look at the Monticello Explorer Site which is a multimedia, virtual tour of Monticello, and try to apply some of the elements of the ecology metaphor. Initially I found this difficult, as it felt that it was part of something bigger and that I could not do this outside of knowing it’s place in the bigger system. So I explored and found the main website for Monticello. (And may have got lost in it for several days! To me it is amazing)

So I decided to look at this first as the larger ecosystem, and then to look at the Explorer site afterwards. A few people in the forums have also struggled with understanding the wider participation element, so I was not alone.

I started by asking the questions about Monticello that I needed to know. It’s much harder to look in from the outside. Why do they exist? What are their core values? Where do they want to get to? What are their dreams and motivations and how do they get there? What are the skills and services being used?

The core values can be found on their mission statement.  This includes the preservation of Monticello and its surroundings and education – interpreting and presenting Thomas Jefferson to the widest possible audience, including scholars and the general public: “ through virtual, off-site and on-site engagement, the Foundation seeks to excite the world about Jefferson’s relevance today and ignite a passion for history” (Well they have certainly got me hooked!)
So the locality is probably the Foundation itself, with its core values on preserving the Monticello site and educating about the site.

The Foundation began in 1923, so there has obviously been a vast amount of expertise built up since, and they do state they are steadily building up their functions. It is interesting that much of the elements of the foundation, archaeology, curatorial, library etc, resonates with some of the case studies with Nardi and Day's book.

The website was launched in 1996 : "www.monticello.org --- provides convenient access to a wealth of information about Monticello, Jefferson, his family, and his times; visitor information; event and program listings; ticket reservations; online shopping; and links to hundreds of resources. Among its most popular features are the Webby Award-winning Monticello Explorer, a multimedia feature that offers an array of innovative ways to experience Jefferson's house and plantation; the Monticello Classroom, a source of reports, activities, and other materials for students and teachers in grades 3 through 8; and the Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, a compendium of hundreds of articles on all things Jefferson.”

I view the website as an evolution of the Foundation. A way to start engaging with the wider world, and making information available. The original keystone species of (archaeologists, curators, historians and librarians), are working with new species (Technology specialists.) The service that they provide in a face to face environment they are trying to develop in a virtual world. I like the fact that they use the term 'steadily' increase their functions. With such a wealth of material, they have obviously concentrated on using the expertise of the curators and historians etc to create an online resource similar to the face to face libraries, collections and studies they do at the foundations.

Within the ecology the online stuff as an extension of what they do, not a central part of it, the ecology exists without it, but by embracing it they start to reach out to new audiences and develop new skills and services. They are looking at how they can engage in a different way, without losing the core of what they do.

One of the things that Nardi and Day said was about technology helping to serve the purpose, and I think that this is. I see the community not just as the part of the website that people can log into and make comments but as the whole. It is connecting me to the minds of others, to information, to shared pleasures and adventures. I don't necessarily need to connect on a one to one basis to feel that I am part of this 'information ecology.' The fact is that it has sucked me in and I want to know more about Monticello, its plants, its history, its ideals.

Feeling much happier about this larger ecosystem, I am now going to attempt the sub set within!