The Smithsonian Museum of American Art has come up with an impressive model that uses the features of Web 2.
0 that benefits the Smithsonian and the community.
"Fill the Gap" challenges "citizen curators" to find replacement works of art for the gaps in Luce Foundation Center display cases when pieces in the collection are out on loan to other institutions.
Using all the tools of Web 2.
0 the Smithsonian has certainly created a streamlined production that any internet marketing director would be proud to show case.
Inspired by the Smithsonian 2.
0 Conference the Smithsonian turned to its public to help it make decisions, engage in continuing dialogue about its collections and reveal secrets about the inner workings of the museum.
  More like a blog than a website, the Luce Foundation Center is not a static space.
Artworks fly in and out on loan for display to other galleries or institutions within the museum leaving gaps sometimes longer than twelve months.
Gaps generate visual problems that the Luce Center staff must fix.
If an object is leaving for more than twelve months the Luce Center staff must find a replacement which isn't always easy.
The process involves the registrar, conservation, and curatorial departments to ensure the replacement artwork fits in the gap, has no hidden or outstanding conservation issues, is appropriate for the theme of the case, and has not already been loaned out for future upcoming exhibitions.
2009 has been a busy year for the Luce Foundation Center.
It's only May and over forty paintings are scheduled to leave the Luce Foundation Center for other exhibitions.
That's a lot of empty space for Luce visitors.
Luce staff has been busily searching for solutions to this serious ongoing problem.
And what they came up with is deep in the spirit of Web 2.
0.
It generates assistance from an often overlooked and underestimated resource; the public.
They ignored old thinking and opened up the process and looked to online communities for help.
Using Flickr, they share a photo of a case that needs a replacement artwork, provide information about all of the other works in the case, and challenge people to search their collections to suggest an appropriate substitution.
It's proven a brilliant strategy to engage with their die hard audiences, find what they like while revealing some behind-the-scenes museum activities.
It's giving everyone a sense of connectedness and community and genuinely helping museum staff.
The first Fill the Gap challenge to the Flickr group was in early February 2009.
It was only two weeks later when the museum's chief curator approved the suggestion made by participant Jeanne Kramer-Smyth.
What's so smart about this model is that it's a repeating challenging contest that the public is dying to solve.
It offers prizes with a high perceived value to the winner, who not only feels part of the museum's process but also shares a great honor in the experience, and at no expense to the museum.
  It crowdsources the process in a cooperative way transforms it into a special opportunity while helping workers find the best solution in the shortest time.
The process leverages fresh sets of eyeballs to review the institution's collection and provides feedback on its internal searching and organizing practices.
It's a great model that is its own work of art.