Website Plus Hackers

1.     On the blog eye level there was an entry that talked about the Smithsonian Art Institute opening up their website to “hackers”. This was a number of elite independent computer IT companies to help the institute with their web site woes. This website was opened up for the professionals to freely maneuver the website and search for ways for the institution to expand into the new generation of museums. By the end of the day there were several submissions for the complete makeover of the website and the best design was selected. I think that this is a very creative idea for getting a fresh pair of eyes on your website. By bringing in people who may have been working with different mediums they bring a different perspective advertising an institution.  The only red flag for me would be the security of the online collection being compromised in this transition. The blog post stated that complete access was granted to anyone who wanted to design. I would at least insist on a background check for the IT professionals granted access. Other than that minor glitch, I think it is always a good idea to get a fresh pair of eyes on projects that may have slowed down through time.