His work is part of the Harvard Metalab programme which is designed to encourage co-operation between scholars and experimentation using digital tools. Schnapp disliked the term 'Digital Humanities' arguing that both terms "come with baggage". He prefers terms like 'Knowledge Design', arguing that the division between researchers, teachers, curators and librarians is only a very recent development: in previous centuries the functions of teacher and librarian were less distinct and it was assumed that researchers would be involved in the curation, organisation, presentation and preservation of knowledge and its related tools.
Schnapp outlined the development of modern digital tools, such as the embedding of open data into texts, the development of online repositories, the Internet Archive and particularly the Digital Public Library of America, a project which which aggregates the digital holdings of many institutions and encourages user created content and design, where the public and researchers produce new material linking to existing Internet material. The increasing availability of open data encourages such projects. Current established publishing methods and assessment tools fail to value or make provision for these developments. Schnapps praised a competition in the Journal Nature to find the most beautiful vizualisation.
Schnapp takes delight in the concept of libraries as mini-cities where researchers and information meet each other. With the input of technology these functions are increasingly involving cyberspace and online activities, and the idea behind the Library Test Kitchen project is that the library, virtual or physical, is a great resource for researchers to investigate to find out more about all sorts of areas of human activity. The open data and physical spaces in libraries provide great raw material for the development of research tools and resources, and are great places for designers to learn design skills. Hence his pupils, who are student architects, have been encouraged to come up with real design ideas that involve the libraries who are active in the scheme.
I have to say I found the students' design ideas slightly bonkers. There was a see-through (but elegant) carel where you could have a nap in a library, a machine that bleeped if you went past a book you had already read, (OK vaguely useful,) and, worst of all, the invention of "cold spots" which were places where you could hide from Wifi. (Why would anyone want to hide from wifi when we have suffered without it for six million years already?) I could only really relate to one healthcare database project where a student who blogs as Modlearning was attempting to re-design the way databases such as Medline were searched. However, playing around with ideas and allowing people to think laterally is definitely the way to encourage progress so the spirit of the enterprise is a good one. Schnapp emphasised how a culture where people are allowed to make experiments that fail is actually vital to encouraging success.
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