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[[underlined]]THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION AND CHANGING COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY[[/underlined]]

The attached memorandum concerns questions and answers relating to the Smithsonian Institution's opportunities and challenges in the developing diverse communications revolution.  It discusses various efforts proposed to develop "in-house" capability in radio, television, video cassettes, cable television, audio cassettes, information retrieval and interactive communications techniques.  Specifically, this paper also outlines a proposal that the Smithsonian develop a prime-time, commercial television network documentary series for the 1973-74 season, and perhaps beyond, through a contract with an independent producer.  The paper further notes that there are both early and recent historical precedents at the Smithsonian for granting exclusivity rights to book publishers as well as television producers in the tradition of diffusing knowledge to the greatest number possible.

An index of the questions is listed on the following page.

January 22, 1973