Today I'd like to present both a proposal for something called the 'Participatory Commons', and a provocation (or conversation starter): there's a paradox in our hopes for deeper audience engagement through crowdsourcing: projects that don't grow with their participants will lose them as they develop new skills and interests and move on. This talk presents some options for dealing with this paradox and suggests a Participatory Commons provides a way to take a sector-wide view of active engagement with heritage content and redefine our sense of what it means when everybody wins. [I was invited to Copenhagen to talk about my research on crowdsourcing in cultural heritage at the 3rd international Sharing is Caring seminar on April 1. I'm sharing my notes in advance to make life easier for those awesome people following along in a second or third language, particularly since I'm delivering my talk via video. My notes are at http://openobjects.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/sharing-is-caring-keynote-enriching.html ]

1. Enriching cultural heritage collections
through participatory Commons
platforms: toward collaboration with
users
Sharing is Caring, Copenhagen, April 1, 2014
Mia Ridge, Open University
Contact me: @mia_out or http://miaridge.com/
Follow along at http://openobjects.blogspot.com/

2. Overview
• My philosophy for crowdsourcing in cultural
heritage
• The Participatory Commons in context
• The paradox of deeper engagement

3. Comfortable space for sharing?

5. Everybody’s happy

6. What is a participatory commons and
why would we want one?

7. What is a participatory commons and
why would we want one?
First, some introductions...

8. Academic historians Simone and
Andre.

9. Retirees Martha and Bob

10. Daniel's grandmother Sarah

11. Crowdsourcer Nisha

12. Helping each other?

13. The Participatory Commons

14. Niche projects built on Participatory Commons
Museum
collections
Shoebox
archives
Participatory Commons
‘local place
history
group’
‘academic
research
project’
18th century
interest
group
Your niche
project here!
Archive
collections
Library
collections

15. Barriers?

16. The spark of curiosity...

17. ...as a gateway to deeper enagement

18. Crowdsourcing as gateway to further activity

19. 'Levels of Engagement' in citizen science
• Level 1: participating
in simple tasks
• Level 2: participating
in community
discussion
• Level 3: 'working
independently on self-
identified research
projects'
(Raddick et al, 2009)

20. Mission accomplished?

21. Paths diverge
Hålanda Church, Västergötland, Sweden, Swedish National Heritage Board

22. Who has agency?
"I participate,
you participate,
he participates,
we participate,
you participate...
they profit.”
(1968) Via A Ladder of Citizen Participation - Sherry R Arnstein

23. Participatory project models
Contributory
 the public contributes data to a project
designed by the organisation
Collaborative
 both active partners, but lead by organisation
Co-creative
 all partners define goals together
(Bonney et al, 2009,Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education
(CAISE)

24. New challenges?

25. 'history mysteries'

26. A tension?

28. Commons as party?

29. Thank you!
Mia Ridge
Open University, UK
http://miaridge.com
@mia_out
Image: Matt Jones

30. Image credits in order of appearance...
Glider, Library of Congress http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179889372/
Melbourne Museum by Robyn Flett http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrob/2201798578/
Great hall, Library of Congress http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/7562148526/
Dora's lost data http://museumgam.es/dora/
Party photo, Smithsonian Institution http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/3173868996/
London - Archive Research by Magnus Halsnes http://www.flickr.com/photos/magh/2870616505/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/4727573854/
Curzona Allport from Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office http:// www.flickr.com/photos/tasmanianarchiveandheritageoffice/8595612313/
Old Weather http://oldweather.org/
Smithsonian Institution, Fish-Weir Across Trinity River--Hupa http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2838784417/
http://forum.oldweather.org/index.php?topic=671.0
http://herbariaunited.org/specimen/298356/
http://herbariaunited.org/wiki/Alicia_Mildred_Barnard
http://www.flickr.com/photos/anmm_thecommons/10698998084/
Museum mission statements: http://www.collectionslink.org.uk/discover/new-perspectives/1380-what-are-museums-for,
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5460066/Museum_Missions
Hålanda Church, Västergötland, Sweden, Swedish National Heritage Board http://www.flickr.com/photos/swedish_heritage_board/3874471799/
'Je participe' http://www.lithgow-schmidt.dk/sherry-arnstein/ladder-of-citizen-participation.html
Screenshot http://10most.org.uk/
Screenshot: http://www.historypin.com/project/22-yearofthebay/#
'tension' State Library of Queensland http://www.flickr.com/photos/statelibraryqueensland/6508794003/
Smithsonian Institution, Postmaster, General James A. Farley During National Air Mail Week, 1938
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/2551232980/
'Commons as party' Powerhouse Museum, Canterbury Bankstown Rugby League Football Club's third annual Ball
http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerhouse_museum/3422783428/