iSay: Visitor-generated content in Heritage Institutions
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leicester
Department Name: Museum Studies
Abstract
Museums and other heritage institutions often invite their visitors to contribute content to museum collections and exhibitions for a variety of purposes: to gather feedback and assess the effectiveness of their exhibitions, to enrich their collections with first-hand accounts of experiences with their objects, or simply to engage their audiences in interactions with their contents at a deeper level. Such examples date almost a century back, however, the whole notion of visitor-generated content has taken on completely new meaning with the advent of the social web. Users of the social web (including social networking sites, blogs, wikis, etc.) increasingly expect to be asked for their opinions and comments and to be offered opportunities to actively contribute rather than passively consume online content. Heritage institutions are already responding to this with a variety of projects that seek content from their online and/or on-site audiences. However, the sector yet lacks best practices for these projects to draw upon in order to tackle the many ethical and practical challenges of soliciting, using and disposing of visitor content. It is now critical to bring these projects together under a dedicated and structured forum to exchange experiences, to identify critical issues and challenges, to map future research agendas, and to encourage good practice.
This network will provide this forum through four structured events, which will focus on the following topics:
- The Shape of Things: New and Emerging Technology-Enabled Models of Participation through visitor-generated content
- "It's my content 2.0" - IPR, ownership and ethics
- "But it's my content too" - Democracy, trust and moderation
- The Shape of Things to Come
The events are intended to delineate and advance the debate over visitor-generated content versus institutional content as well as to unveil possible synergies. In doing so, they will contribute significantly to our understanding of the issues and challenges involved in integrating visitor content within heritage institutions, and will advance our practices and approaches.
This network will provide this forum through four structured events, which will focus on the following topics:
- The Shape of Things: New and Emerging Technology-Enabled Models of Participation through visitor-generated content
- "It's my content 2.0" - IPR, ownership and ethics
- "But it's my content too" - Democracy, trust and moderation
- The Shape of Things to Come
The events are intended to delineate and advance the debate over visitor-generated content versus institutional content as well as to unveil possible synergies. In doing so, they will contribute significantly to our understanding of the issues and challenges involved in integrating visitor content within heritage institutions, and will advance our practices and approaches.
Planned Impact
1. Museum and Heritage Site Professionals
Articulating the role and use-value of Visitor-Generated Content is crucial, especially when issues around ethics, ownership, authority and representation are at stake. One aspiration is that the network will feed into and influence current practice through dissemination within the professional sector. There are many active professional forums who would be interested in the results of the research, and to whom the network events and outcomes will be publicised. Museum and heritage site professionals within the Museums Computer Group, Museums Association, the Group for Education in Museums and the Historical Association will be informed of the outcomes of the network via existing forums and resultant publications.
2. Feeding into public policy on the nature and role of digital heritage
Interpretation of our heritage through digital technologies and artefacts are no doubt of fascination and concern across the cultural sector. As intangible and e-tangible heritages are increasingly being recognised, and visitor-generated content sought, questions are raised about how to collect, curate and make sense of contributions from the public. This has wider significance and could feed into policy around the wider use of science and technology (at DCMS level), and discourse about the future direction of cultural policy more broadly.
3. Enhancing the visitor/user experience and creativity
Participants in the network events will be encouraged to reflect upon their own (and their institutions') ethics and responsibilities in practice related to visitor-generated content. This could alter quite fundamentally future work in this area, and the nature of the visitor experience in the future. The final workshop will come up with innovative visitor scenarios which will be implemented through further practice and research.
4. Increasing the effectiveness and relevance of heritage institutions
Museums are increasingly (especially in the current landscape) being required to evidence their vitality and relevance to their publics. In the past, there has often been a gulf in understanding between the institution and it constituents. More nuanced and ethical use of (and reflection on) visitor-generated content of all varieties will indicate a more genuine two-way dialogue and increased intimacy in engagement on both sides, helping to make that case more vivid.
5. Informing software and hardware development in the field of museum informatics
The understandings and discussion emerging from the network could well inform and influence the future shape, feel and use-value of hardware and software in this field. The findings of this project will be disseminated amongst those working at the sharp end of design and delivery in this area through trade fairs, publications and existing networks. The research proposals that form outcomes of the project will be able to impact still further in this regard.
Articulating the role and use-value of Visitor-Generated Content is crucial, especially when issues around ethics, ownership, authority and representation are at stake. One aspiration is that the network will feed into and influence current practice through dissemination within the professional sector. There are many active professional forums who would be interested in the results of the research, and to whom the network events and outcomes will be publicised. Museum and heritage site professionals within the Museums Computer Group, Museums Association, the Group for Education in Museums and the Historical Association will be informed of the outcomes of the network via existing forums and resultant publications.
2. Feeding into public policy on the nature and role of digital heritage
Interpretation of our heritage through digital technologies and artefacts are no doubt of fascination and concern across the cultural sector. As intangible and e-tangible heritages are increasingly being recognised, and visitor-generated content sought, questions are raised about how to collect, curate and make sense of contributions from the public. This has wider significance and could feed into policy around the wider use of science and technology (at DCMS level), and discourse about the future direction of cultural policy more broadly.
3. Enhancing the visitor/user experience and creativity
Participants in the network events will be encouraged to reflect upon their own (and their institutions') ethics and responsibilities in practice related to visitor-generated content. This could alter quite fundamentally future work in this area, and the nature of the visitor experience in the future. The final workshop will come up with innovative visitor scenarios which will be implemented through further practice and research.
4. Increasing the effectiveness and relevance of heritage institutions
Museums are increasingly (especially in the current landscape) being required to evidence their vitality and relevance to their publics. In the past, there has often been a gulf in understanding between the institution and it constituents. More nuanced and ethical use of (and reflection on) visitor-generated content of all varieties will indicate a more genuine two-way dialogue and increased intimacy in engagement on both sides, helping to make that case more vivid.
5. Informing software and hardware development in the field of museum informatics
The understandings and discussion emerging from the network could well inform and influence the future shape, feel and use-value of hardware and software in this field. The findings of this project will be disseminated amongst those working at the sharp end of design and delivery in this area through trade fairs, publications and existing networks. The research proposals that form outcomes of the project will be able to impact still further in this regard.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Giasemi Vavoula (Principal Investigator) | |
| Jenny Kidd (Co-Investigator) |
| Description | The iSay research networking project had three specific objectives: to enable exchange of experiences and inexperience and assemble best practices in visitor-generated content; to forecast future scenarios of visitor-generated content integration; and to spawn a visitor-generated content Special Interest Group. The conferences/workshops we run as part of the project included a series of presentations, debates and provocations around the area of visitor-generated content and related technologies, and the new models of participation in heritage and culture that are emerging as a result. These events proved an effective forum for the exchange of ideas, feedback, suggestions and supportive criticism among participants. The final event in particular enabled participants to reflect upon these discussions and the future of participation and engagement as the digital continues to evolve and penetrate all aspects of our everyday lives. We used a blog to disseminate and capture the essence of these events (see URL below) and offer participants another way to engage with the project and each other. Although we have not yet established a formal Special Interest Group, we have nevertheless generated a network of contacts with interests in this area and have observed the emergence of collaborations between smaller groups of participants following network events. In the coming months we will be exploring best ways to implement the SIG. |
| Exploitation Route | We have evidence that project outcomes are being picked up and put to use by museum practitioners. We expect that, following completion of the project publication outputs, other organisations will also be able to benefit from these findings. Both investigators are also putting the project findings to use in their personal research, and are planning subsequent projects that will put new VGC-based models of participation into practice. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| URL | http://isayevents.wordpress.com/ |
| Description | One network participant from People's History Museum applied findings from the network to the 'Play Your Part' project in her organisation: 'I'd say that the iSay events were really valuable in informing our [VGC] project, especially the research we've done on different engagement methods'. One network participant from Tate partnered with the project co-Investigator to research VGC practices in her organisation, leading to the generation/refinement of VGC-related guidelines. These are two examples we have been able to capture since the end of the project earlier this year. We expect that in subsequent reporting periods we will be able to report more examples, as well as provide more details on the impacts of these reported here. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
| Sector | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | Collaborative Arts Triple Helix (CATH) Voucher Scheme |
| Amount | £4,000 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
| Department | Collaborative Arts Triple Helix (CATH) |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2013 |
| End | 03/2014 |
| Description | Individual Fellowship - Reintegration Grant |
| Amount | € 195,454 (EUR) |
| Funding ID | 703682 |
| Organisation | Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | Global |
| Start | 07/2016 |
| End | 06/2018 |
| Description | The role of VGC in digital transformations in Museum Learning |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The talked presented a synthesis of education / learning theories into a model for understanding the role of digital in audience engagement and museum learning, with particular emphasis on the role of Visitor-Generated Content technologies and approaches. A discussion followed that confirmed the potential usefulness of the theoretical framework in this context and encouraged further work towards an academic publication. The slideshare link (below) indicates that the slides from this talk have received nearly 400 views. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| URL | http://www.slideshare.net/giasemi/visitorgenerated-content-and-learning |