TNA PhD Day

Implications of User Participation for Archival Theory and Practice

Alexandra Eveleigh

The National Archives’ PhD Day

24 January 2011

Audio: University of Chicago Symphony, 2005

Serious Leisure: Amateurs or Experts?

“I hope there always will be, room for the Amateur, and in large numbers…the Local Official or other enthusiast whose Archives do not need and cannot claim the whole of his time; but who can find enough to undertake their listing or repair or photographing and wishes to acquire, within those limits, something of a professional technique.”

Hilary Jenkinson, October 1947.Inaugural lecture for a new course in Archive

Administration at University College London.

Volunteers and Professionals

Archives 2.0

Description

User Collaboration at The National Archives

Revolution or Evolution in Archival Practice and Professionalism?

• Crowds or communities - is user participation a new phenomenon, or similar to previous outreach and volunteering initiatives?

• What are the implications of collaboratively authored descriptions for archival authority and control?

• What role does the professional archivist have to play in the moderation of user-contributed metadata?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/4457274453

What motivates participation?

• What are the optimal frameworks for participation?

• How can systems be designed to motivate and reward contributions?

• Might some models of contribution operate more effectively outside of the mainstream archives sector?

• Are some communities more inclined to participate than others?

What is the impact of user participation upon information-seeking in archives?

• Are user contributions accurate and reliable?• How and when should user contributions be

integrated into the professional catalogue? • What are the options for ‘expert’ review and

moderation contrasted against critique and correction by the ‘crowd’?

• Does user participation help promote serendipitous discovery?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalarchives/4457274461

http://www.flickr.com/photos/-bast-/349497988/

Alexandra Eveleigh

alexandra.eveleigh.09@ucl.ac.uk

http://twitter.com/ammeveleigh