Ladders of participation, social media and museums

Ladders of participation, social media and museums Dr Lynda Kelly, Australian Museum, Sydney 17 September 2008

Green and Hannon (2007)

Digital pioneers

Creative producers

Everyday communicators

Information gatherers

Classifying on-line participants

Australian data (n=2,006)

43% watch a video

34% use social networking site

32% participate in discussion board/forum

37% read customer ratings/review

27% read blogs

19% tag web pages

16% listen to podcasts

15% use a wiki

15% post ratings/reviews

13% comment on blogs

12% upload video/audio created

10% publish own web page

8% publish/maintain a blog

8% use RSS feeds

Museum/gallery visitors (n=829)

46% watch a video

36% use social networking site

39% participate in discussion board/forum

48% read customer ratings/review

34% read blogs

27% tag web pages

23% listen to podcasts

20% use a wiki

21% post ratings/reviews

18% comment on blogs

15% upload video/audio created

13% publish own web pages

9% publish/maintain a blog

11% use RSS feeds

Five focus groups:

unpack Forrester and Australian Museum data in more detail

Recruitment based on Forrester categories

Did not find Collectors or Critics:

found Commentators

On-line users aged 18-30

Internet used as utility to get things done faster – pay bills, movies, etc

Don’t spend much time online

One-dimensional relationship with internet

Lack of trust and experience

Wouldn’t miss the Internet, just less convenience

Spectators

Two-dimensional give & take relationship with internet:

although quite shallow

Motivation is for socialising, with strong payoffs

Can be addictive

This form of socialising cannot be replaced off-line

Joiners

Two-dimensional relationship with internet:

give and take

deliberate (interest areas) & spontaneous (provocation)

A fuel for their passions

Comfortable with debate

[Museum visitors’ exhibit commentating behaviour]

Commentators

Two-dimensional relationship with internet

Used as personal development tool

Passionate people

Recognise knowledge = power

Value importance of being published

Creators

Learning through social media a core activity

E-kids’ college:

Coalition of Knowledge Building Schools

24 students across NSW

one-day workshop

each interviewed 10 peers prior

Students aged 12-18

“ I enjoy using computers and digital technologies to learn because there are so many possibilities and it is a lot more interesting than a pen and paper. But technology can be tricky and break down very easily and it isn’t always reliable. But with technology almost anything can happen.”

“ I don’t really see how you can use things like MySpace, YouTube etc. Most people would not even consider watching a video from the Museum. I think the best thing to do would be to keep the Museum Web site always up to date and accurate. Make sure it comes up the top of search engines, with actual paging. People never click on the sponsored links.”

Museum 3.0