This document summarizes a talk given by Alexandra Eveleigh on the emergence of participatory archives from 2007-2008. It discusses how participatory archives actively engage users in co-creating historical meaning by liberating archival practice from hierarchical structures. Success depends on attracting different types of participants, from seasoned researchers to newcomers, and providing a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation types and tasks. Managing this spectrum of participation is key to challenging archival authority while upholding quality control.

1. “Success is down to the Participants”
The Online Participatory Archive
Alexandra Eveleigh
IHR Archives & Society Seminar
Stewart House, London
20 March 2012
http://xkcd.com/386/ (CC BY-NC)

2. 2007 - 2008
Emergence of the
‘Participatory Archive’

3. Trends to 2012

4. The Triumphal Rhetoric of
Archives 2.0
• Active engagement of archives users
• Co-creation of new historical meaning
• Liberation from hierarchically structured description
• Democratisation of professional archival practice
Library of Congress, flickr Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2179137913/ No known copyright restrictions

5. Traditions: Serious Leisure & Volunteering

6. Online Community
“I suppose everybody likes to belong to something”
Mike Rybinski at http://ccit300-f06.wikispaces.com/Online+communities (CC BY-SA)

7. Feedback Loop
• How does user participation fit into the
research workflow?
• What benefits do participants derive from
their contributions?
• “Success is down to the participants”
>>Untiteld<<, 2005 by Joe Koelewijn http://www.vvork.com/?p=4224 (via Alexander Bohn http://www.flickr.com/people/fish2000/)

8. Crystallisation: Mobilising Participation
• Evolution - replicating
traditional engagement
practice online
• Building bridges to pre-
existing knowledge-sharing
networks
• Attracting “seasoned
researchers” & “preaching
to the converted”(?)
Linarite Crystals from Esgairhir Mine by Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales http://www.flickr.com/photos/museumwales/3883613059/ (CC BY-NC)

9. Gatekeeping
• Enticing newcomers through the gates:
• Identifying “peripheral yet productive” tasks (e.g. error
correction)
• Valuing both content and process contributions
• Encouraging participant involvement in managing the
community (e.g. Old Weather forum moderators)
• Involving participants in ‘tidying’ activity and quality control
(e.g. Velehanden indexing control system)
Buckingham Palace Gate by Wally Gobetz http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/301059760/ (CC BY-NC-ND)

10. Challenging Archival Authority?
Provenance
Date
Frédéric Bisson http://www.flickr.com/photos/zigazou76/4297491287 (CC BY)

11. Participation Machines
“What they are looking to do is to make it easy for
them to do the work. They want it so that we give
them proper structures or guidelines to work
to, because they don’t want to create rubbish. So
they want that – and they want some feedback”
Interview P6
ralphbijker http://www.flickr.com/photos/17258892@N05/2588347668 (CC BY)

12. Crowds: The Community Viewed Upside Down
• Open membership, low barriers to entry
• Dip-in, dip-out participation
• Granular task, predefined by external authority
• Anonymous
• Game-like motivational tools (leader boards, badges)
measuring quantity of input
• Statistical mechanisms of quality control
• Core community at the heart uphold regulation
Crowd by James Cridland http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/613445810/ (CC BY)

13. Participants
Researchers Archivists
The Participatory Archive

14. Spectrum of Participation (1)
Community Crowd
Motivation Intrinsic, Social Extrinsic, Individual
Sharing memories, Analysis, Entering
Activity Type Interpretation data
Knowledge Tacit Explicit
Transfer
Rainbow by Bryant Olsen http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanto/3501253227/ (CC BY-NC)

15. Spectrum of Participation (2)
Community Crowd Architecture
Extrinsic,
Motivation Intrinsic, Social
Individual
Unconscious
Sharing memories, Analysis, Incidental /
Activity Type Interpretation Entering data Serendipitous
Knowledge Tacit Explicit ?Implicit
Transfer
Rainbow by Bryant Olsen http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryanto/3501253227/ (CC BY-NC)

16. alexandra.eveleigh.09@ucl.ac.uk
@ammeveleigh