Conference presentation from Museums and the Web 2013, Portland, Oregon 17-20 April 2013

1. Making Sense of Historic Photographic
Collections on Flickr The Commons:
Institutional and User Perspectives
Bronwen Colquhoun
PhD Researcher, Newcastle University

2. • In what ways does Flickr The
Commons facilitate knowledge
construction around historic
photographic collections?
• And how is this process different to
a cultural institution?

3. Curate the Collection at the National Maritime
Museum, (April – May 2012)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nationalmaritimemuseum/sets/72157629833584010/

4. My LOC Favorites at the Library of Congress
(June - August 2012)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets/72157631581164451/

5. Uncovering Archives Photography at Tyne and
Wear Archives and Museums, (Nov – Jan 2013)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/twm_news/sets/72157632680824846/

6. “Social ideas cannot exist
without physical content, but
physical objects are
meaningless without social
content”
(Pearce, 1992: 21)

7. The museum as:
• an “institutional and spatial site which
strongly encourages certain kinds of
theorizing”
• an institutional agent that constructs
knowledge through the “orchestration of
various interrelated media”
(Whitehead, 2009)

8. The “Technologies” of knowledge
construction
• Architectural and decorative
manipulation of space
• Selection, ordering and placing of
objects
• Placement and content of
interpretive materials
(Whitehead, 2009)

9. Knowledge Construction on Flickr:
Two Components
• The „technologies‟ evident within the
framework of Flickr The Commons
• The key interests and motivations of
Flickr users and how are they framed
through these technologies

10. Selection, Ordering and Placing of
Objects
• Groups–users assemble, classify and curate
photographs according to shared interests
• Galleries–users assemble, classify and
curate photographs according to personal
interests
• Favorites - replicates the act of collecting

11. Interpretive Materials
• Tags- individuals interpret and
understand photographs in different
ways
• Comments - new contexts and
narratives for photographs
• Notes – anecdotal information and
factual content
• Sharing Tools– de- and re-
contextualisation of photographs online

12. Knowledge Construction on Flickr:
Two Components
• The „technologies‟ evident within the
framework of Flickr The Commons
• The key interests and motivations of
Flickr users and how are they framed
through these technologies

13. 1. The Aesthetic and Technical
Merit of Photographs

14. “First of all it was the images that struck
me immediately or created,
not exactly the wow factor, but images
that caught my eye and peaked
my curiosity and had an impact.”

15. Chicago, Illinois. In the waiting room of the Union Station - Library of Congress

16. “Why this? Ain‟t it obvious? No
explanation needed”

17. 2. The Relationship Between
the Past and the Present

18. [Objects] have the power, in some sense, to carry the
past into the present by virtue of the „real‟ relationship
to past events.
(Pearce, 1992)
In the context of memory institutions, collective
memory commonly refers to a shared remembrance of
past (public) events, enabled either by individuals
sharing objects such as pictures or stories with others to
enhance social cohesion in communities, or by
institutional decisions (e.g. museums, archives) to
expose such objects to the public eye.
(Van Dijck, 2010)

19. HM Floating Dock, Medway - Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums

20. Photograph by rolleipp1

21. Photograph by rolleipp1

22. “As we pass everyday structures we take
little note until they are gone. These
long gone structures got me thinking if
they were still amongst us, dotted
throughout the landscape, in some form
or another. Represented here is the
Medway floating dock, placed in a
position that commuters to Newcastle
often pass with little
thought, superimposed on the Byker
bypass.”
(rolleimpp1, 2012)

23. 3. The De- and Re-
Contextualization of
Photographs

25. The Baron AberdareIncident- National Maritime Museum

27. Image 27 from a photograph album of presentations to shipyard workers, social events and
launches - Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums

28. Image 22 from a photograph album of presentations to shipyard workers, social events and
launches - Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums

29. Photograph by Andy Martin

30. “This is a response to an album of staff photos
from JL Thompson‟sshipyard... My aim was to
return some of these elements back to where they
originated. The photo was taken on the River
Wear very close to where Thompson's used to
be, with the path in the picture reminiscent of a
launch slipway. I modified the TV to allow one of
my favourite images from the album to be
physically added and lit from inside. It was shot
on Ilford Delta 100 - no digital processing besides
dust removal and levels/toning.”
(Andy Martin, 2012)

31. Key Findings
• Flickr‟s core functionalities draw upon or
“remediate” traditional museological
technologies of knowledge construction
• Technologies that contribute to knowledge
construction on The Commons substantiate the
key interests and motivations that generate
meaning around photographic collections
• Collections are largely understood as a result of
the participatory and interactive framework
within which The Commons operates.

32. b.r.colquhoun@newcastle.ac.uk