Rethinking Evaluation Metrics in Light of Flickr Commons: The Smithsonian Institution
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This presentation examined how several institutions on Flickr Commons – the Library of Congress, the Powerhouse Museum, the Smithsonian, New York Public Library, and Cornell University Library – are navigating the concept of evaluation in an emerging arena where compelling statistics are often qualitative, difficult to gather, and ever-changing. The joint presentation looked at how these different institutions managed metrics and evaluation in highly collaborative Web spaces.
Rethinking Evaluation Metrics in Light of Flickr Commons: The Smithsonian Institution
- 1. The Flickr Commons: The Flickr Commons: Smithsonian Institution Effie Kapsalis, Smithsonian Institution Archives @digitaleffie kapsalise@si.edu
- 2. 12 Divisions • American Art Museum • American Indian Museum American Indian Museum • Anacostia Community Museum • Archives of American Art • Archives of American Gardens • Astrophysical Observatory • Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage • National Museum of Natural History, Division of Fishes • National Postal Museum • Smithsonian Institution Archives Smithsonian Institution Archives • Smithsonian Institution Libraries • National Portrait Gallery
- 3. What we track on Flickr 1 Quantitative Number of views, changes in comments and ‘favorites,’ and notes about significant referrers/spikes in traffic and potential causes. significant referrers/spikes in traffic and potential causes 2 Qualitative Case studies on how images Case studies on how images are used (blogs, craft projects, Wikipedia) and other qualitative results (donations, research, Wikipedia). Collect research Wikipedia) Collect comments and tags for archiving purposes. 3 Press Mentions Significant press/blog coverage (Google Newsreader)
- 4. Quantitative Highlights 2200 + photographs, p g p prints and graphics + 4.75 million views since + 4 75 million views since June 2008 (~160K/month) 55% images commented 87% images favorited 87% images ‘favorited’ 99% images viewed g
- 5. Quantitative results: Smithsonian Libraries Portraits of Scientists After 3 months on Flickr, received nearly as many visits as received nearly as many visits as during the previous 5 years on Smithsonian Libraries website.
- 6. Case Study: Photo Discovery on Flickr Leads Discovery on Flickr Leads to Significant Donation September 2008 : p Uploaded previously unpublished photos documenting the Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes Trial * July 2009: Henrietta Silverman Jenrette contacted the Smithsonian after seeing photographs on Flickr, offering a donation of 10 photos of the , g p trial from her father who attended with his high school biology teacher. “I appreciate the way the photos I appreciate the way the photos the Smithsonian has are available online for all to see.” ‐ Henrietta Silverman Jenrette *http://www.flickr.com/photos/smithsonian/ 2898243103/
- 7. Case Study: Improving Collection Data Most of Smithsonian Archives photos have collection‐level finding aids and no descriptions at item‐level. Experimented posting 8 unidentified photographs from the Science Service morgue file and asked public for help in fil d k d bli f h l i March 2009 . 4 of 8 identified.
- 9. “To see this story go from an image with initials to a full biography with with initials to a full biography with images and living memories, through crowd‐sourcing, is wonderful, one of the very coolest parts of the whole Flickr Commons project for me,” Flickr volunteer, Penny Richards.
- 10. Other Results Increased Traffic to Smithsonian Archives Websites & Use of Resources I d T ffi t S ith i A hi W b it & U fR • Flickr.com is the blog’s #13 referring site • Visitors have low bounce rate, view more pages on the blog, and spend more time than the average visitor on the main website as well. • The Flickr Commons accounts for 23% of the Smithsonian Archive’s overall press. • The Flickr Commons Women in Science set has successfully increased traffic to and use of the Science Service Finding Aid (Single Digits to 78 views/month) New Audiences • Ichthyologist s on Fish Specimen Groupp • Research scholar affiliated with UCLA’s Center for the Study of Women • Wikimedia/Wikipedia users / p