With the internet just hitting its twenties and the digital age being colonised by big business and global media conglomerates, heritage institutions are only just waking up to its benefits. Nathan Richards explains why museums, libraries and archives must not miss out on the opportunity to create new forms of community participation for greater cultural inclusion.
The internet has left its teenage years behind and is entering adulthood. It is maturing into what is widely accepted as its digital age. In this era of greater digital potential, big business and big media have begun clamouring over each other for access to the data we produce collectively.
Much of the effort to give us interactive and entertaining web spaces, to allow us to meet and connect, often comes under the guise of philanthropy. But behind it lurks a more capitalistic and surveillance-based agenda. How can we understand the digital movements of the masses? What can we deduce about their real world activities and desires? How can we sell them more “stuff”?
A mark of success in this digital landscape is the number of Twitter followers, Facebook likes and Instagram shares an individual or organisation can generate. Big business and media, such as Tesco, Virgin Media, The Guardian, and even David Cameroon, now hire dedicated social network teams to ramp up their online visibility, track sentiment and monitor user behaviour.
Notably slower in their engagement with the emerging digital community however are the very institutions that stand to benefit the most from the wider access and participation it offers. I’m talking of course about heritage institutions, such as museums. The places which have preserved the historical artifacts, words, images and memories of all those who have gone before us.
We know the power of our history; being able to learn from our ancestors’ mistakes; understanding the sacrifices of those who have gone to war and battle, and in the building of empires and cities. What of the artists and intellectuals, the activists, explorers and our retrospective heroes, some unknown?
People whose creations, contributions and thoughts line dusty pages and cracked canvases in dark storage units and libraries around the world, inaccessible through a lack of knowing where, how, and why, as well as through bureaucracy and fragility.
Digital Heritage from Words Colour on Vimeo.
Heritage, academic and historical institutions are only just grappling with the potential to be found in the digital age. What these institutions have, unlike that of big business and the media, is genuine and important content that has shaped the trajectory of humanity. Yet this information remains unknown to the many.
With the web’s maturation, accessibility to (and participation in) heritage institutions is beginning to change and will democratise the historical narrative. Not only are we writing a more complex and nuanced history of humanity with every tweet and share, the mass of data and content found in the archives and institutions around the world, is rewriting history. They are creating a platform for a swell of unheard voices, cultures and histories.
User generated content is, at last, becoming an important component within the heritage field. The ease with which this can now take place is unprecedented, thanks in part to digital platforms and, of course, cheap and reliable digital recorders, cameras and smart phones.
At Words Of Colour Productions we too are exploring the ways in which heritage institutions are beginning to reimagine themselves in the digital sphere, what digital practices institutions are employing, the present limitations and their hopes for the future. We were part of the acclaimed five year Mapping the Change initiative led by Hackney Museum, the multimedia output of which now has a heritage presence in countries such as China and Sweden.
We endeavour to work with new and existing heritage groups to look at emerging practices, to develop practical packages and tools to aid organisations within the heritage field.
Whether you are considering digitising your collection, utilising social media to raise awareness, employing cloud computing for your database or are interested in building additional digital forums to facilitate wider community participation, Words of Colour can provide assistance in negotiating the burgeoning and exciting world of digital heritage.
Nathan Richards is Words of Colour Production’s resident filmmaker and digital communications consultant.