This entry will be brief, and hopefully concise as well, but no promises. Module IV of LIBR559M is about how social media affords for individuals to participate in the process of information creation, and how libraries, archives and museums can utilize these new conductivities and creative endeavors. If you think about it, this is new territory for LAMs–the users of libraries archives and museums have traditionally been receptive of the information held within these institutions, but rarely involved in the creation of information unless they were published, dead, or if they donated objects. Involving users in the knowledge creative process is an incredible way to get people more involved with LAMs–if people actually take part–**and create new contexts for the formation of new methods of learning.
The arts institution I interned at this summer is in the process of creating a new website which will feature the archives prominently online, so I began thinking about how 2.0 technologies could further be integrated to highlight the newly digitized archival holdings. The archive focuses on the materials of the creative process for regional artists: sketches, journals, notebooks, etc. These objects have value as unique objects which create a better understanding of the artist’s techniques and influences. Over the next 5 years, the institution will be making the archival holdings accessible through the website. Granted, in 5 years, social media will be light years away, and the integration of participatory cyber-culture may be totally ubiquitous.
Let’s say for the sake of the exercise that the website was going up in six months, with 30% of the archives going live with the debut of the website. Initial interest garnered by PR for the site should be taken advantage of to keep people interested in the archival holdings. Certain people we want very interested, such as potential funders. Archives and donors are both changing. Taking advantage of social media platforms has the potential to increase local awareness and participation as well as create new forms of collaborative research. I love what the National Archives have created in theory, when making the wiki ‘Our Archives,’ as platform for an entire array of collaborative and creative tasks: creating pages dedicated to a research focus, expanding the catalogue, and even publishing transcriptions. As a concept, it sounds incredible and mutually beneficial the archivist (there’s *always* something to transcribe), the user, and ultimately the institution and its reputation for scholarship. Wikis a relatively low output of financial and time resources to have a large impact. Collaborative research wikis are support information sharing and a spirit of learning. In conjunction with a Twitter campaign to highlight the holdings and scholarship, the archives could continue to keep audiences engaged long after the splash of the new website.