Apologies for the lack of attachment in my last email, I didn't realise
that MCG strips out attachments. Here are the responses:
This a summary of the points that I found useful from my posted question
to the MCG email list about what experiences people had of wikis and
interactivity in museums and archives
NB it should be noted that I haven't been overrun with answers but have
received lots of requests from people wanting to know what answers I do
receive suggesting that this is something a lot of people are interested
in.
Incidentally, we do have some blogs which people can comment on; we
approve comments before they get posted. The numbers are not
sufficiently high to make the approval process too arduous.
(James Watson, Digital Collections Manager, National Maritime Museum)
My advice to you would be to start with asking why you want to use
social media and what you hope to achieve. This is a good way of then
looking at ways to encourage participation and engagement and which
applications are the most applicable to achieve those aims.
Don't be too ambitious, start small with a focussed project that you can
control and has a beginning and end to it, with clear objectives and
outcomes identified. Then you can learn and build from that. The best
way forward is really to dive in and have a go, but in a planned and
manageable way.
(Carolyn Rossiter, V&A)
The software allows for all sorts of configurations of user permissions
etc, but the most commonly used - for good reason, I think - are as
follows:
1. To contribute new material (e.g. words, photos), users must log in
and provide an e-mail address (essential, so you can contact them about
the contribution). Users can create and save draft material in their own
private area of the site, but they can only 'submit' material for
publication on the main website - it needs to go through editorial
approval.
2. The site is run by a team of editors, who review and sub-edit and
approve the material as it comes in (normally on a rota basis).
3. Users can submit comments about other people's pages without logging
in, though again they must provide an e-mail address and you need a
CAPTCHA form against spam (or something similar). All comments must be
approved by an editor. Comments on existing material outnumber original
contributions by about 10 to 1 - and there is a quite extraordinary
amount of expertise out there in terms of dating photos, identifying
places etc.
4. To date we've found that wikis are a step too far for many of the
audiences of these heritage sites, because of concern about the
perceived lack of editorial authority. They want to see who a comment or
page is coming from, so they can gauge how to read it. It would be
interesting to discuss this further and to find out what other people
have experienced. I do think there is a value in keeping a whole series
of comments on, say, a photo - because the interaction between the
commentators is in itself interesting and often lends a human touch to
the content.
5. The human touch is vital. We recommend that editors publish submitted
material within 24 hours. There's also a hierarchy of contribution - if
someone leaves a short comment about a topic, and you respond quickly
and enthusiastically by e-mail - you frequently get a more substantial
contribution back.
6. In practice, the only security issue we've had has come from a
schoolchild hacker in the early days; nothing over the last few years.
However, the IT departments of many institutions (notably councils) have
concerns about running this sort of contributory site on their servers -
particularly if editorial control is non-staff in any way, so the sites
normally end up being hosted externally.
7. The terms and conditions of the site specify copyright arrangements,
but this is an area which I suspect many of the clients we've worked
with could usefully tighten up. I'd be interested to know whether, say,
a check-box agreeing to terms and conditions on registration or
submission of material has more legal validity than a statement of terms
and conditions on the site.
8. Thus far, we've kept the uploading of audio and video to editors
only.
We're releasing versions of the software that permit adding
Google/LiveEarth maps and ISAD(G)/Dublin Core metadata (presented in
user-friendly way), so it'll be interesting to see how that works out
from a user/volunteer point of view.
Happy to discuss more and share experiences with others - I give talks
at conferences etc. and over-the-phone phone demos to people who are
interested in the software - but I've always thought that a forum for
people who are running contributory heritage sites would be a valuable
resource.
(Jack Latimer, www.communitysites.co.uk)
Generally, we have not had any problems with content on the free
version, even though it is completely open. We do operate a take-down
policy but have not had to invoke it yet. There are over 600 teachers
using the service at present.
Martyn, www.magicstudio.co.uk
On a personal note it is always best to edit submissions before display
- unless you clearly disavow any contributions and have a rigorous
"pull" policy for problem submissions. And in this instance wikis can
present great problems unless only available to a closed group.
good luck
Peter Barker
Technical Director
Desktop Display limited
Dear Rhiannon,
Your email to the Museums Computer Group was forwarded to me by a
colleague.
I work at the Museum Of London's Archaeological Archive where we curator
and make London's archaeology accessible to all. Part of our remit is to
do educational work, through Open Days, school visits, in house projects
and Community Excavations.
I was interested in the possibility of wikis and how we could
incorporate them into our projects. To date I have experimented with
wikis on 2 of our projects. Both are based on the external website
"Wetpaint.com"
The first was connected to this year's community excavation
http://laarchaeology.wetpaintcom/
The format was very simple. I was adding a page every other day with
text, pictures & images. I left it entirely open for editing, so that
members of staff, teachers and participants or general observers were
free to edit / add comments as they wished.
However, I overlooked some aspects as it was my first attempt at a wiki.
1) The biggest problem was that I forgot to place a tracker, so I
couldn't get an accurate idea of number of visitors to the site. Having
said this, the numbers on our youtube account & flickr account increased
rapidly and I'm certain visitors were coming via the links on the wiki.
2) Despite, telling participants about the site after each session, very
few left comments or edited any information.
This lead me to several conclusions: 1) people were happy to visit the
site (as suggested my flickr/youtube numbers) but either didn't want to
actively be a part of the editing or didn't know how. (2) No one
vandalised the site, which was surprising as the majority of visitors
would probably have been the school kids that took part in the project,
however this seems to be the case with most people's wikis - people tend
to visit the site to find out info so have no desire to vandal (3)
tracking is essential to see how the site develops and whether it's
worth doing one (4) that the wiki needs to be as focused as possible,
which would hopefully lead to more comments.
So...
This lead to a second wiki for a project involving the university of the
third age
www.laarcu3a.wetpaint.com
Again, I used wetpaint and decided to break the site down into different
sections, so there was the general diary blog page and then other pages
for staff information, participant information, research etc. I also set
up a tracker, which the site shows you how to do.
I showed the site to the participants straight off, so they were all
aware of it. Some, perhaps due to inexperience with the internet,
dismissed the idea that they could use it straight off, but after
spending part of an early session, going through the site with them,
their views were changed.
the results have been interesting; as the weeks progress, more are
adding their own content and gathering confidence in doing so. The
tracker shows visitor numbers are increasing week by week, probably as
participants tell others and word spreads. Some people are happy to set
up their own accounts, others prefer to remain anonymous. Again no
vandalism.
So in answer to your questions below: We go for an open wiki, free for
anyone to edit, relying on trust between the user and us; We don't have
a policy on copyright yet, though It's probably sensible to add a few
guidelines and state that the copyright of text/images belongs to the
person who puts them up. ; Vandalism doesn't seem to be a problem,
however regular monitoring is advisable ( I currently monitor the u3a
site every 2 - 3 days for updated activity and did the same for the
communioty excavation at first, but now only check every few weeks); we
don't review material beforehand but edit / delete as appropriate as
part of the monitoring process; we don't require users to log in, though
should they wish to, they can.
I hope you find some of this useful and if you have any other questions
feel free to email me.
Regards
Adam Corsini, Museum of London
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Rhiannon Looseley
Web Officer
Tel: 020 7239 2588
Fax: 020 7239 2576
[log in to unmask]
The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA)
Freeling House, Phoenix Place, London WC1X 0DL
www.postalheritage.org.uk
British postal communications helped to shape the modern world. The
British Postal Museum & Archive illuminates the lives of people in the
Post Office, the messages carried by Royal Mail, the history we all
share. Our history through the post.
The BPMA is the public identity of the Postal Heritage Trust.
Registered as a charity in England and Wales.
Registered Charity Number 1102360
Company Number 4896056
-----Original Message-----
From: Rhiannon Looseley
Sent: 22 November 2007 09:58
To: 'Museums Computer Group'
Subject: Responses to: Wikis and interactive museum websites
Dear all
Please see attached the responses that I received to my post about wikis
and interactive museum websites.
Thank you to everyone who responded to me and apologies for the delay in
forwarding these round sooner!
Rhiannon Looseley
------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
Rhiannon Looseley
Web Officer
Tel: 020 7239 2588
Fax: 020 7239 2576
[log in to unmask]
The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA)
Freeling House, Phoenix Place, London WC1X 0DL
www.postalheritage.org.uk
British postal communications helped to shape the modern world. The
British Postal Museum & Archive illuminates the lives of people in the
Post Office, the messages carried by Royal Mail, the history we all
share. Our history through the post.
The BPMA is the public identity of the Postal Heritage Trust.
Registered as a charity in England and Wales.
Registered Charity Number 1102360
Company Number 4896056
-----Original Message-----
From: Museums Computer Group [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Fiona Romeo
Sent: 20 November 2007 11:39
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Job opportunities at the National Maritime Museum
Hello, we have three openings in the Digital Media department, a
multidisciplinary team of 10 people, including designers, developers and
editors. We're responsible for:
* Design, information architecture and content editing of the
museum website - nmm.ac.uk
* Digitisation and online publication of the museum's collections
* Creative development of digital learning resources for delivery
online and on-site
* Researching digital technologies and behaviour, to better
understand our audience and improve the museum's reach
* Consultancy for the museum's wider programmes, for example,
advising on digital interactives in the galleries
Digital Project Manager
We need you to lead a wide variety of online and on-site projects - from
websites and podcasts to handheld tours and more. This is about giving
every visitor an engaging and enjoyable experience - but in an
environment where research, learning outcomes and user-testing are all
key priorities. A proven project manager, you'll bring solid experience
of commissioning or developing interactive web-based services.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.22123
Interaction Designer (3 days per week)
You'll engage and delight our visitors through excellent user experience
design. This is your chance to actively explore, develop and prototype
new services that span both digital and physical spaces. Whether your
background is in HCI/interaction design or web design more generally,
you should be a natural collaborator who can communicate effectively
with a variety of people.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.22124
Digital Collections Coordinator (12 months maternity cover)
You'll play a central role in unlocking the potential of the Museum's
world-class collection to develop an innovative digital archive.
Creating and commissioning editorial content, coordinating photo shoots
and digitisation of objects, and plenty more. So you will need excellent
writing and organisational skills, ideally combined with experience of
website production or museum documentation.
http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.22125
Please do pass them on to anyone who might be interested.
Thanks in advance,
Fiona
Fiona Romeo
Head of Digital Media
National Maritime Museum - Sea, ships, time and the stars
Tel: 020 8312 6740
Email: [log in to unmask]
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