Collecting Social Digital Photography
There is a lack of understanding among museums and archives of the social digital photographs' function as memory and tool for communication, and what this implies for the collection, management and dissemination of cultural historical photography. The social digital photograph is produced for and mediated through social media. Despite the amount of user-generated content in social media, museums/archives have difficulties in collecting, largely due to digital images being ephemeral but also because of the museums and archives authoritative role. Researchers have mainly focused on identity and the use of images in social media, whereas the collection of digital photography to museums/archives has been overlooked, which makes this project unique from a research point of view. The project aims to develop comprehensive recommendations for collection and dissemination of social digital photography, and to find methods on including audiences in collecting processes. Furthermore we intend to examine the need for new digital infrastructures, but will not discuss issues like long-term storage. The four participating Nordic institutions in collaboration with the Dept. of Social Anthropology, SU will conduct empirical case studies exploring various aspects of collecting and selection. The material will be analysed and used as basis for recommendations and development of collection methods. The project will be regularly communicated and the end result is a conference and anthology.
Final report
The purpose and development of the project
The research project Collecting Social Photo (CoSoPho) has explored the collecting of social digital photography by museums and archives. The term refers primarily to contemporary mobile phone photography often shared in social media.
The project was based on three research questions:
How can data collection policies and practices be adapted to create relevant and accessible collections of social digital photography?
How can digital archives, collection databases and interfaces be relevantly adapted – considering the character of the social digital photograph and the digital context – in order serve different stakeholders and end users?
How can museums and archives change their role when collecting and disseminating, to increase user influence in the whole life circle of the vernacular photographic cultural heritage?
The project has been performed according to the project plan. Focus has been on gaining new insights through empirical case studies, collecting new materials, as well as developing a new digital service for collecting. The case studies proved central to developing methods and were continued throughout the project’s first two years. Through insights from networking, organizing and attending seminars and performing case studies, slight changes in focus were made, though the overall initial aims of the project were fulfilled.
Implementation of the project
The participating museums and archives, Nordiska museet, Stockholms läns museum, The Finnish Museum of Photography and Aalborg Stadsarkiv, collaborated with the Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University in the project. A reference group of scholars from different academic fields advised the project.
In response to the research questions the project focused on performing empirical case studies as well as developing a digital tool for collecting. This has been combined with knowledge exchange, collaboration and dissemination of results in the international archives and museum sectors, as well as academia. The close contacts with international peers has given prompt feedback and new insights throughout the project. The combination of these activities were necessary for developing best practices for collecting social digital photography.
Parallel to performing case studies the project wished to explore digital infrastructures for collecting and disseminating. This was done by organizing two international service design workshops in Helsinki and in Stockholm, exploring how museums and archives can use digital technology to collect and disseminate this type of photography. An open call for participants was made and colleagues and researchers from around the world participated.
Through the workshops it became evident that a lack of infrastructures and services for collecting provided a major obstacle for collecting. As a result from the workshops a prototype web app allowing people to easily contribute their photographs to museums and archives was developed. A prerequisite for the web app was that it should be as easy to use for contributors and staff alike. The web app is open source and was produced with continued development and scaling in mind. A version 2.0 is being released by the end of 2021.
The project team worked extensively with disseminating the project ideas through numerous talks, lectures, panel discussions, blog texts and articles. Two seminars were facilitated for the reference group, as well as workshops with legal advice for the project team. The team also participated in workshops set up by other museums and universities, and throughout the project period there was a growing international interest towards the project and its themes.
The anthology Connect to Collect - Approaches to Collecting Social Digital Photography in Museums and Archives, with the stand-alone appendix Recommendations for Collecting Social Digital Photography in Museums and Archives is published as open access online on DiVA, with 2 165 downloads as to this date. The end results were presented through two online events: a webinar presenting the web app in May 2020 and the final project conference with invited speakers on October 19-20 in 2020.
The three most important results and conclusions
The results of this project aim at inspiring memory institutions to play their part in collecting and preserving emergent forms of visual digital heritage. By openly sharing its experiences, the project contributes knowledge on how memory institutions can document contemporary cultural forms and practices. The recommendations that conclude this project are based on a solid knowledge base, pinpointing how and why social media photography is a form of visual digital heritage of great relevance for memory institutions.
The three most important conclusions are:
Collecting needs to be closely adapted to the contributors and the chosen topics. This affects the choice of methods and services for collecting and the design of the collecting project. This in turn requires digital skills and cross collaboration within the institution.
Collecting services need to be in place. Digital born contemporary social photographs need digital structures to be collected by museums and archives. These services need to be aligned with current standards for metadata and digital file formats, as well as with current laws. Most institutions cannot develop these services by themselves and therefore the need to be collaboratively developed and maintained.
Social digital photography is a central part of cultural heritage. It encompasses different aspects of our daily lives, both from an individual and a collective perspective. It replaces many types of archival and heritage documents, visual and other, and it gives unprecedented opportunities to document our contemporary society. Therefore collecting in structured, ethical and conscious ways is something that needs to be further developed in the up-coming decade.
Contribution to archives and museums work and implementation of results
At Nordiska museet the project has paved way for further collecting, for example rapid response collecting around the Covid-19 pandemic. The project has brought growing awareness of the importance of the field as well as hands-on experience and collected material. The collecting service Minnen has also been further developed building on the results from the project.
At The Finnish Museum of Photography collecting social digital photography and documenting social media is now seen as a permanent aspect of collecting work. Consulting and advising Finnish museums on issues related to collecting social digital photography has become part of the museum's work as a national photography museum. The Finnish Museum of Photography will continue to develop methods of co-curation as part of the acquisition process.
At Stockholms läns museum participatory collecting of social digital photography and documenting photographic practices on social media is now included in the museum’s strategy for collecting and documentation. Collecting social digital photography has become an integral practice at the museum, and the digital born photography collections have gained substantial value.
At Aalborg City Archives collecting social digital photography is now a permanent part of the active collection of private archives. The experiences from the project have been used in designing the collection of Covid-19-related material in 2021 and as reference in a national workgroup of archives and museums, the archives take part in developing user centered methods.
Unforeseen issues
Unforeseen challenges that the project has faced were primarily:
Collecting through harvesting large amounts of photographs is not possible, for ethical and legal reasons. This makes collecting in collaboration with the contributor necessary, which in turn demands skills in participatory methods important for museums and archives.
Discussions around selection were ongoing throughout the project and the conclusions are that old selection criteria for analog photography need to be changed due to the character of the social digital photograph.
Methods vary according to the community and contributors chosen as well as the topic. As this is a field of rapid change, photographic practices are constantly changing, there is a constant change in attitude towards social media by the contributors. This means that the institution needs to be prepared to develop and adapt methods “on the fly”.
New research questions drafted by the team:
In developing platforms that open up a multitude of ways to contribute, how does the design process influence who contributes and what is collected?
What metrics can be used to understand the usefulness of digital heritage platforms for cultural heritage institutions, researchers and community members?
How do the ethical considerations in database and platform design intersect with research ethics and ethical museum and archival practices? (Data security and surveillance)
Inclusive methods are central to collecting social digital photography - how do different methods affect policies and practices, especially when collecting from minorities, native communities or children and youth?
How can researchers use collections of social media photographs to deepen our knowledge of contemporary society and cultural heritage in the making?
Dissemination of the results of the project
The project has been presented at various relevant and estimated conferences and seminars in the Nordic countries, Europe, UK, US and Canada, within fields such as archives and museum studies, visual anthropology, history, art history, photo history and social media research. As the list of conferences, presentations and publications are numerous, they are attached to this report as separate documents.
The research project Collecting Social Photo (CoSoPho) has explored the collecting of social digital photography by museums and archives. The term refers primarily to contemporary mobile phone photography often shared in social media.
The project was based on three research questions:
How can data collection policies and practices be adapted to create relevant and accessible collections of social digital photography?
How can digital archives, collection databases and interfaces be relevantly adapted – considering the character of the social digital photograph and the digital context – in order serve different stakeholders and end users?
How can museums and archives change their role when collecting and disseminating, to increase user influence in the whole life circle of the vernacular photographic cultural heritage?
The project has been performed according to the project plan. Focus has been on gaining new insights through empirical case studies, collecting new materials, as well as developing a new digital service for collecting. The case studies proved central to developing methods and were continued throughout the project’s first two years. Through insights from networking, organizing and attending seminars and performing case studies, slight changes in focus were made, though the overall initial aims of the project were fulfilled.
Implementation of the project
The participating museums and archives, Nordiska museet, Stockholms läns museum, The Finnish Museum of Photography and Aalborg Stadsarkiv, collaborated with the Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University in the project. A reference group of scholars from different academic fields advised the project.
In response to the research questions the project focused on performing empirical case studies as well as developing a digital tool for collecting. This has been combined with knowledge exchange, collaboration and dissemination of results in the international archives and museum sectors, as well as academia. The close contacts with international peers has given prompt feedback and new insights throughout the project. The combination of these activities were necessary for developing best practices for collecting social digital photography.
Parallel to performing case studies the project wished to explore digital infrastructures for collecting and disseminating. This was done by organizing two international service design workshops in Helsinki and in Stockholm, exploring how museums and archives can use digital technology to collect and disseminate this type of photography. An open call for participants was made and colleagues and researchers from around the world participated.
Through the workshops it became evident that a lack of infrastructures and services for collecting provided a major obstacle for collecting. As a result from the workshops a prototype web app allowing people to easily contribute their photographs to museums and archives was developed. A prerequisite for the web app was that it should be as easy to use for contributors and staff alike. The web app is open source and was produced with continued development and scaling in mind. A version 2.0 is being released by the end of 2021.
The project team worked extensively with disseminating the project ideas through numerous talks, lectures, panel discussions, blog texts and articles. Two seminars were facilitated for the reference group, as well as workshops with legal advice for the project team. The team also participated in workshops set up by other museums and universities, and throughout the project period there was a growing international interest towards the project and its themes.
The anthology Connect to Collect - Approaches to Collecting Social Digital Photography in Museums and Archives, with the stand-alone appendix Recommendations for Collecting Social Digital Photography in Museums and Archives is published as open access online on DiVA, with 2 165 downloads as to this date. The end results were presented through two online events: a webinar presenting the web app in May 2020 and the final project conference with invited speakers on October 19-20 in 2020.
The three most important results and conclusions
The results of this project aim at inspiring memory institutions to play their part in collecting and preserving emergent forms of visual digital heritage. By openly sharing its experiences, the project contributes knowledge on how memory institutions can document contemporary cultural forms and practices. The recommendations that conclude this project are based on a solid knowledge base, pinpointing how and why social media photography is a form of visual digital heritage of great relevance for memory institutions.
The three most important conclusions are:
Collecting needs to be closely adapted to the contributors and the chosen topics. This affects the choice of methods and services for collecting and the design of the collecting project. This in turn requires digital skills and cross collaboration within the institution.
Collecting services need to be in place. Digital born contemporary social photographs need digital structures to be collected by museums and archives. These services need to be aligned with current standards for metadata and digital file formats, as well as with current laws. Most institutions cannot develop these services by themselves and therefore the need to be collaboratively developed and maintained.
Social digital photography is a central part of cultural heritage. It encompasses different aspects of our daily lives, both from an individual and a collective perspective. It replaces many types of archival and heritage documents, visual and other, and it gives unprecedented opportunities to document our contemporary society. Therefore collecting in structured, ethical and conscious ways is something that needs to be further developed in the up-coming decade.
Contribution to archives and museums work and implementation of results
At Nordiska museet the project has paved way for further collecting, for example rapid response collecting around the Covid-19 pandemic. The project has brought growing awareness of the importance of the field as well as hands-on experience and collected material. The collecting service Minnen has also been further developed building on the results from the project.
At The Finnish Museum of Photography collecting social digital photography and documenting social media is now seen as a permanent aspect of collecting work. Consulting and advising Finnish museums on issues related to collecting social digital photography has become part of the museum's work as a national photography museum. The Finnish Museum of Photography will continue to develop methods of co-curation as part of the acquisition process.
At Stockholms läns museum participatory collecting of social digital photography and documenting photographic practices on social media is now included in the museum’s strategy for collecting and documentation. Collecting social digital photography has become an integral practice at the museum, and the digital born photography collections have gained substantial value.
At Aalborg City Archives collecting social digital photography is now a permanent part of the active collection of private archives. The experiences from the project have been used in designing the collection of Covid-19-related material in 2021 and as reference in a national workgroup of archives and museums, the archives take part in developing user centered methods.
Unforeseen issues
Unforeseen challenges that the project has faced were primarily:
Collecting through harvesting large amounts of photographs is not possible, for ethical and legal reasons. This makes collecting in collaboration with the contributor necessary, which in turn demands skills in participatory methods important for museums and archives.
Discussions around selection were ongoing throughout the project and the conclusions are that old selection criteria for analog photography need to be changed due to the character of the social digital photograph.
Methods vary according to the community and contributors chosen as well as the topic. As this is a field of rapid change, photographic practices are constantly changing, there is a constant change in attitude towards social media by the contributors. This means that the institution needs to be prepared to develop and adapt methods “on the fly”.
New research questions drafted by the team:
In developing platforms that open up a multitude of ways to contribute, how does the design process influence who contributes and what is collected?
What metrics can be used to understand the usefulness of digital heritage platforms for cultural heritage institutions, researchers and community members?
How do the ethical considerations in database and platform design intersect with research ethics and ethical museum and archival practices? (Data security and surveillance)
Inclusive methods are central to collecting social digital photography - how do different methods affect policies and practices, especially when collecting from minorities, native communities or children and youth?
How can researchers use collections of social media photographs to deepen our knowledge of contemporary society and cultural heritage in the making?
Dissemination of the results of the project
The project has been presented at various relevant and estimated conferences and seminars in the Nordic countries, Europe, UK, US and Canada, within fields such as archives and museum studies, visual anthropology, history, art history, photo history and social media research. As the list of conferences, presentations and publications are numerous, they are attached to this report as separate documents.