What could the diverse uses of digital cultural heritage teach us about designing activities and services to facilitate social development?
Abstract
Provisional findings of interviews conducted with users of digital cultural heritage largely at the British Library will be highlighted, including patterns identified when mapping responses onto an information environment model developed by Lievrouw (2001) and expanded by Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt (2024). The analysis will focus on various factors including what was done with digital heritage and how, what skills were required to implement the projects, how access was provided, who benefited from the work, what (if any) impact was achieved and whether it resulted in social development etc. There will be an analysis of interviews with those who have been involved in providing services to enable users to work with digital cultural heritage in GLAM experimental physical and/or virtual spaces (Labs). There will be a special focus on how these services evolved and changed over time, especially in the context of changing institutional priorities and the increasing interest in Artificial Intelligence. There will be a discussion as to the provisional findings of this work and what components could be included in future work to enable social development when working with digital cultural heritage.
Full text
1 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 1 What could the diverse uses of digital cultural heritage teach us about designing activities and services to facilitate social development? 0955 – 1010 Friday 7 March 2025 Helmi Kurrik Auditorium, Eesti Rahva Muuseum (ERM) Tartu, Estonia Panel 3: Digital cultural heritage as a resource for social development at DHNB 2025 Digital Cultural Heritage as a resource for social development project We are our history! Image made up of 500 digital heritage images Mr Mahendra Mahey Junior Researcher, ERM Senior Research and Development Adviser, Tallinn University PhD candidate, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland
2 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 2 Short URL for presentation and contact details http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey email presentation website
3 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 3 3 Mahendra Mahey People, data and technology in research, education and heritage The Cultural Remixing Mindset and Digital Cultural Heritage (Long read)
4 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 4 Established 2012 – Left 2021 •Supported / highlighted hundreds of projects+ with researchers, artists, entrepreneurs, educators, communities and British Library staff •Competitions (Residences), Awards and Projects •Now permanently funded feature at British Library positioned around data science •Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) Labs community https://glamlabs.io/ Funded by the British Library and previously by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
5 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 5 What is a (digital) Gallery, Library, Archive or Museum (GLAM )Lab? •Physical/virtual space/mindset in GLAM to encourage experimentation and innovate with digitised and / or born digital collections and data
6 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 6 My PhD •Started in October 2024 •Supervisors Dr Milena Dobreva and Professor Ian Ruthven •What lessons can be learned from the life-cycle, impact, evolution and future of Gallery, Library, Archive and Museum (GLAM) Labs? •If you are interested in my research, please contact me.
7 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 7 Two different lenses – interviews Digital Cultural Heritage as a resource for social development project glasses by Dries van Noten – Fashion Museum of Antwerp, Belgium - Public Domain. Nuorisoa kaupungilla. by Wesander, Merja - Helsinki City Museum, Finland - CC BY. Service Providers of access and reuse of Digital Cultural Heritage Remixers / Users of British Library Digital Cultural Heritage
8 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 8 Individual CommunitySociety Uses of heritage Institutionalised cultural heritage Platforms Databases Exhibitions Storage Skills Literacies Storytelling Technological agency Algorithms Interventions enabling the use of (digital) heritage – how do we characterise these? What shapes and what mediates cultural heritage Inspired by Lievrouw (2001) Conceptualisation by Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, Malmö University, Sweden
9 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 9 Basic structure of user interviews (semi-structured) •Story of using digital Cultural Heritage •What you did and how? •What challenges/opportunities you experienced and what you learned? •What was the impact of the work on you and wider? •What are you doing now and what are the key things are looking out for?
16 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 16 Commercial / Creative / Community (3) Lucy Retired Librarian Sarah Cole Consultant David Zvi Kalman Academic & Creative Practice Kalman (2018) – Reimaging Jewish prayer book, creating edition that was both visually and textually innovative, incorporating historical printing techniques and inclusive language, particularly for LGBTQ+ Digitised Hebrew Manuscripts and BL Flickr (Skill Level: Medium) (Open Access) Cole (2016-2018) – Poetic Places App using Open BL content using geolocation technology to link poetry and historical sites. Badgical Kingdom – making badges out of public domain content BL Flickr Commons - (Skill Level: Medium/High) (Open Access) Lucy – Local History specialist focusing on content focusing on her interests, made booklets and a book – Digitised Newspapers, Playbills (Skill Level: Low to Medium) (Open and Restricted Access)
17 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 17 Computational Use Jack Games Programmer Tim Sherratt Historian & DH Developer Gustavo Candela Academic Mario Klingemann Computational Artist Candela (2020) – Created Jupyter Notebooks for several GLAMs’ metadata and data including from the British Library - GLAM Labs – (Skill Level: High) (Open Access) Sherratt (2020) – Created Jupyter Notebooks for several GLAMs’ metadata and data including the British Library - GLAM Labs – (Skill Level: High) (Open Access) Jack (2020) – Created a game to tag BL Flickr Commons images - (Skill Level: High) (Open Access) Klingemann (2014-18) – Algorithmic Art, Curation and identifying Maps BL Flickr Commons images API – (Skill level: High) (Open Access) https://jupyter.org/
18 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 18 User Journey Gustavo Candela – Lecturer in Computer Science, software developer and researcher - Wikimedian, reuses data published by GLAM, blog 1, blog 2 and code repository NEEDS & EXPECTATIONS VOICE OF CUSTOMER AWARENESS CONSIDERATION CONVERSION ADOPTION Institutions exploring new ways to reuse GLAM digital collections, Social media campaign to participate in a GLAM Labs event at the British Library Generate Linked Open Data from Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes as part of my PhD Meeting with the people of the International GLAM Labs Community, discover other approaches from other GLAM institutions Becomes advocate for GLAM, inspires others to reuse GLAM digital collections as part of my research career Researcher was aware of institution, as he studied in the same university Researcher was offered to perform a PhD based on GLAM digital collections In this process he creates his dataset enriched with external repositories such as Wikidata to explore new ways of reuse The user becomes an advocate for the GLAM encouraging and inspiring others to use its digital collections in innovate and creative ways Library using traditional means to publish their content, difficulties to reuse I start a PhD on digital libraries and the Semantic Web I start working at the Library, IT department Traditional website limited options Libraries using a wide diversity of ontologies to describe their content Library not interested in updating the traditional website Library staff helps with the catalogue and ontologies Inspire by the GLAM Labs community, create labs Colleagues mention Collections as data Start a new career as a Lecturer in CS Wikidata and library are federated CS PhD Doubts about digital collections reuse can be treated as research Fellowship at NLS VOICE OF CUSTOMER
19 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 19 Typical pattern of research at GLAM Labs (A, B, C) A. Finding invisible / well hidden things in ‘messy’ historical data, giving data back (circular) B. Unearthing / unlocking hidden histories & data to stimulate new research C. Celebrating hidden histories / data creatively through events, art, exhibitions & performance https://goo.gl/vJ291F https://goo.gl/mcpa8B https://goo.gl/Ql0Bwz
20 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 20 Key themes emerging from user interviews •Engagement with cultural heritage –Different varied paths •Accessibility and usability of digital archives –Challenges finding things and quality of metadata, commercial restrictions, not easy for non experts •Experimental and creative applications –Joy of browsing, , artistic and creative interaction, gamifying interaction •Computational approaches –AI, linked open data, and machine learning, were essential tools for several interviewees. •Challenges in digital humanities –Many institutions remain hesitant in engaging with wider audiences, convincing institutions to adopt open data policies and invest in new technologies, •Broader impact of digital heritage work. –Lots of measures, clearly impact of work
21 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 21 Basic structure of service provider interviews (semi-structured) •Story of using and providing services for digital Cultural Heritage? •What you did and how (if anything)? •What challenges/opportunities you experienced and what you learned? •What was the impact of the work on you and wider? •What are you doing now and what are the key things you are looking out for?
22 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 22 Service Providers (15) Abbey Potter Katrine Gasser Royal Danish Library Sarah Ames National Library of Scotland Digital Scholarship Service Library of Congress Lab Paul Bray State Library NSW & Victoria Stephanie National Library Lucy National Library Nele Gabriëls KU Leuven Sally Chambers DARIAH & British Library Libraries (8) Eirini Goudaralouli UK National Archives, British Library Athens Historical Archives Dan Pett British Museum Historic England Fitzwilliam Museum Heritage Lottery Fund Kristy Kokegei History Trust of South Australia South Australian Maritime Museum Museums & Archives (4) Paul Bray Australian Maritime Museum Powerhouse Museum Thomas Padilla Collections as Data Tim Sherratt Collections as Data Jupyter Notebooks Gustavo Candela Collections as Data Jupyter Notebooks Computation (3)
23 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 23 Key themes from service provider interviews •Democratizing access •Engaging new and diverse audiences through creative and interactive approaches. •Enhancing education by integrating digital tools and primary sources into learning environments. •Amplifying marginalized histories, making heritage more inclusive. •Creating economic opportunities, particularly in digital storytelling and technology-driven heritage initiatives. •Highlighting institutional challenges, emphasizing the need for sustainable funding and better infrastructure. •Encouraging public participation through open-access archives and community-driven metadata. •Need active engagement, social inclusion, and cultural innovation. •Digital heritage play greater role education, public discourse, and community identity formation.
24 [email protected] https://mahendramahey.com/ http://tiny.cc/dhnb25-mahey Slide 24 Be the change that you want to see in the world Mahatma Gandhi (1931)