This paper was presented at the Museums and the Web 2012 conference in San Diego, by Michela Clari of the University of Edinburgh and Philip Graham of RCAHMS.

1. Learning to Let Go
m.clari@btinternet.com
philip.graham@rcahms.gov.uk
facebook.com/rcahms
twitter.com/rcahms

2. RCAHMS survey photographs

3. RCAHMS measured drawings

4. RCAHMS aerial survey

5. RCAHMS historical photographs

6. RCAHMS prints and drawings

8. canmore.rcahms.gov.uk

9. MyCanmore user generated content

10. Ethnography
of RCAHMS
ongoing [Gathering of field notes from
association with meetings, conversations etc. over a 2-
RCAHMS year period]
comparative [Visual and thematic analysis of
study of RCAHMS corporate strategy documents
institutional (2006-2009 and 2010- 2014)]
documents
[Thematic analysis of transcripts from
semi-structured
14 face-to-face, semi-structured staff
interviews
interviews]
monitoring of
online activities… [Review of project literature]
Virtual ethnography
of Canmore
participant
observation
visual analysis
of the online
environment
thematic
analysis of user
generated
content

11. Ethnography
of RCAHMS
ongoing [Gathering of field notes from
association with meetings, conversations etc. over a 2-
RCAHMS year period]
comparative [Visual and thematic analysis of
study of RCAHMS corporate strategy documents
institutional (2006-2009 and 2010- 2014)]
documents
[Thematic analysis of transcripts from
semi-structured
14 face-to-face, semi-structured staff
interviews
interviews]
monitoring of
online activities… [Review of project literature]
Virtual ethnography
of Canmore Virtual ethnography of
Commons on Flickr
participant
participant
observation
observation
visual analysis
visual analysis
of the online
of the online
environment
environment
thematic
thematic
analysis of user
analysis of user
generated
generated
content
content

13. MyCanmore user generated content

14. Environments the digital space as a data …….. the digital space as an environment for
repository collective dialogical engagement
Content digital heritage artefacts as …….. digital heritage artefacts as social objects
data
Users online users as visitors or …….. online users a participants, learners,
trusted volunteers commentators
Curators online curators as editors and …….. curators as participants, learners, expert
administrators commentators
Discourse online discourse as monologue …….. online discourse as dialogue
Institutions the institution as locus of …….. the institution as enabling participant/learner
authority
Purpose and information delivery and …….. the enabling of transformative processes of
measurable outcomes engagement
value
Clari, M. (2012). In the Hands of the User. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh.

15. The digital futures of cultural heritage education
Museums and digital media
Establishing a research agenda
for the Scottish Heritage Sector
http://digitalfutures.rcahms.gov.uk/

16. Engaging in dialogue

17. Enhancing ‘hidden’ work

18. Lost Edinburgh on Facebook

19. Britain from Above project

20. Britain from Above UGC

21. Beyond Text proposals
1. RCAHMS APIs – to enable members of the
public to search for data and save the results
for use in developing new uses eg Apps
2. Thesaurus – to enable users to select and
‘vote’ for a Canmore image to represent each
site type
3. Image tagging – to enable users to add their
own keywords to Canmore images and to
search for tags like an image bank

22. Learning to Let Go
• Opening up to theoretical scrutiny
• Collaboration
• Letting go...

23. Learning to Let Go
m.clari@btinternet.com
philip.graham@rcahms.gov.uk
facebook.com/rcahms
twitter.com/rcahms