87th RCKC Colloquium 24 May 2012

OutlineDigital Cultural Heritagein New Zealand:
An Ecological Approach andParticipatory Culture

Background and Context
Cultural heritage in New Zealand
Digital cultural heritage (DCH) in New ZealandIssues and Potentials

Chern Li Liew
Victoria University of Wellington
School of Information Management

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

An ecological approach to DCH
Establishing participatory culture in DCH

1

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

2

A Bit About Myself

Background and Context

Originally from Sabah (North Borneo, East Malaysia)

Living in New Zealand… but not a ‘Kiwi’

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

3

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

4

A Bit About Myself
Senior lecturer, Information Studies programme
Visiting Scholar at University of British Columbia, Vancouver(Feb‐June 2007)
Joined VUW (NZ) in June 2003 from Singapore
PhD at NTU, Singapore (1998‐2001)
MSc Loughborough Univ; BA (Hons),MSc.,(Hons) Univ of Brighton
Brighton, UU.K.
K
Teaching at VUW (Masters‐level): Managing digital collections;
Research methods for information management;
Organising information; Web Content Management
Research interests: Design & usability of digital cultural heritage –Information interaction and information use;
Value‐adding to digital contents;
Context‐sensitive information seeking/ knowledge discovery
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

5RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201261

87th RCKC Colloquium 24 May 2012

New Zealand

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

Victoria University of Wellington

7

Cultural Heritage in New Zealand:
Background + Context

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 20128

New Zealand Cultural Heritage

Aotearoa ‐ “Land of the long white cloud“
Population: About 4.4 million
Ethnic groups (2011 Interim Census):
approx 70% European + others; 15% Māori;approx.
9% Asian; 6% Pacific peoples

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

9

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201210

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

12

“The Māori people are most likely descended from people who emigrated
from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society
Islands. After a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to thediscovery and settlement of New Zealand.”Wilmshurst, J. M.; Hunt, T. L.; Lipo, C. P.; Anderson, A. J. (2011). "High‐precision radiocarbon dating shows recentand rapid initial human colonization of East Polynesia". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of theUnited States of America 108 (5): 1815–1820.
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012112

87th RCKC Colloquium 24 May 2012

Digitisation of New Zealand Cultural Heritage

Digitisation of New Zealand Cultural Heritage

Cultural properties and knowledge owned by Māori communities
Memory institutions are mostly run by ‘Pakeha(s)’using Anglo‐American concepts and systems
Cultural significance and preferences
Concepts of authenticity and kaitiakitanga (guardianship)
Certain knowledge is tapu (sacred)whānau (families, extended families), hapū (sub‐tribes)
and iwi (tribes)
Highly contextualised (some: tacit; intangible; interlinked)… “textured sculpture”(Dorner, D, Liew, C.L and Yeo, Y.P (2007), “A Textured Sculpture: An Examination of the Information
Needs of Users of Digitised New Zealand Cultural Heritage Resources”, Online Information Review –The International Journal of Digital Information Research and Use, 31(2), 166‐184.)
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201213

An Ecological Approach to Digital Cultural Heritage
Emphasises a holistic understanding of DCH as part of an
information ecology, and of the activities taking place betweenand amongst the various elements of the ecology
Requires more than enumerating the digital objects, theorganisation and structures and users/stakeholders thatcomprise a knowledge environment

Prospect for a Sustainable & Meaningful DCH
Reconciliation
Integration and sustainable structure
Contextualisation of indigenous knowledge in its
cultural and historical perspectives
Integrity and trustworthiness
Consultation and involvement
Reciprocity in collaborative collection building
and value‐adding
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201214

An Ecological Approach to Digital Cultural Heritage
Information Ecology (Nardi & O’Day, 1999)
Nardi, B. A. & O' Day, V. (1999). Information Ecology: Using
Technology with Heart. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Activityy Theoryy ((Kaptelininp& Nardi,, 2006))

Requires also an understanding of the relationships andinteractions that take place between and amongst the elements
and their co‐evolution through changes

Kaptelinin, V. and Nardi, B. A. (2009). Acting with Technology:
Activity Theory and Interaction Design. MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.

Crouch (2010): “…heritage is continually emergent in living.”
Liew, C. L. (Forthcoming) Towards Dynamic and Evolving
Digital Cultural Heritage Libraries. Information Research.

Crouch, D. (2010). The Perpetual Performance and Emergence of Heritage.
In Culture, Heritage and Representation: Perspectives on Visuality and The Past,
edited by Waterson, E. and Watson, S. Ashgate Publishing, Surrey.
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201215

An Ecological Approach to Digital Cultural Heritage

16

An Ecological Approach to Digital Cultural Heritage

We can build a digital library with a rich repository of resources but it is not used as it isdeemed to have very little value or it does not fit in with target users’ practice(i.e. A technological innovation may appear good in isolation and yet turn out to be
problematic or incomplete in actual settings of use due to lack of understanding oflocality and values)
We can start with a seemingly good conceptualisation for a digital library but fail tobuild it or to sustain it because of lack of funding and/or of other forms of essential
support (i.e. A lack of understanding of keystone genus and roles of stakeholders andmediators)di)We successfully build a digital library according to a seemingly good conceptualisation
but a critical problem later emerge (e.g. on data ownership) that creates conflict andthreatens the sustainability of the digital library (i.e. A lack of a holistic understandingof the diversity of resources, tools, stakeholders, roles and intentions as well as thesocio‐cultural context concerned)
We manage to build a digital library that is used but once another repository/ systemcomes along or a new technology is introduced, the digital library becomes obsolete
and redundant (i.e. A lack of understanding of co‐evolution of the digital library in its
contextual environment).
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201217

Information Ecology (Nardi & O’Day, 1999)
Facilitates the exploration of the values and intentions
that drive activities

Activity Theory (Kaptelinin & Nardi, 2006)
Understanding and designing of information systems
should be based on analysis of its role and place in
activity ‐‐ help bridge the investigation of relationships
between motivations and activities

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012183

87th RCKC Colloquium 24 May 2012

Dimension
Context
Content

Related issues & questions
The social, cultural, political, economical and technical affordances andconstraints affecting (and being influenced by) the information ecology andactivities concerned
The digital objects and associated metadata; added value

The various relationships among stakeholders (including content owners,
digital library creators and developers and users) and the various
communication avenues between and amongst the various stakeholders
Consideration The ways in which stakeholders interpret, engage with and use digital objects/
associatedi t d metadatat d tConnectivity

Collaboration The ways in which users, creators and other stakeholders work together

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

19Construction

The development and /or acquisition of tools and applications to facilitate
further knowledge creation and value‐adding

Confidence

The management of integrity, trust and authority in the information ecology(or overlapping ecologies) concerned

Continuity

Importance of keystone genus and issues related to the evolvement andsustainability of the digital library

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201220

Participatory Culture in Digital Cultural Heritage

Participatory Culture in Digital Cultural Heritage

Consultation and involvement
Reciprocity in collaborative collection buildingand value‐adding“a transition from Acropolis – that inaccessible
treasury on the fortified hill –to Agora, a marketplace of ideas offering
space for conversation, a forum for civic
engagement and debate, and opportunity
for a variety of encounters” (Proctor, 2010)

Technologies and applications that support an‘architecture of participation’ –a platform that harness collective intelligence,empower users and facilitate greater engagement andinteraction in a participatory approach.
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

Proctor, N. (2010). Digital: Museum as platform, curator aschampion, in the age of social media. Curator: The Museum
Journal 53(1), 35‐43.
21

Participatory Culture in Digital Cultural Heritage

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201222

Participatory Culture in Digital Cultural Heritage‘Collective intelligence/Wisdom of the crowd''We is greater than I‘RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

23

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201224

4

87th RCKC Colloquium 24 May 2012

Participatory Culture in Digital Cultural Heritage

Participatory Culture in Digital Cultural Heritage
Three‐level Framework

In what ways can DCH introduce ameaningful participatory culture that willbenefit their goals as well as their users andstakeholders?

Rationale(Policies)
Principles & Objectives

How can social media applications be used tofacilitate this participatory culture in DCH?

Practice (Methods & Indicators)

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201225

Participatory Culture in Digital Cultural Heritage

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

26

Level 1: Rationale

Level 2: Policies (Principles & Objectives)
User‐centric
Fostering community
Responding to and making effective use of UGC
Accommodating multiple perspectives andempowering
i user construction
t ti off meaning
iSupporting creative expression throughencouraging re‐useValue‐added through greater use
Evolving

Level 1: Rationale
Pragmatic
Purpose‐driven
Transformational

Level 2: Policies (Principles & Objectives)
Level 3: Practice (Methods & Indicators)

Level 3: Practice (Methods & Indicators)
RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201227

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 201228

ありがとうございます
Terima Kasih

Level 1: Rationale
Level 2: Policies (Principles & Objectives)

Level 3: Practice (Methods & Indicators)

Thank youTē ā rāwā
Tēnāā ā atut koek‘Scaffolding’
Motivating participants
Quality assurance…
ChernLi.Liew@vuw.ac.nz

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012

29

RCKC 87th Colloquium 24 May 2012305