C2CC Seeding Engagement and Cultivating Volunteers Through Crowdsourcing
Channel: AIC & FAIC
Date: 2016-10-12

Recorded: Thursday, July 7, 2016

What sparks learning and discovery with audiences in museum and archives collections? How can organizations simultaneously engage with and invite audiences to help improve their collections? Crowdsourcing is a method of gathering information and data generated by audiences using various technologies and systems of communication – think of it as a collaborative, distributed problem-solving exercise.

Learn from the crowdsourcing experience at the Smithsonian Transcription Center (TC), which has allowed the Smithsonian to use public participation to transcribe and review digitized collections improving access to collections while creating meaningful experiences for the public. These experiences have included learning and discovery with audiences in collections. TC Project Coordinator, Dr. Meghan Ferriter, will describe what has been achieved since the project began in June 2013. We will look at successful approaches, what can be done, and lessons learned from the Smithsonian’s crowdsourcing transcription project. She will also consider how the experiences of the TC can be scaled and adapted for any organization seeking to build and sustain public engagement with collections, whether in the digital or real world.

http://www.connectingtocollections.org/seeding-engagement-and-cultivating-volunteers-through-crowdsourcing/