Crowdsourcing Method: Participatory Archives, Images, and Flux

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: Conceptualizing Multiple and Multimodal Methodologies

Abstract

By using online technologies to code archival texts, images, and other materials, members of the general public increasingly are performing the functions of professional archivists. To help educational researchers understand changes in digital data curation, this paper maps the methodological evolution of citizen archiving through the “Photographs of Lewis Hine” (N = 483), a key federal collection of educational photography. To document an emerging methodology, this paper uses a series of timelines, flowcharts, and diagrams to map how citizen archivists 1) are recruited 2) are prepared 3) have contributed to this key educational archive. Although early efforts at citizen archiving have been uneven, citizen archiving continues to hold methodological promise in the democratization of public knowledge.

Author

• Jasmine Ulmer, Wayne State University