National Council on Public History

Jessica BrodeFrank, adler planetarium

PROPOSAL TYPE

Traditional Panel

Seeking

• Seeking Additional Presenters

RELATED TOPICS

• Data/Information Management
• Public engagement

ABSTRACT

As social-justice movements challenge power-structures, the ways in which public historians and cultural institutions create expert knowledge are also under scrutiny. Instead of using traditional top-down approaches to cataloguing, public historians and cultural institutions should be actively co-creating object metadata and research with the public. Discussion centers on how public involvement enriches the narratives we share, building transparency and trust within organizations and the surrounding communities. We hope to present various ways in which institutions are beginning this work and focus on a variety of audiences from graduate students and emerging professionals, to online citizen science communities and onsite museum audiences.

DESCRIPTION

We have created this proposal to help enrich our discussion of how cultural institutions and public historians are engaging communities to co-create academic or institutional research and/or object metadata. We would like to expand the conversation beyond our current two case studies; particularly looking to solicit 2-3 additional panelists who can add breadth and depth to this discussion.

Currently panelists: Isabel Brador Sanz of The Wolfsonian-Florida International University presenting on the museum’s Metadata Squad, a group of public history graduate assistants tasked with researching and digitizing the museum’s object collection. The students hone their research and investigative skills and their contribution impacts the information available online in the museum’s digital catalog, exhibitions and interactives. The initiative is made possible through a partnership with Florida International University’s graduate History department, as well as private donors. Jessica BrodeFrank of the Adler Planetarium will discuss the work on the “Tag Along with Adler” project which includes an online Zooniverse.org metadata tagging project, and an onsite museum interactive experience both geared towards diversifying access points to collections through tagging projects optimized for community engagement with both a citizen science minded community and an onsite museum public.

We are hoping the addition of 2-3 other panelists can help enrich this discussion on community engagement, redistribution of power and authority, and the expansion of access to a more representational narrative of cultural heritage collections. In particular, we are interested in panelists who come from a library, archival, or academic institution; rounding out this discussion across the GLAM sector; panelists who are currently running such projects, or panelists who have completed similar projects or have plans to run a similar project. Any panelists who have completed similar projects could add a discussion on the impact of such a project on their institution, whether positive, negative, or mixed.

This topic at the NCPH 2022 conference helps to explore this emerging way to view a typically obfuscated back end process of metadata creation as a way to bring communities and often underrepresented narratives to collections and institutions in a way that enriches not only the institution but also the experience of the user both in discovering collections and in engaging with them.

If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to pass along someone’s contact information confidentially, please get in contact directly: Jessica BrodeFrank, Adler Planetarium, [email protected]

ALL FEEDBACK AND OFFERS OF ASSISTANCE SHOULD BE SUBMITTED BY JULY 1, 2021. If you have general ideas or feedback to share, please feel free to use the comments feature below.

Discussion