Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Making digital history: The impact of digitality on public participation and scholarly practices in historical research Thesis How to cite: Ridge, Mia (2016). Making digital history: The impact of digitality on public participation and scholarly practices in historical research. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2015 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Redacted Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000b1cf Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Making Digital History The impact of digitality on public participation and scholarly practices in historical research Mia Ridge, MSc. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the discipline of Digital Humanities in the Department of History, The Open University June 2015 1 2 Abstract and keywords This thesis investigates two key questions: firstly, how do two broad groups - academic, family and local historians, and the public - evaluate, use, and contribute to digital history resources? And consequently, what impact have digital technologies had on public participation and scholarly practices in historical research? Analysing the impact of design on participant experiences and the reception of digital projects, this thesis makes a contribution to digital historiography by demonstrating the value of methods drawn from human-computer interaction, including heuristic evaluation, trace ethnography and semi-structured interviews. This thesis also investigates the relationship between heritage crowdsourcing projects (which ask the public to help with meaningful, inherently rewarding tasks that contribute to a shared, significant goal or research interest related to cultural heritage collections or knowledge) and the development of historical skills and interests. It situates crowdsourcing and citizen history within the broader field of participatory digital history, and then focuses on the impact of digitality on the research practices of faculty and community historians. Chapter 1 provides an overview of over 400 digital history projects aimed at engaging the public or collecting, creating or enhancing records about historical materials for scholarly and general audiences. Chapter 2 discusses design factors that may influence the success of crowdsourcing projects. Following this, Chapter 3 explores the ways in which some crowdsourcing projects encourage deeper engagement with history or science, and the role of communities of practice in citizen history. Chapter 4 shifts our focus from public participation to scholarly practices in historical research, presenting the results of interviews conducted with 29 faculty and community historians. Finally, the Conclusion Abstract and keywords 3 draws together the threads that link public participation and scholarly practices, teasing out the ways in which the practices of discovering, gathering, creating and sharing historical materials and knowledge have been affected by digital methods, tools and resources. Keywords Digital history, historiography, crowdsourcing, citizen history, public participation, research practices, human-computer interaction. Abstract and keywords 4 Acknowledgements Firstly, heartfelt thanks go to my supervisors, Dr Deborah Brunton and Dr Elton Barker, for their advice, guidance and patience as I found my way through the interdisciplinary maze of History and Digital Humanities. I am also grateful to the Open University for the studentship without which this research would not have been possible. Throughout my doctoral thesis I benefitted from conversations with many people who discussed their projects and the wider field of digital history with me, including Alan Rose, Amanda E. Herbert, Andy Ellis, Asa Letourneau, Ben Brumfield, Chris Lintott, Claudine Chionh, Colin Greenstreet, David Klevan, Duncan Barrett, Elissa Frankle, Geoff Brown, Graham Tongs, Henriette Roued-Cunliffe, Jason Webber, Jim O'Donnell, Jon Voss, Kerri Young, Lesley Stringer, Lori Phillips, Melissa Magna, Melissa Terras, Michael Haley Goldman, Michael Holland, Michele Cohen, Rachel Murphy, Rhiannon Looseley, Ruth E. Richardson, Sarah Hyams, Sharon Howard, Simon Sadler, Stuart Dunn, Susan Pares, Tehmina Goskar, Thomas Bolton, Tim Hitchcock, Victoria Van Hyning and William B. Hafford. I also greatly enjoyed teaching workshops on crowdsourcing at the HILT Summer School 2014, Digital Humanities 2013 conference, and on many occasions at the British Library. I would like to thank the organisers and participants in those and other presentations both for the opportunity to share my work, and for their feedback which helped confirm and shape the discussion of my findings. Similarly, I would like to thank the authors who contributed chapters to my edited volume, Crowdsourcing our Cultural Heritage; their reflections have helped inform several arguments presented in this thesis. During my PhD, I was privileged to take up short Fellowships and Residencies that each helped shape my thinking and created new connections. My thanks to the National Acknowledgements 5 Endowment for the Humanities for two summer institute Fellowships; the first to attend the Polis Center Institute on ‘Spatial Narrative and Deep Maps: Explorations in the Spatial Humanities’, and the second for 'One Week One Tool' at the Center for History and New Media (where we made Serendip-o-matic). My thanks also the organisers and fellow participants for making the experiences so rewarding. I would also like to thank the CENDARI project for granting me a Visiting Research Fellowship at Trinity College Dublin for my exploration of 'Bridging collections with a participatory Commons: a pilot with World War One archives'. Two week-long museum residencies also helped my project, for which I would like to thank the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. I am indebted to, and incredibly appreciative of the interview participants who so generously gave up their time and shared their thoughts to help another researcher. I would also like to thank those to who responded to my survey, answered random questions for information, and helped put me in touch with potential research participants. My thanks also to the friends and fellow travellers who variously kept me entertained, gave me perspective, provided encouragement, told me about projects and provided music mixes, particularly friends and acquaintances on social media, Min and Josie, and the Blue. I am eternally grateful to my family, Imelda, Ian, Brendan and Niall Ridge, for their support (and for reading a chapter each!), and finally, my thanks to Hannah Williams, who warned me not to do a PhD then encouraged, supported and entertained me throughout. 6 Table of Contents Abstract and keywords..................................................................................................3 Acknowledgements...................................................................................................... 5 Introduction: Making digital history .......................................................................... 9 Key concepts and definitions ................................................................................................ 12 Research questions.................................................................................................................19 Research design and data collection methods.................................................................... 20 Thesis structure......................................................................................................................27 Chapter 1: An overview of participatory digital history projects............................... 31 Types of participatory projects discussed............................................................................ 40 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 80 Chapter 2: History with the public: crowdsourcing ...................................................85 The motivations of crowdsourcing participants................................................................. 93 Design factors in the success of heritage crowdsourcing projects ................................... 105 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................141 Chapter 3: History with the public: from microtasker to historian?....................... 149 Definitions and context ........................................................................................................ 151 Examples of citizen history projects ...................................................................................166 How do crowdsourcing projects provide spaces for learning historical skills?............... 173 Can crowdsourcing projects help participants become historians?................................. 195 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................ 201 Chapter 4: Historians' working practices