Learning spaces of higher education for postdigital citizens

Citizen science research is often interdisciplinary, responsive to public concerns and inclusive of community knowledge. It can also involve multiple voices coming together to address ‘wicked’ problems. In this paper, we introduce CmyView, a visual and creative methodology that is suitable for research projects in citizen science, particularly those focusing on learning spaces. CmyView’s conceptual framing is informed by research in embodied cognition, digital heritage, networked learning, and the postdigital. The paper discusses the CmyView methodology, as grounded on five core actions: walking, capturing, sharing, connecting, and documenting via public participation. We argue that the CmyView methodology and its accompanying app can offer an innovative way to understand, manage, document, engage with, and study the social and educational significance of learning spaces through community participation.</p

The participatory culture of architecture : heritage, media and the socio-visual life of the Sydney Opera House

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. This thesis contains 3rd party copyright material. The hardcopy may be available for consultation at the UTS Library.NO FULL TEXT AVAILABLE. This thesis contains 3rd party copyright material. ----- In 2007 the Sydney Opera House was inscribed onto UNESCO’s World Heritage List as a masterpiece of 20th century architecture and engineering, and for its value as a ‘world-famous iconic-building’. The inscription serves to establish the building’s international significance, yet methods to evidence and better understand its social value for global audiences remains largely unaddressed. The thesis investigates and evidences the building’s social value through practices in popular culture enabled and made visible by the recent growth of online participatory media, arguing that such representations of the building and the online interactions around these are cultural practices through which people engage with the Sydney Opera House. Further, these practices are significant because they offer individuals and groups a means to negotiate their collective and individual senses of identity. Using the concept of participatory culture the thesis explores the anecdotal attachment people have for this work of iconic architecture. Through visual analysis of a collection of online representations gathered on Pinterest.com the social value of this place is evidenced in the everyday engagements of people that are inspired by the building, such as visiting it, collecting souvenirs, posting photographs or making opera-house-shaped cakes. Closer observations of participation in photosharing groups on Flickr.com and tributes posted to the Sydney Opera House Utzon Memorial website demonstrate that such popular activities are complex social negotiations of memory and identity. The investigation concludes that social value is a cultural process; one that is co-constituted between tangible, intangible and digital forms of culture. The thesis is located at the intersection of architecture, heritage studies and media studies. The argument builds on the scholarly contributions of Terry Smith, Leslie Sklair, Jose van Dijck and Henry Jenkins as well as the discourses on World Heritage, Intangible Heritage and Digital Heritage to demonstrate that although at present participatory culture of architecture is unable to be recognised by UNESCO’s suite of heritage instruments, the everyday social engagements around the Sydney Opera House contribute to its broader cultural significance

Photographic heritage and web 2.0: Flickr The Commons experience

En los últimos años numerosos archivos, bibliotecas y museos están explorando, participando o simplemente usando los recursos que las redes sociales ofrecen a través de internet. La web 2.0 ha posibilitado un nuevo contexto para la exposición de los fondos y actividades de dichos centros a un público hasta el momento ajeno a los mismos. Asimismo ha permitido la exploración de nuevas estrategias de divulgación y comunicación. El proyecto Flickr The Commons, creado conjuntamente por la Library of Congress y la plataforma de imágenes Flickr, se presenta para muchas de estas entidades como una atractiva posibilidad para profundizar en las capacidades de indización e investigación de las comunidades de usuarios en la Red. Se presentan las características del proyecto, las distintas estrategias planteadas por cada institución participante y se valoran los resultados obtenidos.In last years, many archives, libraries and museums are exploring, participating in, or simply using resources that social networks offer on the internet. The so-called web 2.0 has enabled a new context for these institutions to present their collections and activities to new users. The social networks have also allowed the exploration of new strategies for dissemination and communication. Flickr: The Commons project, jointly developed by the Library of Congress and Flickr’s photosharing and hosting platform, offers an attractive perspective for many of these institutions to enlarge the possibilities of indexing and of online communities research. This article presents the characteristics of the project, the strategies outlined by each participating institution and an evaluation of the results