Paper short abstract:

The presentation addresses the personal dimension of intangible heritage crowdsourcing by bringing into focus high-level participants who devote their time to practice cultural heritage crowdsourcing on a regular basis.

Paper long abstract:

During the last decade, crowdsourcing has proved to be a useful method for approaching cultural heritage and humanities sources. Although the term is fairly new (known only since 2006), the approach is widely acknowledged for the genuine advantages and opportunities it offers. Cultural heritage institutions stand to benefit not only from its collective intelligence and creativity but also obtain significant help in processing digitised collections. The general public benefits from being personally introduced to the vast richness of diverse cultural heritage materials and empowered to engage as volunteers.

Acknowledging that whatever the nature of the performed crowdsourcing tasks (which can vary from very technical to very creative), each multi-engagement consists of many personalized experiences. Thus, getting to know the most active participants, exploring their way of life, their viewpoints and habits (including virtual ones) enable to acquire a deeper understanding about how cultural heritage is being lived and practised and what incentives motivate participation.

In the presentation, I introduce a personal approach to the study of cultural heritage crowdsourcing by bringing into focus high-level participants who devote their time to cultural heritage crowdsourcing on a regular basis. The presented case study is based on a crowdsourcing initiative carried out by the Archives of Latvian Folklore (Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art, University of Latvia) since June 2016.

The main questions for discussion are: how is cultural heritage being experienced through digital space and how is digital engagement narratively interpreted by the participants themselves.