Cultural institutions, co-creativity and communities of interest

Despite the proliferation of web-based news and information services, there remains a lack of online destinations from which to obtain reliable and authoritative cultural knowledge. In many countries, such knowledge is provided by cultural institutions such as museums and libraries. Recent discussion suggests that social media – including blogs, wikis and digital stories – may provide a creative solution to the ongoing interaction between cultural institutions and communities of interest. However, little applied research exists to demonstrate how social media can be established and maintained within museums and libraries, and what issues are raised within the institution by a more participatory approach to cultural communication. This paper highlights the implementation of a new program at the Australian Museum to train staff in social media production, in order to make the many thousands of objects and stories held within the Museum’s collections more accessible and engaging to communities of interest.