'Digitised collections and the social museum: the (re)use of images of objects in the collections of the Science Museum Group'

拟议的研究将集中在一种特殊的数字参与，尽管是一个复杂和多方面的：通过图像的参与。将使用两个主要数据来源：科学博物馆集团（SMG）游客拍摄的照片，这些照片在网上分享;以及作为One Collection项目的一部分在线提供的数字化图像，并以类似方式分享。游客生成的照片，从一个画廊的经验，将与用户互动的方式在博物馆的在线收藏的图像进行比较，分析是否不同类型的数字参与发生在纯粹的数字空间和背景。该研究将探讨影响访问者选择拍摄哪些对象以及他们从在线收藏中选择哪些图像的因素;这些照片和图像被分享的论坛;人们与图像相关的故事（以及他们用来讲述这些故事的语言）;以及首次出版后图像的来世。该项目并不局限于SMG内部的单一藏品，而是关注整个集团的藏品，与One Collection的目标保持一致。SMG的收藏品非常适合这项研究，因为与大多数记忆机构相比，用户与单个对象的互动更有可能通过个人联系/回忆进行过滤。展出的许多物品都与游客自己的生活经历有关，或者与一位年长的家庭成员有关（“我曾经有过一个这样的人”）。这些个人关系和故事将是探索数字参与的关键。

The proposed research will focus on one particular kind of digital engagement, albeit a complex and multifaceted one: engagement through images. Two main sources of data will be used: photographs taken by visitors to the Science Museum Group (SMG) which are shared online; and digitised images made available online as part of the One Collection project and similarly shared. Visitor-generated photographs, arising from an in-gallery experience, will be compared with the ways in which users interact with images in the museum's online collections, analysing whether different kinds of digital engagement occur in solely digital spaces and contexts. The research will explore the factors that influence which objects visitors choose to photograph and which images they select from online collections; the forums within which these photographs and images are shared; the stories that people associate with the images (and the language that they use to tell those stories); and the afterlife of the images beyond first publication. The project is not limited to a single collection within the SMG, but rather is concerned with the Group's collections in their entirety, in keeping with the aims of One Collection. The SMG's collections are uniquely suitable for this research, as user engagement with individual objects is more likely to be filtered through personal connection/reminiscence than would be the case for the majority of memory institutions. Many of the objects on display relate to visitors' own lived experiences, or to those of an older family member ('I used to have one of those'). These personal relationships and stories will be key to exploring digital engagement.