How the crowd can surprise us: Humanities crowdsourcing and the creation of knowledge

TY - CHAP

T1 - How the crowd can surprise us

T2 - Humanities crowdsourcing and the creation of knowledge

AU - Dunn, Stuart

AU - Hedges, Mark

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - It has often been taken as given that the internet frees access to information and knowledge, and that the emergence of Web 2.0 and social media have transformed the way we interact with the information landscape around us. One has only to look at developments in the 2011 Arab Spring to see this in action, and whilst there are differences of opinion on the exact dynamics of the web in such events, the significance of its role as an enabler of ‘the crowd’ to access and exchange knowledge cannot be denied (see P. Howard and M. Hussain, ‘The Role of Digital Media’ Journal of Democracy, Volume 22, Number 3, July 2011, pp. 35-48). Similarly spontaneous use of social media in the 2010 London Tuition Fee riots raised questions about immediate, synchronous communication. Drawing on the findings of the author’s AHRC-funded Crowd-Sourcing Scoping Study, this chapter will reflect on how crowd-sourcing enables deep knowledge circulation, in the wider context of social media. How does crowd-sourcing in the humanities enable synthesis and interpretation, rather than simple resource creation or dissemination?

AB - It has often been taken as given that the internet frees access to information and knowledge, and that the emergence of Web 2.0 and social media have transformed the way we interact with the information landscape around us. One has only to look at developments in the 2011 Arab Spring to see this in action, and whilst there are differences of opinion on the exact dynamics of the web in such events, the significance of its role as an enabler of ‘the crowd’ to access and exchange knowledge cannot be denied (see P. Howard and M. Hussain, ‘The Role of Digital Media’ Journal of Democracy, Volume 22, Number 3, July 2011, pp. 35-48). Similarly spontaneous use of social media in the 2010 London Tuition Fee riots raised questions about immediate, synchronous communication. Drawing on the findings of the author’s AHRC-funded Crowd-Sourcing Scoping Study, this chapter will reflect on how crowd-sourcing enables deep knowledge circulation, in the wider context of social media. How does crowd-sourcing in the humanities enable synthesis and interpretation, rather than simple resource creation or dissemination?

KW - crowdsourcing

KW - methodology

M3 - Chapter

SN - 9781472410221

T3 - Digital Research in the Arts and Humanities

SP - 231

EP - 246

BT - Crowdsourcing our cultural heritage

A2 - Ridge, Mia

PB - Ashgate

ER -