Digital ServicesDigital Servicesandand

User ParticipationUser Participationat theat the

BHICBHIC

Christian van der Ven

Blog: www.digitalearchivaris.nl

Twitter: @cvanderven

16 November 2011

Digital Heritage, Amsterdam University

How do you mean,

“I need to havethis right now”?

QuestionQuestion

What impact do digital services, social media and user participation have on the BHIC and its staff?

TopicsTopics

Our website

Digital services, social media and user participation

Forums and chat (and Twitter and Wikipedia): Goals Strategy Results Impact

Summary

Our website...Our website...

...from a bird’s eye view

Social MediaSocial Media

(Forums) (Chat) Blogs Twitter Flickr YouTube (low activity) Facebook (pilot) Wikipedia (pilot) Other...

Goals Social MediaGoals Social Media

Reaching a larger and broader audience

Connecting to people and keeping in touch

Highlighting our archives and collections

Crowdsourcing

User participationUser participation

Write us, phone us, email us, submit forms & chat with us

Submit stories and photos

Comment on stories on the website

Comment on photos on the website and in databases

Comment on databases (genealogy, archives etcetera)

Participate on forums

Comment on blogs, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube & Facebook

Growth servicesGrowth services

Visits research rooms and website 2001/2010

State Archives in North-Brabant BHIC, branches

Den Bosch and Grave

Visits research rooms and website 2001/2010

Growth servicesGrowth services

20012001 20102010

Requests for documents 19.872 23.623

Questions (letters/emails) 244 1.826

Orders for certificates -- 1.669

Comments/error notifications -- 1.455

Social Media -- ??

ImpactImpact

Deployment of staff in the traditional research rooms becomes less and less in both quantity and quality, in digital services it becomes more and more

No more courses, expositions etcetera Doing ‘other work’ during reference shifts Archivist assistants take over tasks from archivists at the

reference desk Archivists concentrate more and more on digital services Staff backoffice gets deployed for digital services Research rooms may remain partly unstaffed Slim down opening hours traditional research rooms

ForumsForums

GoalsGoals

Create an active community for local history and genealogy in North-Brabant

Crowdsource for new information related to stories and photos

Create an alternative for reference

OverviewOverview

Forums local history and waterForums local history and water Forums per municipality and for section water New messages/questions and replies Comments on stories website New messages/comments on photos newspapers

Last two categories are somewhat atypical for forums

Forums genealogy and researchForums genealogy and research Forums for sections genealogy and research New messages/questions and replies

OverviewOverview

2006: Start forums local history 2007: Start forums genealogy and research September 2009: Start forum water

NotificationsNotifications From 2006: rss feed for new messages per forum From 2010: email notification for new replies per message

Forum managementForum management Start from 2008, as regular work from 2009 Staffed by archivists reference desk Management via rss feeds in Google Reader

StrategyStrategy

Moderate constantly

Reply, reply, reply! Even when there’s no question

Challenge patrons for new comments and information

Stimulate connections between patrons

Explore new frontiers services, without charge (at first)

Let the community rise first, only then pull back a little

Be nice to ‘regulars’ (extra service, Christmas Cards etc.)

ResultsResults

197605

1966

3451

4611

6179

t/m september

New messages local history & waterComments local history and water

New messages genealogy & researchComments genealogy & research

Share of messages

PatronsBHIC

Kerncommunity 2010

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

7001 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 19 21 22 26 32 33 36 39 45 47 52 60 61 64 69 74 120

201

Berichten

Geb

ruik

ers

577 users posted 1 message

1 user posted 201 messages

(and she doesn’t even live in Brabant)

Core community in 2010

Messages

Use

rs

ImpactImpact

Loss of monopoly and natural authority

Higher flow rate than regular reference

Mix with other service channels

Online contact becomes more social and personal

Change in work space and time

Rise of community and new type of volunteers

Forums: the hatForums: the hat

Don’t start a forum...

Start community building!

Forums: the rabbitForums: the rabbit

“Ik vind het wel een beetje een sport om info op

“internet te vinden, of in geval van de digitale

“archieven, uit databases”

“I find it to be a bit of a sport to try and find info on the internet, or in the case of the digital archives, from databases”

Dorethé Kuijpers, 29 januari 2009

ChatChat

What is chat?What is chat?

“Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet, that offers an instantaneous transmission of text-based messages from sender to receiver”

Source: Wikipedia

GoalsGoals

To prevent people from clicking away from our website, by offering a direct, easy accessible help service via chat from each webpage

The digital archivist as moderator, oracle, support and anchor, as the digital face of the website

Simultanious chats

Direct email access

Access to BHIC network

StrategyStrategy

Help is only one click away, from each webpage

Staffed by archivists Reference Desk

Online status staff member always visible

Photo staff member as avatar

No login, acceptance or submitting forms needed

Welcome new chatters

Schedule: on weekdays 7 – 10 PMAvarage availability per month: 63 hours

ResultsResults

Aantal chats per maand

050

100150200

Janua

ri

Februa

ri

Maa

rtAp

rilMei Jun

iJul

i

Augu

stus

Septem

ber

Oktobe

r

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

2010

2011

Total amount of chats in 2010: 1.217

Amount of chats per month

Gemiddeld aantal chats per dienst

02468

10

Janua

ri

Februa

ri

Maa

rtAp

rilMei Jun

iJul

i

Augu

stus

Septem

ber

Oktobe

r

Novem

ber

Decem

ber

2010

2011

Avarage amount of chats per shift

Onderwerpen

Geschiedenis

Stamboom

Onderzoek

Algemeen

Topics

Genealogy

Research

GeneralLocal

History

Source: data t/m 2010

Gemiddeld aantal chats per weekdag

0

2

4

6

8

10

Maandag Dinsdag Woensdag Donderdag Vrijdag

Avarage amount of chats per weekday

Source: data t/m 2010

Afhandeling

Beantwoord

Opgevolgd via email

Uitgenodigd op studiezaal

Uitgenodigd tot sturen email

Intern doorgestuurd

Doorverwezen

Niet beantwoord

Overige

Handling

Answered

Followed up via email

Invited to research room

Invited to submit email

Forwarded internal

Referred

Not answered

OtherSource: data t/m 2010

ImpactImpact

Most questions can be answered directly

Live digital contact

Mix with other service channels

Online contact becomes even more social and personal

Working evening hours from home

Start of a ‘real’ virtual research room?

Patrons are very happy with the service

TwitterTwitter

GoalsGoals

Connect and interact with our followers

Answer questions (reference)

Share interesting news, stories and photos

Attract visitors to our website/social media

Let followers participate in contests, tours etcetera

Twitter Tour 8 january 2011

Results & ImpactResults & Impact

Almost 800 followers

Regular tweets, replies & retweets

More visitors to our website, blogs etcetera

Interaction!

Establishing new connections, online and offline

Monitoring all day, every day – very high flow rate

WikipediaWikipedia

GoalsGoals

Enrich the encyclopedia

Improve the findability of our archives and collections

Getting to know the encyclopedia and its community

Impact summaryImpact summary

Making clear (and difficult, painful) choices

Changes in staff deployment

Less control, more collaboration, search for added value

More group communication, less one-on-one talks

More communication and service channels

Higher flow rate, quick response times

Changing work space and hours