The Impact of Networks of Public on Crowdsourcing in the UK Heritage Sector

This research explores the interaction between internal heritage personnel and the public over social media. Focusing on the phenomena of crowdsourcing and what it means to the individuals involved with it, the study employs a qualitative, interpretive approach, focusing on contemporary history ('living memory') interactions between participants of three UK Armed Forces museums and the public. Using the conceptual framework of networks of practice as a sensitizing concept in order to gain insight into how museum personnel employ, instigate and respond to the activity of crowdsourcing, participant interviews were analyzed using Grounded Theory Methodology. The findings challenge contentions in literature on the formation of, and knowledge exchange in, networks of practice suggesting that rather than extending existing understanding of such networks, a new form of electronic network has emerged around the museum context: the network of public.