Time to stop doing and start thinking: a framework for exploiting Web 2.0 services

Abstract

The benefits of Web 2.0 in a museum context are now being increasingly accepted, with papers at recent Museums and the Web conferences having highlighted a range of ways in which services such as Flickr and YouTube and technologies such as blogs and wikis can be used. But what of the associated risks? What of the various concerns that the sector is beginning to address: concerns that the services may not be sustainable; institutional data may be locked into external services; services may infringe accessibility guidelines and associated legislation; users may lose interest in the services; inappropriate user-generated content may be published on the service; data created or stored on the services may not be preserved; etc.? In a paper on "Web 2.0: How to Stop Thinking and Start Doing: Addressing Organisational Barriers" presented at Museums and the Web 2007 conference, the authors encouraged museums to take a leap of faith and begin experimentation with use of Web 2.0. But now that organisations have a clearer idea of the benefits which Web 2.0 can provide, it is appropriate to "stop doing and start thinking". This paper describes a framework for supporting cultural heritage organisations in their use of Web 2.0 services, with examples of how this framework can be used in various contexts are provided.