Collaborating and co-curating knowledge: Participatory engagement on Twitter between galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) and education audiences

Abstract

Abstract Galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) are now actively concentrating on enriching communication across a variety of audiences in varied ways. This focus on communication, and thus engagement, has been significantly influenced by the rise of the Internet, social media and mobile technologies. As new kinds of experiences are tailored, there is a drawing together of networks to produce and explore knowledge, co-curation of experiences and scaffold participatory experiences to engage with objects, spaces and meaning making. This is where social media can provide a flexible and personalized experience that encourages interaction and discussion between visitors, museums and objects underpinned by reciprocity, community, and a shift in the cultural organization as the only expert. The monthly Tweet Chat called #MuseumEdOz is discussed in this article as a way to demonstrate how GLAM organizations, GLAM educators, curators and teachers can engage with institutions, key issues, innovation and objects through the platform Twitter. A discussion critically framing the notion of digital interaction through Tim Ingold’s (2015) lines, intersections and meshworks is presented. The data are explored through the entanglement of lines by digital becoming, visibility and connecting, and reciprocity. Illuminated is the emergent participatory culture, new partnerships, collaborative problem solving and the development of a more empowered sense of citizenship.