Crowdsourcing with Art UK Curation

https://artuk.org/discover/curations/violet-moods

For this assignment I chose to curate a collection of works through ART UK’s crowdsourcing initiative. Art UK shows 300,000 artworks, consisting of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings and photographs from collections all across the UK. Anyone can create an account and curate a collection of whatever they chose. This gives the public freedom to explore and engage with art on their own terms. They can contribute anecdotes, more information about the works they chose, or just create for fun. I chose to create a collection of works in various mediums that feature the color purple, as that is my favorite color. This type of crowdsourcing would appeal to anyone who has a general interest in art.

The system is fairly easy to use. Once the user has created an account they can search by artist, subject, style, medium and even location of the artwork. Adding and removing pieces to a collection is as simple as a click of a button. And the creator can choose to publish their curation for all to see or keep it private.

As far as risks of use and participation related to the project, when the user creates an account, they are required to accept a terms of service agreement. Because Curation is a democratic tool, they believe that in allowing users to create and publish their Curations without the need to wait for approval from Art UK, the resource to grow and evolve freely. They trust the participants to use the tool respectfully, but they do provide an email for people to report any Curation that may be deemed offensive, and Art UK reserves the right to remove any Curation without prior notice, and without explanation, if it is offensive or objectionable in their opinion once reviewed.

Through this experience I think crowdsourcing has benefits and challenges. Involving the audience in knowledge creation fosters a sense of ownership and engagement and external contributions can bring fresh ideas and innovative interpretations. In addition, participants can bring unique insights or personal connections to objects, expanding the narrative around museum artifacts. The main challenges I see are that contributors may face technical barriers, such as lack of internet access or digital literacy, limiting the inclusiveness of crowdsourcing efforts. Also, ensuring diverse and inclusive participation can be difficult as certain demographics may be over-represented or underrepresented. And with this particular crowdsourcing initiative, because they rely on the public to report Curations that may be offensive, it offers an area of ambiguity. What a person finds offensive is subjective.