Portals, platforms, and participation: building online collaboration around GLAM collections

Back in 2013, I was the manager of Trove at the National Library of Australia.

I was asked to give a conference paper about Trove for a conference in New Zealand, and I chose for my topic ‘From portals to platforms: building new frameworks for user engagement’. I was interested in the way that Trove, and similar projects in New Zealand, the US, and Europe, were moving beyond websites to share their data directly through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). By using these APIs people could create their own tools and interfaces, their own Troves. This was part of a shift from portal to platform – from a place to visit, to a place to create, build, and share. David Weinberger, writing about the role of libraries, argued that ‘a platform gains value the less can be predicted about what will be built with it’.

I thought it might be interesting today to revisit the promise of platforms, and think some more about ways that the collections of galleries, libraries, archives and museums (the GLAM sector) can become spaces for online creativity and participation.