Symbiosis or friction: Understanding participant motivations for information sharing and institutional goals in participatory archive initiatives

Abstract

There is no participatory archive without an individual participant’s willingness to share their archival records and relevant background information about their records. Yet, information sharing as it comes to archives is not centered or adequately explored in work on participatory archive initiatives—leaving questions about participant motivations and how these motivations line up with the archive’s goals. Through a combination of primary source data analysis and ethnographic field data collection and analysis, this study aims to close that knowledge gap. The ties between archival institutions and archival record creators in participatory archives are investigated in order to understand what motivations for information sharing participants bring to participatory archives and how these correspond to the goals of archival institutions which engage with participatory initiatives. Findings show that key actors in participatory archives, the participants who contribute their stories and records to the archive, are largely driven by self-fulfillment when contributing to the archives. Meanwhile, goals from institutional archives include both inclusive community-building and collection-building. While participant motivations and institutional goals can lead to moments of friction between archives and participants, they can also be symbiotic foundations of participatory archive initiatives.