Forums work!
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Transcript of Forums work!
Christian van der Ven Offene Archive Spyer, Germany 22 November 2012
FORUMS
WORK
About MeAbout Me
Christian van der Ven
Coördinator Reference and Digital Services
Brabant Historical Information Center
’s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Digital Archivist / Blogger Archives 2.0 / Social Media
@cvanderven
TopicsTopics
Forums work! Goals BHIC Overview Strategy Results The good and the bad Questions and discussion
Bonus: Chat works! (only when there’s time left)
Forums work!Forums work!
In between all new Web 2.0 tools and Social Media, forums have been underestimated and neglected
But forums have been there since the start of the Internet... and there’s a good reason for that:
Forums work!Forums work!
Cheap for archives, easy for users All about content, users and interaction Customizable and expandable Largest and most active online communities use a
forum as platform
Goals BHICGoals BHIC
Build user communities for local history, genealogy and historical research in North-Brabant
Crowdsource for new and additional information related to local history, and archives and collections
Create an alternative for traditional reference, a platform where researchers can help each other
OverviewOverview
OverviewOverview
Forums forForums for
Local History Pages (2006) Genealogy & Historical Research (2007) Water Map (2009)
All forums consist of new posts and comments Local History Pages and Water Map forums also
include comments on stories and photos on the website
OverviewOverview
Forum managementForum management
Started in 2008 Became a scheduled task in 2009
Monitored & managed daily by Reference Archivists Supported by topic specialists
Management via rss feeds in Google Reader
StrategyStrategy
StrategyStrategy
Monitor constantly Initially: stimulate use by replying on each post No question? Still reply! Challenge patrons for new comments and information Stimulate connections between patrons Explore new frontiers services, without charge (at first) Don’t pull back faster than the community advances Stimulate use by referring to forums (via e-mail, chat) Be nice to ‘regulars’ (extra service, Christmas Cards,
special activity day for users etc.)
ResultsResults
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
New Posts Local History/Water New Posts Genealogy/Historical Research
Comments Local History/Water Comments Genealogy/Historical Research
347
618
2049
5950
8964
380
714
2120
5567
8781
Until October
New Posts and Comments Genealogy/Historical Research
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
New Posts Comments
Until October
Share of Posts Genealogy/Historical Research
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
BHIC Users
Until October
Graph shows posting messages, not monitoring them
Avarage Amount of Comments
0,0
5,0
10,0
15,0
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Local History Water Genealogy/Historical Research Total
Until October
Community in 2011
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Posts
User
s
1 user posted 451 messages
707 users posted 1 message
(and she is from New Zealand)
Graph based on 5688 posts by 1283 people who left their e-mail addressThat’s 65% of the total amount of posts for 2011
The good and the badThe good and the bad
Patrons (and archivists) meet, share and help Loss of monopoly and natural authority Higher flow rate than traditional reference Mix with other service channels Online contact becomes more social and personal Public compliments... and complaints Change of work space and time Rise of community and new type of volunteers Bycatch in the form of stories, photos, indexes etc.
The good...The good...
“I find it to be a bit of a sport to try and find info on the internet, or in the case of the digital archives, from databases”
Dorethé, 29 januari 2009 (and she already posted 700 messages in 2012!)
Questions & DiscussionQuestions & Discussion
Chat works!Chat works!
Goals BHICGoals BHIC
To prevent people from clicking away from our website, by offering a direct, easy accessible help service via chat from each webpage
The digital archivist as moderator, oracle, support and anchor, as the digital face of the website
Wee
kday
s 7 P
M –
10
PM
Subjects
History
Genealogy
Research
General
Source data: 2009/2010
Handling
Answered
Followed by e-mail
Invited to study room
Invited to e-mail
Internally redirected
Referred
Not answered
OtherSource data: 2009/2010
ResultsResults
About 1.300 chats per year
First staffed reference desk in a virtual research room
Very, very, very happy patrons