Remixing Museology: An approach to collecting social media in museums

At its core, this is a thesis about collecting social media in museums. As part of it I have drawn on theories of remix (Lessig, 2008, Navas et al., 2015) and appropriate museology (Kreps, 2008, 2015) to argue that in order for museums to be able to collect social media, they need to remix collections management processes to make them more appropriate for new and emerging object types.

My research was driven by my own love of getting involved and has led to what I can only describe as a mixed-methodology approach. Taking an overarchingly autoethnographic approach, I’ve utilised reflexive dyadic interviews, action research and self-reflection. The thesis is structured around past attempts at collecting social media at the Museum of London and Victoria and Albert Museum, my participation in the Collecting Social Photo project, and practicing what I preach at the National Science and Media Museum where I worked collaboratively to collect an ‘absolute unit’ of a social media object. Throughout, I have been guided by the concept of ‘Remix Museology’ which has emerged as a way to make ongoing pragmatic and incremental remixes to collecting practices to support the culturally and ethically appropriate acquisition of new and emerging objects.

Whilst this thesis is primarily interested in Remix Museology as a method to support collecting social media, you may have noticed that I am also using alternative forms of academic writing. I write in a way that reflects the objects I am advocating museums collect, my methodological choices and my approach to change which makes careful use of humour. As a result, this thesis also works to remix academic form; taking a hop, skip and a jump towards online cultures, harnessing the critical power of memes, emojis and humour in a way that is appropriate to both the topic and method at hand.