Rethinking Evaluation Metrics in Light of Flickr Commons

dd388 — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 17:16:59 +0000

MW2011

Published Paper:

Keywords:

flickr

Keywords:

digital images

Keywords:

statistics

Keywords:

evaluation

Keywords:

outreach

Keywords:

online image collections

Abstract:

Flickr Commons launched in 2008 as a platform for enhancing the discoverability of cultural heritage collections and for allowing users to tag, annotate, and repurpose these materials. The Commons now boasts 46 members and tens of thousands of public domain images. The impact of the project has been monumental. Many of the institutions involved can boast hit counts on their Flickr images that far exceed other digital collections. While many of the numbers are certainly impressive, it can be argued that they are one of the least compelling statistics.

What, then, are the most meaningful statistics for a project that puts library collections in a highly visible space outside the library's traditional confines? Some of our standard and more established metrics, such as hit counts, only illuminate a small part of the story – the bigger picture includes the myriad ways users have interacted with our images, by adding notes and comments, by including them in their own curated galleries, by tweeting them, and referencing them on their blogs. There are limitless possibilities for users to interact with digital materials and we should be developing metrics that reflect this landscape. This forum will examine multiple approaches to assessing the impact of a digital library collection that exists beyond an institution's borders.

Type:

Professional Forum - discuss an issue

Professional Forum on Rethinking Evaluation Metrics

Authors:

Dianne Dietrich

Joseph Dalton

Effie Kapsalis

Sebastian Chan

Michelle Springer

Helena Zinkham

Paula Bray

museumsandtheweb.com - digital images

Rethinking Evaluation Metrics in Light of Flickr Commons