In the context of LabforCulture’s experiences in developing its own online community space, as well as feedback received during workshops we have conducted across Europe over the last years, we have identified a need for an in-depth research mapping to give an overview of how the cultural sector is (or is not) taking up the use of online tools for collaboration. Despite the fact that operators in the media art field have been actively using, pushing the limits of and contributing to the discourse around the cultural uses of technology for several decades, there is still an amount of work, training, and knowledge exchange to be undertaken in the rest of the cultural sector to foster a better understanding of the latest socio-technological movements and developments. The challenges expressed in relation to the use of the technologies have wide ranging implications for the sector, from policy to practice to audience development.

In order to begin to position these issues in context and provide a framework to encourage a wider understanding of the potential of these technologies for the sector at all levels, LabforCulture commissioned a research mapping of the existing and ongoing research related to the use of online tools for collaboration in the cultural sector, as a first step in identifying what areas could benefit from more in-depth research and analysis in the short and long term. Specifically, the Digital Methods Initiative (Govcom.org Foundation) mapped out the actual use of tools in the sector, starting with LabforCulture.org’s online directory containing organisations working in the cultural sector in Europe. The 500-plus organisations served as the data set for the study.

How do different cultural organisations collaborate online? Which tools do they use? In Govcom.org’s research mapping, they uncovered a number of trends among a variety of types of cultural organisations. For example, the research mapping found that online collaboration occurs most significantly in forums. Newsletter circulation is also a frequent activity. Viewed across subsectors, the types of tools used vary. National governments employ RSS feeds with far greater frequency than any other organisational type. Cultural databases use del.icio.us, the social bookmarking tool, far more often than other categories of organisations. The newsletter is popular amongst research institutes, observatories and educational training institutions.

There is a growing body of literature on the topic of tools for collaboration, which can be found in the literature list below. The research mapping is a contribution to the literature through the study of the types of tools used across a significant sample of organisations working in the cultural sector.

Read the full research mapping:

Literature review: