Instagram as cultural heritage: User participation, historical documentation, and curating in Museums and archives through social media

The frame of the study is the participatory culture of the cultural heritage institutions, social photography, and communication through social media. The analysis is based on case studies of Danish archives and museums using the photo sharing application Instagram for digital curating, outreach and communication. It will be discussed how the vision of the cultural heritage institutions of being a part of a participatory culture is performed and which possibilities the social mobile media offer the institutions. The conclusion shows that the relation between cultural heritage institution and user is not even - but the media offer a room for involvement, even it seems to be the institution not the audience that decides the arena in most cases.