Event-based mediated participatory archives, in which communities of ordinary people contribute their records to archives during collection day events represent a paradigm shift within the archival field. Applying a qualitative approach, this study investigates event-based mediated participatory archives using Bastian's communities of records and memory as a guiding framework. Using the Mass. Memories Road Show as a case study, data collection and analysis took place over three phases. In Phase I, archive supporting documents were collected and analyzed using "against the grain" historical analysis methods. In Phase II, data from the Mass. Memories Road Show digital collections were collected and analyzed using grounded theory analysis methods. In Phase III, ethnographic research data, including a direct observation and semi-structured interviews, was collected and analyzed using ethnographic analysis methods. The results of this study suggest that community participants' motivations to contribute to participatory archives are rooted in self-fulfillment while institutional archives personnel members' intentions are based in inclusive community-building. Furthermore, the contribution of records to the archives allows community participants to share personal stories that serve as evidence of their historical legacies and as affirmation of their roles in their communities. Throughout the findings, moments of connection which enable the sharing of stories are highlighted—speaking to the importance of the collection day event.

Introduction. This thesis aims to investigate user participation in two selected music websites, The Metal Archives (also known as Metal-Archives or MA) and Discogs, as well as gather knowledge about how their databases and web interfaces are designed. Music genres are often associated with a culture or subculture. We wanted to investigate how the subcultures of metal music fans and record collecting has made an impact in these online archives, since the users who contribute to the archives are the ones who drive the archives forward. Method. To answer our research questions we described the designs of the websites themselves, as well as conducted surveys and one interview. Our survey material comes from user responses to two separate Google Forms surveys. The interview is a qualitative semi-structured interview conducted via e-mail with a policy expert from The Metal Archives. In addition to this, we supplemented it with a summary of an earlier interview with Discogs founder Kevin Lewandowsky. Qualitative method was used for analysis of both surveys and the interviews. Results. Both websites function as participatory archives since the user contributions are voluntary. Many who contribute do so out of a “Love for the culture”. While both user communities share a love for music, Discogs also focuses on its users selling physical records. Respondents from the surveys show an altruistic motivation for participating. To them, sharing contributions with others in the community feels important. Conclusion. Regarding website design, we found that both sites employ point systems as a motivating factor to ensure further user contributions. When it comes to user participation, both sites have active communities and can be seen as examples of crowdfunding. In the case of Metal-Archives the users showed a certain affect, passionately contributing data for its own sake. While both websites function as “Community Archives”, the culture differs. Metal-Archives is more elitist in nature and subcultural while Discogs aims to catalogue music from any genre. Furthermore, the search systems differ in that Metal-Archives is centred around finding bands while Discogs uses complex hyperlinking derived from the culture of vinyl record collecting. The thesis concludes that these two study objects show an example of community and the contributions of passionate fans online, as well as how the amount of information about music can benefit future research in music.  This is a two years master’s thesis in Archival Science.

The aim of this study is to examine how and in what way users of the public participate and affect the archival information that is to be preserved for the future through the examination of three archival projects involving public participation. The study seeks to examine if participation of the public could lead to increased democracy and diversity of information in the archives. The study will be performed through the examination of three participatory archives all tied to traditional archival institutions. The study is based on the theoretical framework of Benn and Gaus and their notions of public and private which they discuss using the key words access, agency and interest. The study also takes into consideration Laura Millar’s theories of social memory as a means for the public good. Through a user perspective web resources tied to the projects are analyzed as well as defining documents of the archival institutions responsible of the projects. The findings are then discussed in a broader perspective using the three keywords access, agency and interest. The aim is to examine to what degree the projects allow participation through a comparative analysis of the chosen projects.  The study suggests that whereas the projects aims to create access to all members of society, the chosen structures of the projects make up limitations for participation for some groups of society, affecting their opportunity to participate. Limitations of the projects, such as language, make up barriers for participation creating private spheres inside the public of the projects studied. The thesis stresses the need for the existence of a multitude of different participation projects with different forms of participation in order to properly fulfill the needs and interests of the public in the archives. This is a two years master’s thesis in archival science.