Page 284 - AC/E's Digital Culture Annual Report 2015

5. Crowdfunding, crowdsourcing and crowdcuratingThis study shows that one of the priorities of today’s museums is to involve the public in their activities and functioning, and for technology to greatly help achieve this participation. This change in mentality is leading us to shift away from a concept of the museum as sole sourceof knowledge to the idea of the museum as a place for collective discourse in which our voice matters and complements that of the institution.Technology is a tool that provides an excellent vehicle for disseminating and exchanging content. Not only that of the museum but also that of users.In the English-speaking world, it is commonto find practices such as patronage in cultural institutions. People who can contribute to improving the functioning or enriching the holdings of these institutions take part by giving money or works and thus share with society part of the wealth they have accumulated and that belongs to them morally.Based on this idea, many museums have set in motion crowdfunding or collective patronage campaigns to meet needs that surpass the limits of their budgets. The advantage of these initia- tives is that not only do they allow the project to be carried forward by achieving sufficient funding, but also enhance its social value by involving the community in an institutional project. Anyone who gives a sum – whichdoes not have to be large – can feel they have contributed to improving their heritage, that they are part of a community that embodies cultural values and that they collectively activate mechanisms for safeguarding these values. In addition to this, the institution rewards users’ contributions with perks such as guided tours, free tickets, catalogues, etc.But there is more to these collective initiatives stemming from new museum mentalities. In addition to crowdfunding projects, we also find crowdsourcing and crowdcurating. “Crowd”