Institute of Historical Research

Citizen History and its discontents

Mia Ridge

(Open University)

An increasing number of crowdsourcing projects are making claims about 'citizen history' - but are they really helping people become historians, or are they overstating their contribution? Can citizen history projects succeed without communities of experts and peers to nurture sparks of historical curiosity and support novice historians in learning the skills of the discipline? Through a series of case studies this paper offers a critical examination of claims around citizen history.

Digital History seminar series