Object wiki

What is it?

It’s a ‘wiki’ website where anyone can edit and add to the descriptions and memories of objects in the Science Museum’s collection. The project was initially launched to coincide with a temporary exhibition, but has since been expanded to cover objects from across the museum.

What need does it fulfil?

The website allows the museum’s curators to engage directly with members of the public, particularly those who have a direct connection with the objects (for example, they own one, or helped produce it). Most of the objects fall into the internet’s ‘long tail’, and aren’t very well represented on the rest of the web, and so the Object Wiki become a hub for interest and information around the object.

What benefits does it bring?

The wiki allows museum curators to publish information and research about objects, which there wouldn’t normally be space for within the museum. In addition, the wiki attracts people with first hand knowledge and stories about the objects, which helps further curator research and interpretation.

The content is also licensed under a Creative Commons licence, and so can be freely re-used by the museum, and anyone else.