Photosharing on Flickr: intangible heritage and emergent publics

Abstract

This paper argues that Flickr, a popular 'photosharing' website, is facilitating new public engagements with world heritage sites like the Sydney Opera House. Australian heritage institutions (namely libraries and museums) have recently begun to employ Flickr as a site through which to engage communities with their photographic archives and collections. Yet Flickr is more than an 'online photo album': it is a social and cultural network generated around personal photographic practices. Members can form 'groups': self-organised communities defined by shared interests in places, photographic genres, or the appraisal of photographs. These groups are public spaces for both visual and textual con..