Co-Creation’s Role in Digital Public Archaeology

Abstract Simon (2010:187) notes that the purpose of co-creative community projects is “to give voice and be responsive to the needs and interests of local community members; to provide a place for community engagement and dialogue; and to help participants develop skills that will support their own individual and community goals.” This paper explores the role that co-creation currently plays in digital public archaeology and discusses how co-creative methods can inform broader archaeological digital engagement efforts. It begins by placing co-creation in its proper context in order to demonstrate its unique characteristics, its value, and how it complicates approaches used in other types of archaeological engagement projects, such as Open Access initiatives. The discussion then turns to evaluating its impact and the broader need to measure success in digital public engagement projects. A discussion of research from the archaeology and the cultural heritage sectors provides examples of evaluation metrics and methods for assessing digital public archaeology projects. The paper concludes by suggesting that all digital engagement projects can benefit from incorporating some of the principles that are inherently part of co-creative methods but that not all archaeological digital engagement projects should strive to be completely co-creative.