The Swedish National Heritage Board 2.0 – The way to the future? A study of the Swedish National Heritage Board’s usage of new media

The intention with this thesis has been to highlight the Swedish National Heritage Board’s usage of new media and to examine how the usage of new media works in practice. The thesis recognizes the increasing significance of new media in our everyday lives with particular focus on these services used in an organizational context with the objective of communication between an authority and citizens. Manuel Castells theory of an information society has been used as a theoretical framework to explain the role of new media in the restructuring of our communication patterns. The source material for this thesis consists of collected data from the Internet as well as a number of interviews with both officials at the Board and Twitter users. Official reports and documents from the Board as well as research produced within the field of cultural heritage research have been used likewise. The thesis gives a review of the various types of new media used by the Swedish National Heritage Board following basic questions about structure and content. Facebook and Twitter have been selected for a more detailed quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The examination identifies different forms of communication between the Swedish National Heritage Board and Swedish citizens that arise in the context of new media. However it suggests taking into account risks associated with the human element. In this context a certain focus is given to questions of professional integrity and accountability. The discussion of the results allows us to explore the potential benefits of new media within the field of cultural heritage as well as risks arising in this context.Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen i Kulturvård, Bebyggelseantikvariskt program 15 hp Institutionen för kulturvård Göteborgs universitet 2012:1