Introduction

It can be tempting to adopt an evangelical view towards collaborative community projects, but reflecting on the challenges, constraints and limitations of projects is as valuable to expanding our understanding as concentrating on the opportunities, rewards and empowerment they provide.

This chapter considers what we can learn that is generalisable from the Pebble Mill project: a multi-media online resource, http:// pebblemill.org, with social media interaction on Facebook, where members of an online community build what Dougherty and Schneider (2011) term an ‘idiosyncratic archive’ of memories and artefacts, including photographs, videos, audio and written text, creating a democratic history of BBC Pebble Mill, which complements the BBC's institutional archive. Some of the tensions and limitations of community archive projects are explored, including moderation, ethics and legal matters, namely defamation and copyright. One of the major challenges for community archives regards the continuing commitment of ‘citizen curators’, the facilitators of online community projects, whose labour includes devising policies, moderating and encouraging engagement. Issues of longevity and sustainability are considered, along with the vulnerability of online collections in a precarious virtual world, where platforms are subject to evolution, or removal, threatening the survival of small projects.

Background to the Pebble Mill Project

Pebble Mill was the first purpose-built broadcast production centre in Europe (BBC, 1962). It opened in Birmingham in 1971, closing in 2004. At its height it produced around 10 per cent of BBC output (Wood, 2005), boasting a renowned drama department that produced ‘Plays for Today’ such as Nuts in May (1976, BBC2) and series such as Boys from the Blackstuff (1982, BBC2). There was a prolific factual unit producing Top Gear (1977–2001, BBC2), Countryfile (1988– present, BBC1) and Gardeners’ World (1968–present, BBC2), and live studio programming such as Pebble Mill at One (1972–86, BBC1). Much of Pebble Mill's output falls under Frances Bonner's definition of ‘ordinary television’: frequently factual formatted programming incorporating ‘real people’ (Bonner, 2003). Such shows included high volume, low budget lifestyle and makeover shows featuring members of the public, such as Style Challenge (1996–8, BBC1) and Real Rooms (1997–2002, BBC1). These types of programme are often neglected by scholars and critics.