I have two questions for THATCamp. Well, that’s not true, I have many questions for THATCamp but two possible session-type questions. The first is more of a BootCamp question: How does one begin to go about creating a digital archive of historic documents? Even before questions of encoding and formatting, I am curious about copyright and permission from the physical archive. I am sure there are concerns on the part of archivists regarding the care and use of manuscripts, as well as institutional policies governing what can and cannot be done. It would be great to hear about how various projects have gotten off the ground and what sort of considerations need to be addressed before beginning a project, in an effort to begin future projects as smoothly as possible.
My second question has to do with exposure for the digital archives, visualizations, and tools we create. Part of why I am interested in creating digital archives is because it provides increased access to the primary source material. However, while I am aware of various archives and projects because I am interested in them and know where to find them, I am not sure how aware people more generally are about work in the digital humanities. This raises a number of questions in my mind, such as how to market digital humanities resources, whether there could be a “meta-archive” or general blog where one could learn about various academic material on the web and perhaps a reincarnation of peer-review for digital projects to grant them additional clout? How desirable would that even be, given the advantage of open dialog that the internet enables? Given the conservative nature of academics, how do we not only create digital resources but also promote their use by scholars, educators, and students? I would love to hear what sort of work is already be done in this area and I am curious as to the different intuitions people have regarding the advantages and disadvantages of marketing academic work.
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Effie Kapsalis
November 2, 2010 at 11:43 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
Hi Jeri,
I think these are questions that many people deal with. Some Smithsonian Staff gave a presentation on your second question last week at Museum Computer Network 2010 in Austin. I’ve posted a few of the presentations here – mcn2010.pbworks.com/Building-Communities-of-Interest-with-Museum-Collections%2C-Libraries%2C-and-Archives
I unfortunately can’t make THATCamp NE this year, but I hope it’s inspiring!
Effie
cliotropic.org
November 3, 2010 at 1:51 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
I’m also very interested in many of these same questions, both for teaching and for making my research available to a wider audience. I think it would be great to hear from some archives professionals about the practicalities of copyright (and related risk-management) when digitally (re)publishing old materials for teaching or research.
I’m planning to put together a proposal for a related topic within the next few days. (The materials I work with are largely in public government archives and either not under copyright or in a copyright gray zone.)
Kim Petit
November 4, 2010 at 10:26 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
There are a lot of sites with archives or database enriched content in humanities that were constructed for a broader audience. But it is not easy to convince people, scholar or teacher, to use the material on those sites.
I have two questions that I would like that session to answer:
1.How to tell people that the sites are out there.
2.How to convince people that the tools and the content of those sites will be helpful for them.
Susan Kline
November 7, 2010 at 10:17 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
What I see is a need for collaboration between scholars and archivists. Before taking on any project like the one you suggest, I’d approach the institution with your ideas. Maybe they’ve considered something similar but wasn’t sure how to gauge interest. With lots of ideas and little resources, it’s tricky sometimes to prioritize new initiatives. Also if your department can provide anything in the way of support, funding, etc. offer it.
As an archivist, it’s great if faculty and scholars find our resources, but it’s even better if we can engage with them in projects that go beyond that person’s own particular project and take the resources to a larger audience. Believe me, archivists don’t want to create resources in a vacuum.
THATCamp New England » Blog Archive
November 10, 2010 at 7:13 am (UTC 0) Link to this comment
[…] 3. How to make the researchers share their research notes or be intrinsically associated with the project, like having a blog in our platform. This question seems to fit with the session proposed by Jeri Wieringa, Starting and Marketing Digital Archives. […]