An invitation to the world of digital archives
A few weeks ago a select group of Arts researchers got together to explore and investigate the mysterious world of digital archives. Archives are extremely important for HASS researchers, or anyone interested in investigating culture. Historical, literary, artistic, and personal - there are so many different kinds of stories that can be told through the neat organisation of an archive. Explorations through texts, images, or objects often turn into something of a detective story, with the researcher piecing together clues found on dusty shelves.
(Above image: not a very well organised archive)
Over the past decade or so the dust is slowly being shaken off, and archives are being digitized, made searchable and shareable. This is a great opportunity for researchers working with digital objects of any kind, be they photographs, video, important historical documents, or recordings of interviews. Now you can organise your digital items into an archive, one that you can access anywhere and that is easily searchable. Gone are the days of scrolling through hundreds of pictures and PDFs until you find what you want! One tool that is great for creating and exhibiting digital archives is Omeka.
In our workshop we took a brief look at some sites that are currently using Omeka. We listed some pros and cons of these public facing sites, and explored the collections and exhibitions of each particular site. If you would like to have a glance at some examples of what Omeka can do, have a look at the showcase here: https://omeka.org/showcase/
Among others, we analysed the beautiful Peacock Room: http://peacockroom.wayne.edu/
And the gothic, historical archive of medieval Irish architecture http://gothicpast.com/
These two very different Omeka sites provided us with an idea of the different ways that Omeka can be used to showcase items in an archive. We also discussed some difficulties of the site. These were usually issues of navigation within the collections - as a group, we discussed the importance of clearly setting out all the items in an archive in a way that makes sense to researchers. It is the story around digital objects that makes them interesting and accessible - which brings me to metadata.
In the final section of the workshop we discussed the importance of organising your archive, and the way that metadata is used to position items within that digital space. Attendees learnt how to sign up to an Omeka account, and how to add items to their archives:
Having explored some other Omeka sites, we knew the importance of navigation and organisation within an archive, so we spent a bit of time thinking about how to plan the various collections or exhibitions that researchers might want to construct.
After the workshop several researchers created their own omeka sites, and have been hard at work filling them with intriguing digital objects. I am so excited to see how these projects grow into important collections. Hopefully these digital spaces will help researchers tell the stories that have inspired their work.
Of course, there is much more to learn about creating and maintaining digital archives. In the next workshop we will look at the some useful, technical tools in Omeka. By the end of the workshop attendees will revise how to add items, and write a master metadata plan into an Omeka site. Attendees will learn how to change the navigation and appearance of a site (useful for public-facing archives). We will also learn how to upload a .csv file of objects into Omeka, how to write descriptive pages of text into an archive, and how to construct exhibitions and collections.
As well as gaining the technical skills to build a digital archive, researchers will be given the time to discuss their specific projects with a group of supportive researchers and archivists. This workshop is for anyone interested in digital archives, so no matter whether you are just at the beginning of your project, or if you’re well into building your collection, all are welcome.
It will be on Thursday 2nd June, from 4:30pm - 6:30pm in the CoLab. For more information, and to register for the event, please follow this link https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/omeka-training-digital-archives-and-exhibitions-tickets-24669545274
I’m really looking forward to seeing you all there!
Meredith
