So About This Paper...

Welcome back! As promised last week, this blogpost will be about my topic for the historiographical component of my internship. It's still slightly fuzzy, which I am going to partially (lol jk mostly) blame on the fact that I have never taken a graduate level historiography class. Lucky for me when I started in the Spring semester I only had to write one historiography paper. I don't know what I got on it, but I do know that I didn't fail the class so I'm going to say B- maybe?

Anyway, once I take historiography in the Fall I should get a better grip on in it, or at the very least feel more confident about writing those types of papers.

everything I've ever written in grad school tbh

Since anyone reading this blog is well aware of my disdain for metadata, I am choosing to focus more on History Harvests, however much of the essay will discuss metadata harvesting in digital archives. Developed by the Open Archives Institute, the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting (OAI-PMH) is used to collect metadata from various archives in order to build services that would allow users to search for and discover archival resources. Because History Harvests are very localized in construction, providing wider access to a collection without interfering with the shared authority of the community the items originated from is of extreme importance. I believe the field is heading in the direction of creating platforms where this will soon be a reality.

I will also discuss the preservation of the physical items that were digitized. Most of these items are not kept in the best conditions (in attics, garages, etc.). What locals seems to enjoy most about the Harvests  are sharing the items, but also getting them back after they have been scanned. While some may be inclined to donate, not everyone will be as interested in doing the same. How can historians make sure that these physical items are preserved; or rather, as some believe, is the digital copy is more than enough?

I will include case studies of digital archival projects and the role of metadata in their functioning. As I am interning for RICHES I will definitely include a examination of their growing History Harvest collection.

Another thing I could explore is how are people coming together and using metadata to document ongoing current events for posterity. This would include social movements, controversial histories, etc.

So that's all I got for now. The paper is fast approaching, and I still have a digital exhibit to curate.

me right now

Until next week!

Porsha