Learning on ScreenPararchive: Open Access Community Storytelling and the Digital Archive
At the end of each workshop we reflected on the conversations and activities undertaken, looked for recurrent patterns and connections in the stories told, assessed the sources from which artefacts had been drawn, discussed and planned activities for next workshops, monitored the research progress of each individual member, and offered support and encouragement where needed. Recent workshops have been structured around story-building exercises in a ‘paper prototyping’ process. The idea is that a story or an idea is broken into the smallest atomic element possible. Such elements can be in the form of a block or an event, information (metadata about dates, places, people), artefacts (which enrich/support the story e.g., photographs, audio-visual content) and connectors (that link the blocks/events together). It is from this input that the early interactive prototype of the digital resource has been developed and is currently being tested by members. We plan to invite up to six new community groups to trial the resource at the end of 2014 in order to ensure that the resource we create will be genuinely open, easy to navigate and intuitive to use for as many people as possible.
Daniel H. Mutibwa behind the Scenes at the National Media Museum, Bradford
Projected Outcomes
In a broader context, Pararchive addresses crucial issues related to the idea of open digital space, community use of cultural assets, self-representation and the potential not only to engage new online communities that would not traditionally engage with cultural institutions, but also to inform how the latter can facilitate public interaction with their assets more effectively. Moreover, we are identifying, gathering and providing useful archival content links and developing toolkits (e.g., community guidelines for archiving, ‘DIY’ object digitisation and handling copyright) to facilitate further community-led research. More importantly, we plan to construct the digital resource in two formats; one a centrally hosted open version free to all users, and the other, a takeaway open-source tool that community, education and public groups can use for specific research purposes and self-host. Not only do we hope that Pararchive will demonstrate the value of collaborative working around shared research agendas, practices and knowledge exchange partnerships, but we want Pararchive to deliver a lasting legacy in the form of a repository of both personal and institutional resources researched, co-designed and evaluated by its users while simultaneously building on such resources to explore other possible strands of research.
Daniel H. Mutibwa / Fiona Philip
Web: http://pararchive.com/
Twitter: @Pararchive
