This session presented at the 2017 Allied Media Conference brought attention to the fact that people continue to connect across the globe at an alarming speed. Now the possibility of using technology to connect the countless stories manifested in community archival materials feels like a click away. This dinner meetup brought together a small group of community archival repositories, archivists, developers, designers, and potential users such as researchers, artists, and educators to discuss and imagine different projects that could result in online digital archives portals.

1. Imagining A Radical History
Digital Online Portal
Originally presented at the 2017 Allied Media Conference

2. Hello! Hola!
I am Itza Carbajal
I am here because I believe in sharing
community stories and the power of connecting
across time, space, place, and ideas.
You can look me up at: www.itzacarbajal.com

3. Ground Rules
1. Discussions here should stay here
2. Questions & concerns should be brought up, but kept focused
3. Everyone continues to learn - do not assume anyone’s skill(s)
4. If someone doesn’t know, ASK if you can help
5. Words can exclude, so if you use jargon explain it
6. I am also not the expert - question and challenge me

4. 1.
Introductions and Grounding

5. What does it mean to share
◎ Could be solution/approach to scarcity
◎ Ethics of care
◎ Equal understanding of what is being given & shared
◎ An act of connecting
◎ Ethical sharing = meant for a specific set of eyes
◎ Physical AND non physical sharing
◎ Could be contrasted with concept of “sharing”
economy
◎ Redistribution of resources
◎ From one person/group to another
Bulletpoint notes provided by session attendees at the 2017 Allied Media Conference

6. Why is sharing desirable or not
◎ Place no longer matters in online portal
◎ Digital objects can be vulnerable & have risks
◎ Could result in lack of control (online portal versus in person
◎ Can result in materials not hidden anymore
◎ Brings attention to materials/awareness of items
◎ Reduces proprietary models
◎ Helps more people
◎ Authorship is called into question
◎ If contributing freely, agreements are necessary
◎ IP (intellectual Property) given away = sometimes only thing
owned by owner
◎ Monetizing portal/collection can be problematic
◎ Sharing may open up doors to exploitation
Bulletpoint notes provided by session attendees at the 2017 Allied Media Conference

7. What are “traditional” archives?
◎ Physical
◎ Store “something”
◎ Preserve “something”
◎ Create access for use
◎ definitions/understandings can change between
user types AND archivists (practitioners)
◎ Has a scope & purpose
◎ There is curation (intention) of putting things
together
◎ Can be defined by what is acquired
Bulletpoint notes provided by session attendees at the 2017 Allied Media Conference

8. What are digital archives
◎ Collection of digital objects
◎ Can be shared across various places
◎ Preservation questionable
◎ Collection with intention
◎ Definition can also change according to user type
AND archivist (practitioner)
What is the Post-Custodial Model
◎ Continued ownership by the community (usually of
physical items)
◎ Copies are placed in archives and usually accessed
digitally
Bulletpoint notes provided by session attendees at the 2017 Allied Media Conference

9. What are community archives
◎ Include accountability
◎ Rooted in a community
◎ Centered and owned by a community
◎ Crucial partner in creation
◎ Sometimes created because of exclusion in
traditional archives
◎ Shared ownership
Bulletpoint notes provided by session attendees at the 2017 Allied Media Conference

10. What is an online portal
◎ Bring together digital objects onto one website
◎ Can include digital copies of books, artworks,
photography, journals, newspapers, music, sound
recordings, film, maps, diaries and letters, as well as
archived websites
◎ Create online access across places
◎ Allows unlimited access with less physical barriers
◎ Descriptive metadata also included with each type
of digital object
Bulletpoint notes provided by session attendees at the 2017 Allied Media Conference

11. 2.
Scan the environment

12. What is already out there?
Plateau Peoples’s Web Portal
It is a gateway to Plateau peoples' cultural
materials held in multiple repositories.
Created on CMS called Mukurtu. Includes
limitations on what each visitor can see
depending on status. Tribal administrators
defined the categories through the
materials.
New Mexico's Digital Collections
Central search portal for digital
collections about New Mexico. The
University of New Mexico University
Libraries hosts New Mexico Digital
Collections.
Chicana por mi Raza
The project proposes both the collection
of documents related to this Chicana
history. Project seeks to address the
problem of scattered materials by
identifying key figures, conducting oral
histories with them, and digitizing their
archives on site.
Latin American Digital Initiatives
Takes a post-custodial approach to
archival collaboration, and aims to build
capacity within partner institutions in
areas such as digitization, preservation,
arrangement, description, and access,
while maintaining partners’ collections in
their original context.

13. Plateau Peoples’s Web Portal
A collaboration between the Spokane Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes Of The
Colville Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the
Coeur d'Alene Tribe of Indians, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, the
Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Center for Digital Scholarship
and Curation and Native American Programs at Washington State University.
It is a gateway to Plateau peoples' cultural materials
held in multiple repositories including WSU's Manuscripts,
Archives and Special Collections, the Northwest Museum
of Art and Culture, the National Anthropological Archives
and the National Museum of the American Indian at
the Smithsonian Institution. The materials in the
Portal have been chosen and curated by tribal
representatives. Each item has one or more records
associated with it as well as added traditional
knowledge and cultural narratives to enhance and
enrich understanding to many audiences.
http://plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu/

14. New Mexico Digital Collections
Is the central search portal for digital collections about New
Mexico. It provides access to digitized photographs,
manuscripts, posters, oral histories, videos, maps, and books
from libraries, museums, and cultural centers across the state.
The University of New Mexico University
Libraries hosts New Mexico Digital
Collections. The collections originate
from the University of New Mexico and
from other New Mexico cultural
heritage institutions. These collections
contain documents, photographs, maps,
posters, art and music.
http://econtent.unm.edu/

15. Latin American Digital Initiatives (LADI)
A collaboration between LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies
and Collections at The University of Texas at Austin, the
University of Texas Libraries, and Latin American partner
institutions to preserve and provide access to unique archival
documentation from Latin America, with an
emphasis on collections documenting
human rights, race, ethnicity, and social
exclusion in the region.
Utilizes the Post-Custodial approach
to allow the creator to retain custody
of the archives, but helps in managing
the records so that they can be
transferred in good condition when
AND IF the timing is right.
http://ladi.lib.utexas.edu/Home

16. Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Collective
Represents a group of historians, educators, researchers, archivists
and technologists dedicated to preserving imperiled Chicanx and
Latinx histories of the long Civil Rights Era.
The project proposes both the collection of
documents related to this history—
photographs, posters, correspondence,
written material (both published and
unpublished), ephemera—and the
development of a flexible user
interface that can allow users, both
professional and novice, to access
these materials through interactive
timeline and mapping utilities.
http://chicanapormiraza.org/

17. 3.
creation & work flow

18. What does a workflow look likeDevelop the
scope of the
portal
(collection)
Identify
Partners
Identify
funding or
funding
model
Identify
Web
Developing
Strategy
Work
on role
tasks
Designate
Project
Roles
Test the
project
Incorporat
e Feedback
Put it to
work

19. 4.
Digital tools

20. Tools for the workflow
Communications
◎ Slack
◎ Google Drive
◎ DebateGraph
◎ Trello
◎ Asana
Scheduling
◎ Doodlepoll
◎ Asana
Documentation
◎ Quicktime
◎ EZVid
◎ TinyCake
◎ Ice Cream Screen Recorder
Use of Coding
Languages/Skills
◎ Github
◎ The Sourcecaster
◎ Lynda
Reading/Resource
Gathering
◎ Zotero
◎ Brat Rapid Annotation Tool
Publishing Online
◎ Scalar
◎ Ghost
◎ Medium
Managing Metadata
◎ Omeka
◎ Adobe Bridge
◎ Archivists’ Toolkit
Content Management Systems
◎ Drupal
◎ Omeka
◎ Joomla
◎ Mukurtu

21. 4.
Activities

22. Review shared portal projects
and similar projects

23. Your Contribution

24. Round Robin Roles
Match Making

25. Brainstorm
Project Workflow

26. Thanks!
Any questions?