Bridging the Gap Between University Archives and Diverse Publics with Digital Tools
Start Date
29-10-2016 8:30 AM
End Date
29-10-2016 10:00 AM
Description
Both oral history and LGBTQ archives have, since the early 1970s, served as tools to empower grass-roots, marginalized communities. As such, they have traditionally been driven by community-based imperatives, as well as community labour. Today, however, in the United States and Canada there are more LGBTQ collections housed in universities than there are in grass-roots archives. The Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony (ALOT) is one such archives. In this preliminary research presentation, I describe our current Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded project, “Bridging the Gap,” which explores how empowering users by making them “first class entities in the system” might bridge the gap between community and university and democratize knowledge. We propose that analyses of forms of user engagement can guide the archives’ development, and in this way provide services, information, and tools relevant and useful to diverse communities, including especially everyday lesbians and queer women.
Type
Presentation
Session
#s1c: Exploring LGBTQIA+ Communities through Digital Landscapes, moderator Diane Jakacki
Language
eng
Location
Elaine Langone Center, 241
Bridging the Gap Between University Archives and Diverse Publics with Digital Tools
Elaine Langone Center, 241
Both oral history and LGBTQ archives have, since the early 1970s, served as tools to empower grass-roots, marginalized communities. As such, they have traditionally been driven by community-based imperatives, as well as community labour. Today, however, in the United States and Canada there are more LGBTQ collections housed in universities than there are in grass-roots archives. The Archives of Lesbian Oral Testimony (ALOT) is one such archives. In this preliminary research presentation, I describe our current Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded project, “Bridging the Gap,” which explores how empowering users by making them “first class entities in the system” might bridge the gap between community and university and democratize knowledge. We propose that analyses of forms of user engagement can guide the archives’ development, and in this way provide services, information, and tools relevant and useful to diverse communities, including especially everyday lesbians and queer women.