Unit 10 - Digital Archive
A digital archive stores a collection of digital materials for historical researchers. Archivists collect the records of people and organizations to provide sources for exploring and interpreting our history. These materials come in all formats from written manuscripts to digitally created content. A digital archive catalogs information and material about a specific topic, geographical location and so forth. They also preserve materials that are intangible; which will never decay or suffer wear and tear unlike those materials stored in physical library structures.
The purpose of a digital archive is similar to a library. Teachers, students, historians and others research material to gain knowledge about certain subjects. The content of a digital archive is required to be organized, up to date, easy to navigate, with tons of material in order to cross-reference and links to source data.
The state of Virginia has several digital archive websites.
Virginia Memory is part of the online presence of the Library of Virginia. The state archives and reference library is at the seat of government for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2007, the library created a digital archive that digitized parts of its vast and varied collections of print materials, manuscripts, archival records, newspaper, photographs, ephemera maps, atlases, rare books, and fine art. These materials tell the history of the commonwealth and its people. Virginia Memory collection is well organized and updated with material that was not previously listed on the website. Users are able to save certain images to their computer from the archive. All the material listed is cited and has links to additional information. Virginia Memory also has social media widgets that allow readers to leave comments/feedback. A weakness of the digital achieve is that it does not catalog information based on the location or date.
Virginia Memory is part of the online presence of the Library of Virginia. The state archives and reference library is at the seat of government for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 2007, the library created a digital archive that digitized parts of its vast and varied collections of print materials, manuscripts, archival records, newspaper, photographs, ephemera maps, atlases, rare books, and fine art. These materials tell the history of the commonwealth and its people. Virginia Memory collection is well organized and updated with material that was not previously listed on the website. Users are able to save certain images to their computer from the archive. All the material listed is cited and has links to additional information. Virginia Memory also has social media widgets that allow readers to leave comments/feedback. A weakness of the digital achieve is that it does not catalog information based on the location or date.
Additional Digital archives
Final Project Proposal/ Update
For my history project, I will develop a digital collection of personal photographs of historic buildings in Old Town Alexandria. I will use the software Omeka or Collective Access to catalog my collection of images along with descriptions. Currently, I'm using my Samsung Galaxy smartphone to take photos. Next, I will upload the images to my computer then begin to design my digital collection.
Resources
Ok on the Old Town Aelxandria project. It will be easy for you to set up a free account at Omeka.net and put the photos in there also with the details. Omeka.net comes with a limited number of design templates, but it is still a good starting point.
ReplyDelete