Comments on: The MemoryArchive Affiliate Program: A Wiki Engine for Collecting Memoirs http://www.spellboundblog.com/2007/11/14/the-memoryarchive-affiliate-program-a-wiki-engine-for-collecting-memoirs/ Archives, Digital Humanities, Cultural Heritage, Technology Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:20:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Ari Davidow http://www.spellboundblog.com/2007/11/14/the-memoryarchive-affiliate-program-a-wiki-engine-for-collecting-memoirs/comment-page-1/#comment-5759 Ari Davidow Mon, 03 Dec 2007 20:26:55 +0000 http://www.spellboundblog.com/2007/11/14/the-memoryarchive-affiliate-program-a-wiki-engine-for-collecting-memoirs/#comment-5759 I agree that Omeka looks pretty cool. It also raises the question of context--there is no easy way on the Hurricane Digital site to see how items relate to each other (i.e., someone uploads several items at once, or several items relate to each other) other than by tag machinations. Nor is it clear who contributed the items or what the provenance of the items is. This isn't a Hurricane Digital problem, per se. I think it's a human nature problem. People may casually share their stories or digital objects, but that doesn't mean that they are comfortable sharing much about who they are, or that they will take the time to tell much. So, we are left with intriguing piles of digital stuff--the digital junk of the future? We need better interfaces to help discover connections, and perhaps, over time, we'll also build up norms of trustworthiness such that people will contribute enough personal data so as to give items provenance and context for meaningful use as historical artifacts. Or, maybe we continue to live in a sort of speeded up archeological age. Instead of digging through piles of rubble hundreds or thousands of years old and sifting through artifacts left by unknowable people back when, now we can get the same effect (but more quickly and with greater digital fidelity) in significantly less time. I agree that Omeka looks pretty cool. It also raises the question of context–there is no easy way on the Hurricane Digital site to see how items relate to each other (i.e., someone uploads several items at once, or several items relate to each other) other than by tag machinations.

Nor is it clear who contributed the items or what the provenance of the items is.

This isn’t a Hurricane Digital problem, per se. I think it’s a human nature problem. People may casually share their stories or digital objects, but that doesn’t mean that they are comfortable sharing much about who they are, or that they will take the time to tell much. So, we are left with intriguing piles of digital stuff–the digital junk of the future?

We need better interfaces to help discover connections, and perhaps, over time, we’ll also build up norms of trustworthiness such that people will contribute enough personal data so as to give items provenance and context for meaningful use as historical artifacts. Or, maybe we continue to live in a sort of speeded up archeological age. Instead of digging through piles of rubble hundreds or thousands of years old and sifting through artifacts left by unknowable people back when, now we can get the same effect (but more quickly and with greater digital fidelity) in significantly less time.

]]> By: Sharon Leon http://www.spellboundblog.com/2007/11/14/the-memoryarchive-affiliate-program-a-wiki-engine-for-collecting-memoirs/comment-page-1/#comment-5563 Sharon Leon Sun, 18 Nov 2007 20:15:49 +0000 http://www.spellboundblog.com/2007/11/14/the-memoryarchive-affiliate-program-a-wiki-engine-for-collecting-memoirs/#comment-5563 Glad that you like <a href="http://www.omeka.org/" title="Omeka" rel="nofollow">Omeka</a>, and the collecting plugin that has made the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank and the April 16 Digital Archive possible. The collecting plugin is just one of the many flexible options that Omeka users have for configuring their exhibit sites, including geo-location, blogging, and bilingual metadata plugins. In fact, Omeka is modeled on Wordpress, the quick flexible software that you use to power your blog. With a five minute install, and easy theme switching and plugin activation, using Omeka to publish narrative exhibits and to interact with the public won't be any harder for small museums and historical societies than the work that thousands of people have done to self-publish with Wordpress and similar blogging packages. Eventually, there will be a hosted version of Omeka for those museums and historical societies that don't want to set-up their own hosting. Our hope is that these options will allow small museums and historical societies the easy of presentation and community building that bloggers have take advantage of on an individual basis. Glad that you like Omeka, and the collecting plugin that has made the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank and the April 16 Digital Archive possible. The collecting plugin is just one of the many flexible options that Omeka users have for configuring their exhibit sites, including geo-location, blogging, and bilingual metadata plugins.

In fact, Omeka is modeled on Wordpress, the quick flexible software that you use to power your blog. With a five minute install, and easy theme switching and plugin activation, using Omeka to publish narrative exhibits and to interact with the public won’t be any harder for small museums and historical societies than the work that thousands of people have done to self-publish with Wordpress and similar blogging packages. Eventually, there will be a hosted version of Omeka for those museums and historical societies that don’t want to set-up their own hosting. Our hope is that these options will allow small museums and historical societies the easy of presentation and community building that bloggers have take advantage of on an individual basis.

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