Introduction
Interested in activist archiving and radical recordkeeping? Explore this open source book, Archiving The Voices of Change: A radical recordkeeping guide for activists, archivists, and disruptors, by Katherine Jarvie-Dolinar.
Radical recordkeeping is a broad concept for both ways of recording, and part of advocating for change and challenging societal norms. – Source
Contents
The voices in the title of this book can redress the gaps in archival institutional memory. These archives can include the stories of the voiceless, such as animals, to provide a more comprehensive record of activist groups’ impact on society. – Source
Part 1 describes the theoretical grounding for the ideas in this book, stemming from archival concepts and theories and theorists whilst combining sources at the intersection of activism and academia.
Part 2 applies continuum modelling to a new kind of archival appraisal specific to activist communities. With interactive exercises to challenge students and activists to help break down the complexity and logic of refined versions of the Records Continuum Model. Templates are included for use and re-use by activists, archivists and community groups to develop and adapt for their own context.
- A Critical Approach to a Wicked Problem
- Next Level Appraisal (Continuum-Style)
- Recording a Movement Over Time – Animal Liberation
- Radical Recordkeeping
- Strategic Witnessing
- The Risk Hermeneutic and Functional Analysis
- Visualising Nanosecond Archiving, Identity and Ambience
- Radical Appraisal
- Critical Functional Appraisal – Analysis Steps and Templates
- Appendix A: Appraisal Matrix – Example Analysis
A Critical Approach to a Wicked Problem
“This book captures the essence of eight-year research study on an animal activist group and records continuum archivists to provide some practical advice to redressing the gaps in archival institutional memory. Approaching the problem from the view of respecting the actions of activists themselves, rather than relying on post-hoc collecting by archival institutions is the crux of future-forward documenting (rather than reactive collecting).
The study approaches this problem from the perspective of respecting radical recordkeeping and the actions of activists, rather than relying on post-hoc collecting by archival institutions. It emphasises that future-oriented documentation should not just be reactive collecting but should engage actively with Records Continuum Theory.
The focus of this book is to enhance engagement with continue-based tools, templates and ideas within this text, to be adapted, owned and shaped by new communities to make them appropriate and timely for their needs.
Digital records of activists bear witness to the stories of social change. These vital accounts, often on online platforms, face the risk of obfuscation or deletion by the cloud storage owners that host them.
As faith in traditional media to represent an unbiased truth, the need for a resilient, coherent and reliable archive that can preserve the authentic voice of grassroots, geographically dispersed and networked communities has never been more pressing.
This book embarks on an exploration of the emergent concept of radical recordkeeping, a term that describes how activists and archivists use records and digital infrastructures to disrupt established norms. These norms, perpetually marginalizing the activist voice, underscore the urgency for a paradigm shift in archival practices – moving beyond the preoccupation with collecting records after events occur and embracing the active, ongoing and dynamic nature of social movements.
Drawing from research on how activists memorialise, remember, forget and appraise their records online, this book explores what has elsewhere been described as participatory appraisal While posited as a solution to inequitable archival practices, participatory appraisal remains a largely unexplored area.”
By shifting the focus from legislatively oriented appraisal methods to ones grounded in community values, emotions and narratives, this book advocates for a positively disruptive participatory archives movement. As the status quo of institutional dominance is continually questioned, the call for community-focused and community-run appraisal echoes a transformative step toward more equitable archival structures.
Access Full Book
Archiving the Voices of Change, by Dr. Katherine Jarvie-Dolinar, RMIT University Library is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Copyright
This book is provided under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted and the RMIT University Logo and cover design.
Explore Further
- Activist Archiving: Start Here
- Documenting Social Change in Australia: A List of Archives at your Fingertips
- Get Archiving! Archivist Activist Backpacks, Hackathons and Other Ideas
- How to Archive a Protest: A Field Guide For Southern Memory Workers
- Crowdsource your archives: 3 examples of community-based approaches
- Archivists Supporting Activists
- Interference Archive
- Los Angles Archivists Collective Handbook for the Activist Archivist