[Personal_archives] (no subject)

[Hobbs, Catherine]

Hi Rick,
 
You're right, we could use Helen Samuels' documentation strategy to do
an analysis of social media sites.  To my mind we would be elaborating
the social aspect (indeed societal aspect) and not the personal archival
element, though.
  
This gets at a sticking point for me: there has been a lot of suggestion
that documentation strategy could be helpful in terms of appraising
personal archives.  However, I haven't seen this model implemented yet
in a way targeted specifically at personal archives.  Has anyone else?
I think there is a lot of work to be done in terms of appraisal theory
which would approach personal archives.  Perhaps the "crisis" of digital
records in the personal sphere should lead us back to this fundemental
question:  Where is the appraisal theory supporting personal archives
acquisition?  Samuels' work is a strong point of departure for this
elaboration of theory.
 
Best,
Catherine
 
P.S. Definitely not a message to send in the final hours of the
discussion but perhaps we can anticipate a future discussion topic....  

________________________________

From: RICKBARRY at aol.com [mailto:RICKBARRY at aol.com] 
Sent: May 1, 2009 1:48 PM
To: Hobbs, Catherine; personal_archives at mailman.yale.edu
Subject: Re: [Personal_archives] (no subject)


Dear Catherine:
 
In a message dated 4/27/2009 4:45:04 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
catherine.hobbs at lac-bac.gc.ca writes:

	 Are there any archivists among us who are looking toward social
media sites and even periferal devices such as cell phones which take
photos?  It would help us to know what archivists are thinking of when
they look for creator's digital belongings.  
	
	Catherine

I don't know of anyone who is working directly on this kind of thing,
but social media is and will be an issue with which leaders in the field
of societal documentation strategies are confronted. Helen Samuels comes
to mind. Terry Cook is currently finishing up a feschrift book in
Helen's honor (I have a chapter) that I guess should be out (SAA) later
this year. Though, to my knowledge, her writings predate social
networking, her conceptualization of the whole subj, of documenting
society -- esp in the first chapter of Varsity Letters: Documenting
Modern Colleges and Universities (Metuchen N.J.: Society of American
Archivists and Scarecrow Press, 1992) -- would not exclude such media,
given her top-down functional analysis approach to gazillions of
records. 
 
Regards, 
 
Rick

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