[CITASA] FW: H-CivWar: Archives and Digitization

[Joan Biddle]

Greetings!

I'm forwarding this message from the H-Net Civil War Discussion list--less
so for the Civil War/History content than for the idea of the research
project.

I figured that someone "out there" is probably interested in this sort of
work. 

Joan 

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!
Joan I. Biddle Ph.D.
Sociologist
LTC, USAR (ret)
Jbiddle2 at verizon.net 
+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

-----Original Message-----
From: H-Net US Civil War History discussion list
[mailto:H-CIVWAR at H-NET.MSU.EDU] On Behalf Of Kittrell Rushing
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 9:52 PM
To: H-CIVWAR at H-NET.MSU.EDU
Subject: H-CivWar: Archives and Digitization

------------------

	From: 	mvajcner at student.ecu.edu.au


You are invited to participate in the following research project.  
Please excuse cross-postings.


Context and Digitization: Towards a New Model for Archives


Nearly a decade ago, in his inaugural address as president of the  
Society of American Archivists, Nicholas Burckel painted a vision of  
the future in which significant scholarship would be conducted  
exclusively via the internet, using digitized resources. That future  
has already been realized in some disciplines.

Scholars in these disciplines are now discussing the impact of digital  
resources on their fields. The concern for authenticity and accurate  
digital representation are common concerns. All researchers, both  
academic and amateur, have become increasingly reliant on digital  
information sources. Reference sources such as Wikipedia register  
millions of hits daily as the internet becomes the primary destination  
for those seeking information.

Archives are making more of their resources available in digital  
format, leading to investment in a vast array of archival digitization  
projects. Archival materials are fundamentally different from those  
found on Wikipedia and in most libraries. Archival materials are  
original records created in the course of events to document a  
transaction. They encompass a wide range of formats and genres that  
are today being digitized and made available by archives via the  
internet.

Are these resources being fully optimized? You are invited to  
participate in a series of surveys to elicit your thoughts on the  
effectiveness of digitized materials currently available on the  
internet and to evaluate a theoretical model of digitization, which  
will be developed over the next year. There will be two stages of  
survey, during late 2008 and again during 2009. During each stage you  
will be asked to thoroughly and considerately complete a short  
questionnaire. The results of these will be compiled and circulated to  
each participant. At this time you will have to opportunity to amend  
your responses, if you wish, in light of the general group response.  
It is estimated you will be able to complete each questionnaire within  
1 to 2 hours. Some participants may be contacted for interviews.

Archival users and historical researchers are sought for this study.  
The ideal archival researcher conducts research both in the  
traditional manner and digitally.

This research project is being undertaken as part of the requirements  
of the PhD (Information Studies) degree at Edith Cowan University in  
Perth, Australia.

Should you wish to participate, please respond directly to the address  
below by 20 November 2008.

Mark Vajcner
Email: mvajcner at student.ecu.edu.au
---
This e-mail is confidential. If you are not the intended recipient you  
must not disclose or use the information contained within. If you have  
received it in error please return it to the sender via reply e-mail  
and delete any record of it from your system. The information  
contained within is not the opinion of Edith Cowan University in  
general and the University accepts no liability for the accuracy of  
the information provided.

CRICOS IPC 00279B