Elevating "Everyday" Voices and People in Archives through the Application of Graph Database Technology

2021 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data) · 2020 · 1 citations

• Computer Science
• Information Retrieval
• Computer Science

In a simple experiment using a graph database we demonstrate that it is possible to increase the number of access points to individual items in archival collections. We do this by leveraging existing machine readable and searchable data and metadata to identify and display relationships between persons, places, dates, events, etc. across items and collections. We discuss some of the financial, ethical and representational implications of decisions made in applying technology to archival holdings. Many decisions are made without considering the ethical and representational implications. Our experiment has illustrated some of these ethical and representational implications.

What Computational Archival Science Can Learn from Art History and Material Culture Studies

2019-12-01 · 13 citations

I discuss the significance of considering the material and cultural implications, as practiced in Art History and Material Culture Studies, of reproductive technology used by archives and libraries. Reproductive technologies like microfilming and digitizing shape how we view and remember history. Exploring a case study of newspaper representations of Panamanian Welterweight World Champion Boxer (1929-1936; 1938-1941), Alfonso Brown, I demonstrate how the absence of a grasp of the capabilities of reproductive technologies can lead to erasure and distortion of already marginalized communities of color and other under-represented populations in the historical record. Material Culture Studies conceptualization of reproductive technology as a material, or medium of representation warranting deep and rigorous consideration, is useful for computational archival science (CAS) as we move towards completely digital-based archives.

Boundless

Cultural Dynamics · 2018-02-01

This essay explores the visual articulation of protection, family care, nurturing, and freedom through the lens of two cloth ancestral figures from early 1920s Edgefield, South Carolina. The doll-like reliquaries, made by healer Ellen Weaver, embody materials from the graves of relatives and engage practices rooted in African American rootworking and conjure traditions. The figures are distinct in that they are small doll forms made to travel with their owners. Created after the accidental death of Ellen’s 2-year-old granddaughter, Rose, the dolls have moved with her sister Lillie Mae from Edgefield to Greens Cut, Georgia, to Queens, New York, and Cleveland, Ohio, where they reside with Lillie Mae’s granddaughter Nancy Stroman. Nearly eighty-five years old, the figures reveal Ellen’s deep commitment in her ability to artistically manipulate supernatural powers and harness the power of the family’s ancestral spirits to protect, heal, and inspire her descendants.

Glass in the foot: Authors' reply

BMJ · 1989-07-08 · 2 citations