#born-digital

Display of digital documents on our online catalogue                                                

Here at Archives and Special Collections, we’ve a pretty exciting development to share: we have now completed the processing and cataloguing of our first born-digital archive collection (other than oral history interviews and lecture recordings) that is also fully available to view online!

The past year’s lockdown has been a good opportunity to focus on our digital records - both digital versions of records that are still safe in the store-rooms on campus, and those that were created digitally. At the start of 2021 we received an accession of a fully born-digital collection of papers from Archives friend, and retired speech and language therapist, Linda Armstrong relating to the history of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists (RCSLT), and the speech and language therapy profession in general (Collection reference: GB 249 ARM).

Full catalogue, and documents, is available here: https://atom.lib.strath.ac.uk/papers-of-linda-armstrong-relating-to-the-history-of-the-royal-college-of-speech-and-language-therapists

The papers comprise lists and analytical articles relating to the history of the College and the profession, such as early members, conferences, the changing name of the profession, and analyses of the College publications. The records themselves were researched by Linda Armstrong, and some collaboration with Jois Stansfield, between 1999-2021 using the papers of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists: both those held at our archive, and those still held by RCSLT.

What is particularly exciting about this collection is that Linda, who created the records, is happy for them to be accessed online and so once we processed the files through our digital preservation software, we were able to attach copies of the documents themselves to our online catalogue, so when you search for these items in the catalogue, you may also access them directly.

Digital preservation work-flow for Linda’s files

We have seen an increasing demand for digital access to our collections in the last few years, and especially during lockdown in the past year. For many reasons, it is very difficult to provide online access to our physical collections as well as to some of our digital collections. The cost and time involved in digitising large amounts of paper records is huge, and so we can only do this on a small scale. Also, some digital files cannot be shared online due to sensitivity and data protection or copyright issues. It has been very exciting, therefore, to process a collection that can be made fully available online.

Image ref: RCSLT/11/2

The papers themselves make a great companion to the papers of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, for which we recently completed the catalogue and will be a great source for those studying the history of speech and language therapy.

We would like to thank Linda Armstrong very much for depositing the collection, making it fully accessible, her help during its cataloguing, and for her research into the history of the College and profession. Last year we featured many of her fascinating blog-posts in honour of the anniversaries of the College and of teaching speech and language therapy at the University.

Activity 1

Website Design / Digitization, OCR, and Text as Data

I worked with two very distinct kinds of digital sources for the first exercise. I never looked at these kinds of sources deeply until now, or moreso, I knew within me the differences, but comparing them was something I would not have done on my own. As someone born in the growing digital age, I'm used to having these sources accessible to me.

Despite both being accessible online, they perform different functions, are created, preserved, and experienced in their own ways.

Digital history is mediated, and I am made more aware of this fact, as I explore the two sources. I find that they are both authoritative in functions. They are both searchable, organized, and widely accessible. But because both sources are shaped by the technological assumptions, they answer to decisions made by institutions: the newspaper editors, by the library of congress. It proposes a limit in preservation and choice of what data is accessible for us to view

The first link is a digitalized newspaper from the Library of Congress.

The second, a born-digital website archived by the Wayback Machine.

Both can be freely accessed online.

THE DAILY WORKER (September 1, 1927).

This digital source can be accessed through the Library of Congress's Chronicling America collection. The name itself is interesting. It is to chronicle what was. This specific daily newspaper is political in nature. In a closer read, it focuses on labor movements during that time, depicting the "left" side of politics critiquing capitalism. Even the ads and editorials reflect this ideology.

I find the detailed metadata of Chronicling America to be its strength. I was able to search by date, state, publication, and subject or keyword, making it easy to navigate and locate what I might need.

I was thinking of two things as I explore the site: what is the scope of the archived newspapers in the database? I encoutered only two results with my selected search. Similar to a physical archive, I wonder who made the decision to digitalize these primary sources.

I did a bit of external research about The Daily Worker, and come to find its roots aligning in Communist Party ideology. This version has shaped institutions like the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library and the Library of Congress. The decision to release these specific newspapers must be catered to diffirent individuals or is it to inform us as well?

In my experience with digitalized newspapers, some can be hard to read due to the scanning quality, or OCR proccessing. But the metadata organization of the site is extremly well done in my opinion. I could read each word, zoom in or out and easily access the provided images.

If this site were to disappear, the contextual information provided will be lost along with it. I must have been ignorant until this point because I never knew this to be the case in the Americas back then. But now I am a little bit informed.

Tumblr, 2007-2013, Internet Archives Wayback Machine

I decided to pick this site because a few days ago I accidentally deleted my Tumblr account containing blog posts from when I was 18 or maybe even younger. I was going through reddit and got informed that this cannot be undone. That account of mine is lost forever from their database. A reddit user recommended the Wayback Machine to recover older posts, but I am unlucky and could not find anything regarding my account. It made me a bit sad because they contained my memories and my younger self blogging and recording.

The born-digital source of Tumblr was created when I was just 6 years old. Since then, it has transformed into a web of sophisticated digital platform capable of using bots. I used the Wayback Machine to explore the archived versions of Tumblr from 2007, 2008, and 2013, 2014, and adding my experience, till now, 2026.

The left side images are from its founding years, and the right ones are from mid-years. This showcases the rapid growth of digital platforms. They evolve based on feedback and user needs. The early version is text-based and minimal, containing what essential tools you need for a blog site.

In just 2008, it becomes sligthly more refined, but simpler compared to 2013-2014. Now, tumblr is one of my favourite blog sites. It is capable to adding embeded links or even inter-linking other sites.

As you know, this blog is done on Tumblr.. :)

The Wayback Machine can only capture a fragment of what the experience might have been with Tumblr, for many individuals. Tumblr has become so much more interactive, with newer design elements, such as replies, reposts, notes. The Wayback seems to have archived up to the year 2016. This explains why I could not find my lost account in the archive. This limited scope of archival data makes me wonder if they would require informed consent to add more about the remaining years. I personally do not remember signing anything about this. Nevertheless, I am indifferent about this decision to share my personal data.

I discovered the structures that shape how I use Tumblr today but not the lived experience it had, though one can simply imagine. The access to the archive, captured only what the Wayback Machine could provide me. It has succesfully captured the preservation of Tumblr's fragments but not its full ecosystem.

Because it is a born-digital archive, Tumblr's content is often personal, or user-generated. This can cause an ethical problem about who's data is preserved and if there are policies or consent involved before it is shared with the internet. Maybe I will check again in tha few years, if they decide to showcase or capture my old blog site on the Wayback Machine.

Activity 2

Reading Like a Machine: OCR in Action

While doing the OCR activity, it emphasized how technology shapes historical interpretation.

When I scanned the left photo, an excerpt of Georgias, it assumed a very clean printed text, since all the lettering and text are the same font and layout. The main text was decoded very easily and when copy-and-pasting, most text is searchable. The smaller fonts in the side margin were not easily captured.

On the other hand, when I scaned my notes from a class, it failed to recognize any of my handwritten notes. The text can be selected but it is not searchable. It produced an unreable text. If I simply look at it, it is legible but the OCR failed entirely.

For many historians, this error matters. If I were to research a source that is handwritten, the OCR may fail to recognize it and it becomes invisible. Valuable information is lost: ideas, names and content. This doesn't mean they did not exist in the past but they are misinterpreted.

Essay on problems that the economic model of e-books poses for college libraries and scholars insidehighered

Basically everything you need to know about born-digital preservation in one 30 second demo: http://t.co/h6HVU6tKO4 #archives

This survey report is a summary and analysis of data collected during CHIN's 2011 Digital Preservation Survey, concerning the scope and the state of digital assets held by Canadian heritage organizations.

Here's a little story for you: Last semester I wrote a research project for a preservation class, on how we're dealing with digital collections issues. I did a ton of research, but the majority of findings were white papers and op-ed pieces by people about how to deal with the problem. Arguments about how to prioiritize your needs in choosing a file format for your books scans were really the only multi-article issue. (Read: not even how to choose, or which ones have been chosen. How to assess, step #0.1.) I found an American survey from 2010, which talked about digital collections a little bit. "2010!" I thought. "That's old! Technology moves too fast to use 2010 data!" Assignment finished, handed in, mark received. Six months later and I'm working on a poster for a conference, representing my findings and suggestions. (Suggestion #1: stop being so HR-y about everything.) On a totally unrelated assignment for a metadata class, I find the Canadian Heritage Information Network Data Dictionaries. "CHIN!" I thought. "Who knew the government was actually tackling GLAM's digital issues!" Yes, I've been in MLIS for over a year and no one told me about CHIN. Ten minutes later I'm browsing their website and find the 2011 Digital Preservation Survey results. "2011!" I thought. "That's newer, though not that new, and it's Canadian, and it's digital-focused! Why hadn't I found this before!" The answer: because no one has ever cited it in academic writing. No one has used it to formulate an institutional policy. No one has written op-ed pieces discussing the results. No one from CHIN has even published the results properly, with larger discussion and lit reviews. It's just on their website. Search Google and you'll find that no one has ever linked to it. So, here. Here's a link. Yes, it's on a Tumblr. In two weeks I'll have cited their data in a published and presented poster, so there's that. In the meantime I wrote my own survey. It goes live today or tomorrow, and I'll collect data for a month, and then maybe I'll redo it every year from now on, and publish it somewhere discoverable.

The tide is coming in: Archives and the digital tsunami

English: Storage hallway at the National Archives I building. This was taken with permission at the…

A great article on the importance of computer forensics in the age of born-digital art. It's an excellent time to revisit songs like "You'll See." In light of current events, the work is more timely than ever.