In Pursuit of Humane Technology: The Voice of the Citizen Archivist in the Digital Archives
White Paper
The purpose of this white paper is to address the shift from institutional policies to participatory policies in the archives as a way to pursue humane technology. I begin by examining what makes us human and why humane technology is so important to our survival. We exist in a deeply digital world and, as currently structured, technology systems are not designed to facilitate a healthy information environment ecosystem.
The archives present an opportunity to establish a framework of systematic intervention to address the following: cultural paradigms, platform changes, internal governance, and external regulation.
While this paper addresses all of the above, its focus is on the contribution of citizen archivists to improve the accessibility of digital memory institutions.
The Process
The process involved significant research about the role of archives in educational institutions and the impact on society at large. The advancement of computer technology presents us with a conversation that requires us to evaluate accessibility of digital memory institutions and the popularity of crowdsourcing projects. In order to create a framework, the research focused on the “pursuit of humane technology” through the lens of introducing a citizen archivist to the Connecticut Digital Archive at the University of Connecticut Libraries.
The call to action identified mass digitization in digital scholarship as the fundamental relationship between a computer user and their research endeavors. This changes the way that archivists must master user experience and their engagement with collection management.
Photograph citation: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. (1929-06-22). Summer travel number Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-2048-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
