Mode of Program Participation
Community Organizing and Educational Programming
Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Building Digital History: The Challenges and Rewards of Community Collaborations
Session Abstract or Summary
Participants in this panel will discuss their experiences working with community organizations in North Carolina to preserve and provide access to digital archives.
The archival trend for the past ten years is digitizing and providing online access to historical content. Through digital technology, grassroots community organizers, activists, and advocates provide a medium where marginalized voices can communicate narratives of personal experience and local history. Whereas academic institutions have the financial support and technical knowledge to sustain their efforts and maintain their collections, community organizations often discover challenges when faced with the daunting task of digitizing archives and preserving digital content. These challenges include limited resources and funding that prevent many community organizations from implementing digitization projects. Furthermore, community members often want control and ownership over their histories, creating a unique position for community organizations who are trying to make the resources available digitally.
Despite obstacles, there exists the potential for collaboration between community organizations and regional academic institutions to build digital archives that deepen public discourse and action. This panel will explore the role of the academic institution in partnering with community organizations to digitize historical content and the role of grassroots activism in collecting and utilizing microhistories towards transformative social action. Participants will also discuss the challenges, benefits, and lessons learned in their work with multiple community advocacy and history organizations.
Presentation #1 Title
Building Digital History: The Challenges and Rewards of Community Collaborations
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Participants in this panel will discuss their experiences working with community organizations in North Carolina to preserve and provide access to digital archives. The archival trend for the past ten years is digitizing and providing online access to historical content. Through digital technology, grassroots community organizers, activists, and advocates provide a medium where marginalized voices can communicate narratives of personal experience and local history. Whereas academic institutions have the financial support and technical knowledge to sustain their efforts and maintain their collections, community organizations often discover challenges when faced with the daunting task of digitizing archives and preserving digital content. These challenges include limited resources and funding that prevent many community organizations from implementing digitization projects. Furthermore, community members often want control and ownership over their histories, creating a unique position for community organizations who are trying to make the resources available digitally. Despite obstacles, there exists the potential for collaboration between community organizations and regional academic institutions to build digital archives that deepen public discourse and action. This panel will explore the role of the academic institution in partnering with community organizations to digitize historical content and the role of grassroots activism in collecting and utilizing microhistories towards transformative social action. Participants will also discuss the challenges, benefits, and lessons learned in their work with multiple community advocacy and history organizations.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Pam Mitchem is from Boone, North Carolina. She has a BA in Biology from Gardner-Webb University and earned an MA in Appalachian studies from Appalachian State University and an EdS in leadership and higher education, also from Appalachian. She is an Associate Professor and coordinator of the Digital Scholarship and Initiatives team with the Appalachian State University Library. Her research interests include digital scholarship and digital collections curation.
Presentation #2 Title
Digital Watauga
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Maria Hale is a graduate student studying Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC. She earned her BA in Anthropology in 2013, and recently finished a graduate certificate in Archival Studies from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. Last year, Maria was the digitizing technician for Digital Watauga at the Watauga County Public Library in Boone. Digital Watauga is a project funded by an EZ Digitization Grant through the State Library of North Carolina.
Presentation #3 Title
The Marian Cheek Jackson Center for Saving and Making History
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Zach Kopkin is a graduate student in Appalachian Studies at Appalachian State University. He earned his BA in Anthropology at Appalachian in May 2015 before becoming Organizing and Advocacy Coordinator at the Jackson Center, a community history and development organization in Chapel Hill, NC. He engaged the Center’s community-owned oral history archive as editor of the print newsletter, Northside News, and also initiated a home repair coalition, nurtured community garden initiatives, and established a history orientation for UNC service-learning students.
Presentation #4 Title
Junaluska Community
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Ryan Ingerick is from Asheville, North Carolina and currently resides in Boone, North Carolina. He has a BS in History from Appalachian State University and is in his second year of MA studies, also in Public History, at Appalachian State University. He currently is the project manager for the Appalachian Consortium Press Digitization Project in Special Collections at the Belk Library, Appalachian State University. His research interests include medieval, colonial, and public history.
Building Digital History: The Challenges and Rewards of Community Collaborations
Participants in this panel will discuss their experiences working with community organizations in North Carolina to preserve and provide access to digital archives. The archival trend for the past ten years is digitizing and providing online access to historical content. Through digital technology, grassroots community organizers, activists, and advocates provide a medium where marginalized voices can communicate narratives of personal experience and local history. Whereas academic institutions have the financial support and technical knowledge to sustain their efforts and maintain their collections, community organizations often discover challenges when faced with the daunting task of digitizing archives and preserving digital content. These challenges include limited resources and funding that prevent many community organizations from implementing digitization projects. Furthermore, community members often want control and ownership over their histories, creating a unique position for community organizations who are trying to make the resources available digitally. Despite obstacles, there exists the potential for collaboration between community organizations and regional academic institutions to build digital archives that deepen public discourse and action. This panel will explore the role of the academic institution in partnering with community organizations to digitize historical content and the role of grassroots activism in collecting and utilizing microhistories towards transformative social action. Participants will also discuss the challenges, benefits, and lessons learned in their work with multiple community advocacy and history organizations.
