Participatory Archival Research and Development: The Born-Digital Access Initiative Dataset

Abstract

In an effort to advance the professional discourse around establishing best practices for access to born-digital archival collections, we designed a multi-phase, mixed-methods initiative, begun in 2014, that aimed to identify gaps and challenges in existing access methods and identify plans for how cultural heritage organizations hoped to improve access practices in the future. Our study was structured in two main parts. Part I comprised a literature review on access to born-digital archival collections, a survey and interviews about how institutions were providing access to born-digital collections, and a preliminary report of our findings. In Part II, we used our findings from Part I to design and implement a participatory Born-Digital Access Hackfest. Throughout our research journey, we interrogated what it means to conduct research as reflexive practitioner-researchers in and of our field, examining our attitudes and assumptions and those of our profession, and exploring how our involvement with our study influenced and informed our research.