The course blog for Digital Preservation a graduate seminar at the University of Maryland. One of the explicit goals of this course is for us to develop as communicators on the public web. So please do join our conversation, but please do so respectfully. We are all learning how to do this together.
Carlyn,
I also think it’s important to realize that access, especially in the digital sense, is so much more than making information available. To be honest, I had never really thought too much about different cultural views of archives. But after reading the articles this week, it’s apparent that archivists have to keep cultural sensitivities in mind when making certain information accessible online. Simply uploading information to an online/digital platform only touches the surface of providing appropriate access. As archivists, we have to cater to the needs and the cultural sensitivities of the communities we serve.
Kerri – I definitely agree! I think you’ve summed up this week’s readings really well by pointing out that “simply uploading information to an online/digital platform only touches the surface of providing appropriate access.” There’s a lot we can learn by approaching access on multiple levels and doing it in a culturally sensitive way is certainly an imperative today.