WITNESS, Author at WITNESS Blog

The magic of documenting documentation Guest post from Sarah Van Deusen Philips: As the project coordinator for human rights at the Center for Research Libraries-Global Resources Network, my primary task is to engage with the life-cycle of human rights documents, which I do through our Electronic Resources Study. In this study, I am busy speaking to human rights field workers, […] October 20, 2009
Re-Stalinization and revisionism in Russia Last week Russian historian Mikhail Suprun was arrested by Russia's FSB security service for - as Truthdig put it - daring to study Russian history; more specifically, Stalin's gulags. Suprun's archives were confiscated; a police official who provided access to archive documents about gulag victims was also arrested. Suprun faces up to four years in jail if convicted. October 20, 2009
Amnesty International Asset Management System The International Secretariat of Amnesty International has launched their new digital asset management system, called ADAM; while mostly an intranet serving AI sections worldwide, there is a public site with a small selection of searchable content. See the Documentalist for a full description. October 16, 2009
Mandela opens archives for new book The personal archive of Nelson Mandela will be opened for a new memoir; rights the collection of diaries, letters and other writings were auctioned this week at the Frankfurt Book Fair. From the Guardian UK: “Mandela himself, who bestowed these “traces of my life and those who have lived it with me” on his eponymous […] October 15, 2009
User-generated video & authentication: Sri Lanka In August a video showing what appeared to be the cold-blooded execution of Tamils by Sri Lankan soldiers was released by the group Democracy in Sri Lanka and aired on Channel 4 news in the UK. October 14, 2009
Archival access: ethics, rights, obligations Access is a primary archival value, driven by many things: legal or organizational mandates, copyright, available technology and resources, a deep-seated belief that access to information is the foundation of a free and educated society, and, in fact, a right. With human rights materials the challenges are particularly acute, sometimes pitting personal safety, security and […] October 12, 2009
Archives & the problem of access in post-authoritarian regimes Guest post from Bruce P. Montgomery, author of Richard B. Cheney and the Rise of the Imperial Vice Presidency: As a matter of discussion, it may be instructive to look at how many post-authoritarian countries in Eastern Europe and elsewhere have addressed their archives of repression. In most cases, efforts to pass lustration laws and […] October 7, 2009
The Torture Archive The National Security Archive has published and cataloged a remarkable collection of over 83,000 primary source documents relating to US policy and practices of detention, interrogation and torture during the so-called war on terror. “The goal of the The Torture Archive is to become the online institutional memory for essential evidence on torture. Specifically, the […] October 4, 2009
Archives Month: Focus on Human Rights “The recognition that archives and archivists play a central role in undergirding human rights has grown over the last decade.” October 1, 2009
Hugh Taylor I recently stumbled upon Essays: Archives as Medium , on the web site Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan (in turn part of Library and Archives Canada online.) September 27, 2009
Human Rights Electronic Evidence Study The Center for Research Libraries Global Resources Initiative is currently studying how NGOs and archiving institutions collect, manage and preserve digital human rights documentation, including blogs, social media, and video and other media from mobile devices; the project is described in significant depth on The Documentalist, the project's blog. September 17, 2009
Recommended: new book, new blog I am reading, with great pleasure, Randall Jimerson’s newly published Archives Power: Memory, Accountability and Social Justice (2009; Society of American Archivists). The book addresses the role of archives and archivists in society, and evolving perspectives on their relevance to larger issues of social justice. SAA’s blurb: “Grounded in historical and social theory, this analysis […] September 9, 2009
SAA 2009 highlights I unfortunately will not be in Austin next week for the 2009 Society of American Archivists meeting. But if I were, these are some of the sessions I would be sure not to miss: August 7, 2009
Archives of Terror added to UNESCO Memory of the World Register Among the 35 items of "exceptional documentary heritage" added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register during a recent meeting of the International Advisory Committee (IAC) in Bridgetown, Barbados, the following two are of note to this community: August 2, 2009
Deposit Announcement The WITNESS Archive is really pleased to announce the deposit of footage from the award-winning film THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK. Produced by BreakThru Films and Global Grassroots, the 2007 film exposes the horrors of the unfolding catastrophe in Darfur through the eyes of American military observer Brian Steidle. Volunteer Michele DeLia is currently at […] July 27, 2009