- 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.
- 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 […]
- 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 […]
- 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 […]
- 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.”
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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 […]
- 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:
- 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:
- 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 […]
- Guantánamo Bay archive project Another interesting project announced recently, also with a significant web component, is the Guantánamo Bay Detention Center Archive. The archive was conceived by Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz, attorneys representing several Guantánamo detainees as well as professors of law at Seton Hall University; and co-directed by Michael Nash, director of NYU’s Tamiment Library. […]
- Columbia seeking Web Collection Curator for human rights project Columbia University Libraries has announced a grant-funded position to help develop infrastructure for web content collecting, including specifically in the area of human rights. Excerpt from the announcement: “The incumbent will work closely a second web collection curator, selectors, archivists, digital projects staff, senior managers, scholars and individuals in human rights organizations around the world […]
- New Media History and Research on Rights, War, and Memory From researcher and guest blogger Karl Arthur Baumann, currently doing research and interviews here at WITNESS, about his project: The recent events in Iran have proven once again the potency and conscience raising capabilities of current communications technologies, vis a vis Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. But to what extent have they created active responses? The […]
- Open Video Conference: follow-up I was unfortunately unable to attend the OVC conference in last month, but here's video of the session "Human Rights and Indigenous Media: Dilemmas, Challenges and Opportunities" featuring my colleagues Sam Gregory and Sameer Padania. And, from a blog post by Teague Schneiter on the Institute of Network Cultures site, with some interesting report-back. (Teague is actually interning here at WITNESS.)
Archiving Human Rights
Posts from the WITNESS Media Archive whose mission is to collect, document, preserve and provide access to audiovisual human rights media in the support of advocacy, prosecution of justice, truthtelling and the historical record.
These posts are devoted to news of our activities and work, and to discussion of topics relevant to it, including human rights archives and documentation, audiovisual archiving, social issue documentary, the social justice responsibilities of archives and archivists, etc.
Posts are written by Grace Lile, Director of Operations; Yvonne Ng, Archivist; and occasional other contributors.