[open-heritage] Getting started with new Working Group on Open Data in Cultural Heritage

[Alexandra M M Eveleigh]

Dear all

Sorry to take so long to introduce myself, I've been busy at a conference in the U.S. this week.

I'm Alexandra Eveleigh.  I'm an archivist with a background working in local authority record offices in the UK, but am currently a PhD student at UCL researching the impact of user participation on archival theory and practice.  I'm particularly interested in the use of web technologies to facilitate users' participation in archival description, and to promote access to and the re-use of archival material beyond traditional historical research domains.

I also have a very specific concern at present with the dominant digitisation business model in UK archives, whereby popular materials for genealogical research (one of our most important, and largest, user community) are being digitised by commercial companies who restrict the use and re-use of metadata associated with the digitised documents.  I'm particularly interested in exploring ways to encourage smaller, local archives to open up data in archives, and across the cultural heritage domains.

Alexandra