Contexts, connections, access: the glorious possibilities of getting it all wrong

  • Tim Sherratt
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01576895.2014.911691

Abstract

About a century ago in Web years I wrote a thing about accessing archives on the Web.1 It is now full of broken links and naive optimism. But a couple of the arguments I made way back then still seem (depressingly) relevant. The first is that we should not wait for the ‘BIG SOLUTION’. We should do what we can, when we can, with the tools we have available. And learn. Always learn. The second is that the Web offers new contexts and connections. Not just new ways of finding archives, but new ways of seeing them. And that prospect is just as exciting as it was a hundred Web years ago.

Author Biography

Tim Sherratt

Dr Tim Sherratt is a digital historian, Web tinkerer and cultural data hacker who has been developing online resources relating to history, archives and museums since 1993. He is currently the manager of Trove at the National Library of Australia. Tim’s ongoing experiments in accessing and analysing cultural heritage resources are available through <http://www.discontents.com.au>. You can also find him @wragge on Twitter.

Published
2014-07-30
How to Cite
Sherratt T. (2014) “Contexts, connections, access: the glorious possibilities of getting it all wrong”, Archives & Manuscripts, 42(2), pp. 209-210. doi: 10.1080/01576895.2014.911691.
Issue
Vol 42 No 2 (2014): Special Issue: Reinventing Archival Methods
Section
Reflection articles

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