Choosing a Topic Outside of Greenwich Village
Using Greenwich Village as the project theme for the course has many advantages over choosing another topic.
- Access to materials. As we are located in Greenwich Village, you can visit the sites that you may be studying and use local archives, libraries and historical societies. NYU itself has many resources both for conducting research and for gathering items for your digital archive, much more can be found at the New York Public Library, the New-York Historical Society, and other institutions. I have gotten in touch with many of them to discuss the course and the project.
- Scale. If fifteen students gather 20 items each for a digital archive, the Greenwich Village Digital Archive will contain 300 objects, with 300 more objects added each time the course is taught. We may also invite submissions from archives, libraries and individuals which can be used by students. This will create a valuable and growing archive that researchers can explore, not just a collection of 20-item collections on a wide variety of topics.
- Server. The first time the course was taught, each student had to purchase their own server space for their projects. In order to keep those projects available, the student has to continue paying the server fees. The result is that many of the student's projects are no longer available. By hosting the digital archive and web exhibit on the APH server, student work and the archives they helped build will remain accessible and students will be able to cite their exhibits. This can be accomplished now using [http://www.omeka.net], which also involves fees for a fully functioning site with geolocation capability.
- Other projects. Other course assignments rely on collaborative work and focus on Greenwich Village; you will have to work on them regardless of the topic of your digital archive and exhibit.
If you still want to select another project topic, you must:
- Provide information about the resources that you will use. Specifically, where will you obtain your digital archive items? Have you ascertained the copyright and permission needs and cleared them? Are there sufficient resources for you to conduct research in the topic.
- Obtain your own Omeka server space. (Rent your own server or use Omeka.net).
- Get my permission.
- Participate in all the collaborative projects using Greenwich Village as the topic.
- Not complain later on that it is harder to do.
page revision: 16, last edited: 05 Sep 2011 22:10