<ahref="https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki">MediaWiki</a>, the basis for Wikipedia and most other MediaWiki websites, is a free and open-source "collaboration and documentation" platform engine. Wiki markup is the language used to write content on a wiki website.
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MediaWik served us as a platform that allows many users to handle large amounts of image files and metadata collectively. It features helpful tools to do so, such as <ahref="#pageforms">page forms</a>, <ahref="#semanticqueries">semantic queries</a> and an <ahref="#api">API</a>.
MediaWiki served us as a platform that allows many users to handle large amounts of image files and metadata collectively. It features helpful tools to do so, such as <ahref="#pageforms">page forms</a>, <ahref="#semanticqueries">semantic queries</a> and an <ahref="#api">API</a>.
When having first contact with the material that will constitute your work, getting a first quick overview and comprehending the scale of it can influence the development of your process drastically. The reason for this is that, especially in time-limited projects, the first impressions significantly affect or even determine the creative and conceptual design that you decide for. Therefore, the fist contact with the material should be made with caution and calmness.
When having first contact with the material that will constitute your work, getting a quick first overview and comprehending the scale of it can influence the development of your process drastically. The reason for this is that, especially in time-limited projects, the first impressions significantly affect or even determine the creative and conceptual design that you decide for. Therefore, the fist contact with the material should be made with caution and calmness.
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In order to get a good overview of the archival material, when we first encountered it, we divided the documents, skimmed them and created a <ahref="#polytpych">polyptych summary</a> that also served as a basis for a collective discussion. Beforehand, we had <ahref="#readingexercises">trained our understanding of text</a> in order to be able to process the material effectively.
We created a code of conduct to make sure that we were on the same page about the fundamentals of our regular interactions as a group. It served as a reference on how to approach each other and helped prevent avoidable unconstructive conflict.
We created a code of conduct to make sure that we were on the same page about the fundamentals of our regular interactions as a group. It served as a reference on how to approach each other and helped prevent avoidable, unconstructive conflict.
Traditionally a Polyptych is a painting, split into sections. In this case we used the idea of a polyptych as an exercise that enables us to get a first impression of the archive material.
Traditionally a polyptych is a painting, split into multiple sections. In this case, we used the idea of a polyptych as an exercise that enabled us to get a first impression of the archive material.
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Skim the material and intuitively look for subjectively interesting details that seem meaningful to you or stand out for any reason. In order to create the Polyptych, collect a set number of these details, approximately 30. Each detail should be enlarged to fill an A4 page. Afterwards, print out your personal collection, arrange it on the floor in an order that makes sense to you in whatever way. As everybody in the group does this, take time to to look at the formations(Polyptych) of each individual, let them explain their work, observations and methods behind the ordering system. Discuss it collectively.
Skim the material and intuitively look for subjectively interesting details that seem meaningful to you or stand out for any reason. In order to create the polyptych, collect a set number of these details, approximately 30. Each detail should be enlarged to fill an A4 page. Afterwards, print out your personal collection, arrange it on the floor in an order that appeals to you in whatever way. As everybody in the group does this, take time to to look at the formations (polyptychs) of each individual, let them explain their work, observations and methods behind the ordering system. Discuss it collectively, reordering as you see fit.
<ahref="https://github.com/tesseract-ocr/tesseract">Tesseract</a> is a free "optical character recognition" (OCR) engine, and supposedly was the first one of its kind. It recognizes text within images and outputs this textual content in either a text file or a PDF in which the text is selectable and searchable.
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Tesseract is essential to provide a comprehensive overview when working with a big batch of scanned documents. The quality of the results depends very much on the quality of the documents and thus can result in the need for large-scale revisions. More concretely - not all images that contain text seem to be readable by Tesseract. Some images might be damaged (faded ink, strange font, etc.), therefore the recognition does not afford precise results. This is when humans come back into play, to edit and correct the inaccuracies, to proofread the machine.
Tesseract is essential to provide a comprehensive overview when working with a big batch of scanned documents. The quality of the results depends very much on the quality of the documents and thus can result in the need for large-scale revisions. More concretely, not all images that contain text seem to be readable by Tesseract. Some images might be damaged (faded ink, strange font, etc.), therefore the recognition does not afford precise results. This is when humans come back into play, to edit and correct the inaccuracies, to proofread the machine.
To be able to navigate the material, you have to make connections in between the documents, get an overview of all of the existing data and from this develop a structure for the archive. We chose to categorize the material with content and format related categories.
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To start, each person skimmed a portion of the archive they were responsible for (as decided when dividing the work). During this process, properties that we considered relevant and/or seemed to be recurring throughout the material were collected for each document. Further, all categories and properties were gathered, discussed and reduced to the necessary. The thereby generated set of categories and properties was then applied to the documents by re-skimming them. The categories and properties were later used for the upload of the material to MediaWiki using page forms and were structured there.<br>
To start, each person skimmed a portion of the archive for which they were responsible (as decided when dividing the work). During this process, properties that we considered relevant and/or seemed to be recurring throughout the material were collected for each document. Furthermore, all categories and properties were gathered, discussed and reduced to the necessary. The thereby generated set of categories and properties was then applied to the documents by re-skimming them. The categories and properties were later used for the upload of the material to MediaWiki using page forms, which gave structure..<br>
Individuals don’t know they are going to be archived. The act of archiving clusters them together even if they didn’t intend that. For the outsider, the material that they produced can seem like some kind of collective work that was created in a certain time span, maybe even with the aim of being in some sort of a bundle. We collect it all together under a theme, title or event and hope it does justice to the writers, makers, editors etc.
Individuals don’t know they are going to be archived. The act of archiving clusters them together even if they didn’t intend that. For the outsider, the material that they produced can seem like some kind of collective work that was created in a certain time span, maybe even with the aim of being in some sort of a bundle. We collect it all together under a theme, title or event and hope it does justice to the writers, makers, editors, etc.
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The intent of the act makes it all come together in to form an “archive”, a very general word. This process can go in many directions, it is almost arbitrary. I came across an article called “Archive, Archive, Archive!” by the artist Julie Bacon. The article speaks about archiving in the postmodern art world. I felt like it described some of my feelings. She writes: “Surveillance practices mark our time, and people are aware to caring degrees that they are documented, and that bodies of information exist that pertain to them but are remote from them”. When you write a poem, take a photograph or write a political article arguing against your government, do you always think about what will happen when it gets public? Can you know that someday someone else will use this material in ways that you maybe didn’t intend to?
Max Lehmann
5 years ago