Archives Lab

The Archives Lab, based at the University of Glasgow, is led Professor Lorna Hughes, working with a research assistant. The archives lab carries out research in key aspects of digital archives, including the ecosystem of community generated digital content, institutional/organisational taxonomies for community archives, and CGDC’s lifecycle, context, preservation, and fragilities. This research will be the basis for best practice frameworks for CGDC, including a semantics-aware, FAIR-compliant and sustainable post-custodial model for use across the archives and heritage sector.

The Archives Lab engages with all members of the project team at regular meetings and with a range of other stakeholders including community groups, archives, libraries and community, as well as the funders of community and local history projects across the UK. They will also work with project partners including ALT, DPC, Wikidata, and our wider network.

Central to the work of the Archives Lab, and to that of the project as a whole, is the establishment of a community of practice, where we identify and collaborate with a number of independent community-produced digital archives that record, safeguard, and make known records, artefacts and oral histories of migration, religious and ethnic identity, and the social history of the UK at a local level. The lab is fully engaged in building and engaging with this community through ethical and meaningful co-curation.

Outputs from the Archives Lab will be published and promoted in a number of ways, including the production of an article in a peer reviewed journal, chapters in volumes on CGDC and on linking data in a national collection, presentations at academic, Galleries, Libraries and Museums sector, and non-academic conferences and workshops, and presentations for other public-facing events and a variety of online formats.  Project outputs will also be embedded into archival education and professional development.