Visualizing Archival Networks: Charting the Affective Dynamics and Equitable Potentials of Community-Based Music Archives

Abstract

Community-based archives, taking community experience as their starting point and guiding focus, offer an alternative approach to preservation that widens the scope of value in networks of heritage and culture. Manchester Digital Music Archive (MDMArchive), a volunteer-run and user-generated music archive based in northern England, rethinks the boundaries of archival value not only through the content it preserves, but also through the perspectives expressed by its website, programming, and volunteer workforce. Drawing on dissertation research focused on the affective dynamics and equitable potentials of MDMArchive’s community-based approach, this talk combines ethnographic description with digital humanities analytical methods to examine the multiple networks within which the archive is emplaced. These networks, including the webs of personal motivation that influence archival work, the connections between users and content, and larger systems of music heritage preservation, underscore the role of the archive as an active participant in processes of cultural production. Tracing iterations of the research process from early exploratory stages through the synthesis of writing and digital analysis, I demonstrate how visualization techniques help to express the intentions and significance of community approaches to archiving. This multimodal research highlights how value is realized in digital archives and speculates about how community-based archival methods can be used to equitably foster and sustain local knowledge.