Course talk:ARST573/Archival Advocacy

Hey Victor,

As others have said, very strong wiki page. As far as suggestions go, maybe have one or two in-depth examples under "Activities." It looks like you might be planning to do this with the Oregon Pub Crawl example. I know your working on it but I also agree some kind of challenges section would also be helpful. Also from my own project I've found that advocacy seems to vary with the type of institution and the target audience. That might be worth exploring. Also, you might want to re-format your discussion to fit a more wiki style.

Kelly

Hi Victor,

You page is coming together very well. My only suggestion is one of formatting. Your links to external pages are the full URL. You may want to shortage the text to display. Also your "See Also" links at the bottom to internal UBC wiki pages are formatted to external links when they can be internal links. Good luck finishing your page.

Kelly

Hi Victor,

Great wiki page! My suggestion has to do with formatting quotes. I noticed that you had a number of quotes towards the end of the page. If you aren't going to paraphrase or don't have another plan for them, you might consider using a quote template. You just insert it by writing {Quotation | quote | source} - make sure you have double brackets:

There is so little in our literature on advocacy for archives as individual programmes.

– Hackman, 9-10

Or just write {Quotation}, with double "{{" brackets, and then format the quote on your template page. If you're interested, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Quotation.

Hi Ms. Parker,

thank you so much for commenting on my wiki, it's always nice to know you have fans of your work. I have to apologize for exposing too much of my wacky way of writing drafts during this assignment. Those quotes are definitely supposed to have quotation marks around them; I was just lazy in my drafting (as well, as being up at an insane hour) and decided that I will add the quotation marks later. I'm so sorry for the confusion, will be corrected I promise : )

Take care,

V

No need to apologize, just a suggestion :)

Hey, Victor!

This is definitely a strong start. You go into a good amount of detail, and it's clear you've put a lot of thought into what's there.

There isn't much feedback I feel I can give at this point that hasn't already been covered. A suggestion, however, would be under the activities section. The list you provide is good, but maybe give a short explanation about why each is considered effective? I think it would make it clearer to the reader what the advocate is going for.

Cheers!

Hello!

Alright, I'm going to start this by saying something I'd never thought I'd say: I actually struggled giving your page criticism. Seriously, what you have is really good. I know you have some stuff that you still need to fill out, but my gawd its good.

The one thing I would criticize (After a lot of thought) is the pictures. The pictures you have are good, but there's a lot of them in not so much space. Maybe spread them out a bit more? Or delete a few?

Good luck!

Hi Rosie,

you are too kind, it means a lot hearing that from you, and especially since this is my first time working on a wiki. I always appreciate feedback about layout and readability, and you're comment about the pictures is actually spot-on because I know I got a bit overzealous with the images and was going back and forth whether I had used too many, so it's good to hear feedback about that and I will make the appropriate changes and take out a couple.

Thank you again and I hope you're wiki is going well

Take care,

V

Hey Victor, Great job - really well planned and written wiki! I struggle to find any helpful critique or advice to give you as a result. The one thing that I would suggest, following from Eric, is that on top of using fewer direct quotations I would also reconsider removing direct references to the authors of the works you are citing. For example you reference Larry Hackman several times. I would suggest either a) removing references to his name in order to make your wiki more general and accessible to a non-scolarly audience who may be more confused/hindered rather than aided by references to unfamiliar scholars or b) contextualize who Larry Hackman is and why you are referencing his work, perhaps even inserting a hyperlink to information about him. I'm really looking forward to see how you develop your case studies section which I think is a really important aspect of your wiki. Particularly I would like to see how you tie in the role of social media to archival advocacy in both the "archives 2.0" and the "case studies section".

Hi Victor, I really like how your wiki has come along, especially your use of visuals and video- it really enhances the page. My only suggestion for this week is to maybe shorten the overview as it is quite long and perhaps put rest of the info in the current overview in section 1 or throughout the rest of your page. Again, great page!

Thanks for the feedback on the overview Kaitlin because I was just thinking myself that it's a bit on the longer side, but as it is with your writing, every word is like a child, it's hard to move/get rid of them. It's good to know though that other readers are finding it long, I will definitely shorten it and move some of the content elsewhere.

Best,

V

Hi Victor,

I really like the work you've done on your page so far, the layout in particular I think communicates the information nicely. I saw that you have a section where you're going to include information about an Oregon archives crawl, etc. This is a really good start, however I think this section could be developed even further by discussing several more successful advocacy activities from the past and going on now. Examples of activities will help illustrate advocacy even more so then simply having the list of types. Although I do really like that you've included that list as well! Or maybe briefly mention some things to avoid with advocacy? For example what didn't work for some places. I don't know if that sort of information is available, but just an idea.

Victor—you've taken on a complicated and hard-to-distill topic, and I'd say you've been successful with the sections you have up so far. They're clear, to the point, and very informative!

One suggestion to sneak into the introduction (or wherever you see fit): I think the 'passive custodian' vs. 'active archivist' conversation is an interesting and relevant one to include. I think a outlining how that idea and discussion has evolved over the last 50/40ish years would give your page a boost in context. Maybe the lay-person thinks archivists are old stodges who read books in dusty basements—how did the profession come to understand itself as playing an important role in public advocacy?

Grammatically this is really solid though where you say “crossover between both areas: they both share” I feel like there should be a period after “areas” making two separate sentences. I could be wrong on this but in my head it would flow better. Also, you might be using 1 too many quotes. I notice that most wiki pages have a few but I think a few less in your future sections would be helpful for non-archivist readers. Putting those ideas into your own words and simplifying them can reduce clutter and help the flow of the page in my opinion. You are using citations and references really well, and can continue to slap a reference to whatever you say in your own words that are based on ideas from your sources That way people can understand the concepts easily without having to closely analyze quotes and still know you are being credible and your words are backed up. Images that can portray advocacy might prove difficult to find, perhaps a video example would prove useful. Anyway, fantastic job, wish I had more helpful advice but this is all I could think of for now. Keep up the good work.

Thank you for your kind advice Eric. On the contrary, you have provided very helpful advice, especially, how you felt as a reader that there are too many quotes; I was myself feeling a bit unsure whether I had too many, but your opinion sealed the deal. Your words of wisdom and encouragement mean a lot to me, so never say you did not offer enough helpful advice my friend. God Bless

V

Hello Victor,

I like the Alliteration of ARST/ Archival / Advocacy

Perhaps in your introduction you could mention that your wiki page focuses on a North American context? -Unless you were planning on adding more about the international mandates and other countries' stance on archival advocacy...

What about adding a "Challenges/Obstacles" faced by Archives section?

Also, try adding "<references/ >" (without that last space after / ) so that your references link to the bottom of the page.

Thank you for your kind advice Jessica. I definitely will strongly consider if I should just focus on the NA context or go international, but whatever I do, I should mention that in my overview. The "Challenges" section is still in the oven baking, but yet another thing I should add to make this a stronger wiki.

As a former lit student, I also like the alliteration : )

V