Course talk:ARST573/BC Archives

Hi Shyla,

Really great, well organized wiki page! I noticed that you didn't have many comments from people outside of your pod so I thought I'd read through and see if I could make any last minute suggestions (which proved difficult because your content is excellent). I especially like your "Legislation and Governance" section. My one suggestion is that you could perhaps move the "External Links" sections to before the "References" section. Not everyone will scroll to the bottom of the references and they might miss it. Otherwise, looks good!

Hi Shyla, I really enjoyed your page - especially that you included some of the issues/ controversies surrounding the BC archives right now (also I really enjoyed looking through the BC Archives Time Machine - it's so fun!) Just a few suggestions: Do you think you could give a bit more of an idea of what the majority of their holdings are (like is it mostly government records or mostly private archives?), just to give your examples of holdings some more context? Another area that might be nice to add, if you can find some information on it, is a section on the archives' relationships with BC First Nations, in terms of any repatriation of material or collaboration.

hi Christine, I added the time machine details after Adena's comment about not getting a sense of what their holdings were like, glad you liked it! Haven't been able to find out what proportion of government to private records are there; that information doesn't seem to be anywhere. I might try and call them to find out more. As well, there's no information on repatriation anywhere. Royal BC Museum has a brief policy, but it's from 2002, before BC Archives even fell under their umbrella. This is an area I think they could focus on and improve.

Sorry for being really late to reply to you again! I see you have added some more info to the holdings sections - hopefully you didn't have to do too much more work finding more information, but now it sounds really good. One super time grammar point I happened to notice: Under you Document Disposal Act, I think if you added a "was" before "designed for a paper-based recordkeeping system" in the first sentence it would read a bit better. Other than that your whole page still looks excellent!

In Formation and Early Years, maybe say where/what Connaught Library is (or provide a link). I would also suggest expanding the section on Emily Carr at the end. Overall, consider expanding on the collection/holdings. There is a bit of information here and there in different sections but after reading it, I didn't feel like I had a good idea of what was acquired/contained in the archives (other than the three significant holdings at the end)

Ideas for links: Document Disposal Act (I see it's later in the document but it's introduced earlier), Emily Carr, Royal BC Museum (at its introduction),

I like that you have the video embedded! (Haven't watched it yet but I will) and the section on legislation is quite strong.

Thanks for the suggestions, Adena. I found another resource for the formation/early years section, by Eastwood, so will hopefully be able to get across the types of materials that were collected at that time. And, more linking!

I honestly read through this again trying to think of more feedback and had a really hard time. It looks fantastic! The only small thing I can think of is you might consider including a small section on FOIPPA in your legislature and governance section if you think it relevant enough.

Thanks for giving it some more thought! I'm just struggling to finish up some other assignments, but if I get time before the tenth I will absolutely look at doing this. A paragraph or so would be a good addition.

Hi Shyla,

Your wiki page is coming along very nicely. I really like that you have utilized the ability to link to other relevant wiki pages, as well as your inclusion of pictures and video - although I couldn't get the embedded Youtube video to play for me. I kept getting an error. Is that happening for you too? I hope it is able to work, because having a video with a tour of the Archive, even one from 1979, would be a great addition to the page. Good find!

These are some of the comments/suggestions I had while reading through:

In some sections you switch tense from past to present, such as using "is" instead of "was", when referring to something in the past. This seems to be most prevalent in the "History and Development" section. For instance: "The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act is enacted in 1996,..." I know that this can be done, but I suggest at least considering, for clarity, using present tense for things that are still true today, and past tense for information regarding the past, as the use of both can be jarring for a reader.

In your section on "Current Facility and Services," you might consider removing the use of the word "here," since the linking function, which you already utilize, makes it seem sort of redundant. Instead of linking the word "here", you could link "database of indexes", "separate interface", etc. Just a thought.

Excellent section on "Legislation and Governance"! Succinct and helpful.

hi Jason, The video works for me, I'm so sad to hear there's problems with it, it's very charming. I'll try it on a few different computers. And I've been struggling with verb tenses, so I'll try the way of splitting their use as you've suggested. The current facility section needs a lot of work still, the "here"s aren't working at all. Thank you.

Check the video again, I might have fixed it!

It works now! Yay!

Hi Shyla, I think your page is looking great so far. Very thorough! I'm not sure that linking out to the database without saying anything about it works for me in your Current Facility and Services section though. I don't need a paragraph, but maybe some contextualization around how search functions? I think it would also be nice to see some more of people's thoughts on BC Archives and how it functions worked into the page somehow, or an expansion of the criticisms of legislation section if at all possible. I'm not sure what the sources for your page look like, but it would be great to see a bit more there! Allison

hi Allison, the Current Facility section is the worst one I think. I'll see if I can make it better, and adding some more information about searching will help. Thanks for the suggestions.

Hi Shyla,

I see you have done lots of hyperlinking which is great...just a small suggestion for another one, for "total archives" in your intro. While you do define the concept in the sentence I thought it might be helpful for the reader to be provided with more detailed information about the approach. SAA's glossary definition is nice and concise [1].

Best, Hannah

That's a good suggestion, thanks Hannah.