Course talk:ARST573/Nova Scotia Archives

Hi Kaitlin,

even though your wiki is in its early phases, I feel like I learned a lot about the NSA from reading what you have so far. Good breakdown of its history and development, and the location and hours are a nice touch. Your wiki is the most ambitious one, in terms of topics, I have read so far, and I am amazed at your ability to cover all of that in the short time we have to work on the wiki. My own thought is to say that some of the topics/sub-topics could be fused, as Eric pointed out, the hours and location sections for example. I like the video (now I feel like I should have one in mine) and find it very appropriate for your wiki. I think your wiki is especially appropriate for a lot of visuals, especially with the breadth of your coverage. Another great wiki from my pod - making my life a lot easier when it comes to commenting - and I look forward to seeing this wiki in its final form.

Best,

V

Thanks for the great suggestions, Victor. I agree that the hours and location section is in a bit of an awkward place and I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. I will get some photos in there shortly, too. Best, Kaitlin

Hi Miss W and fellow podster,

in its current stage, might I suggest a "See Also" section, since there are other province Wikis (Ontario, Manitoba, and BC); a picture of the archives would be a nice, but not necessary, add. I have to take something back from my last comment, and that is that after considering the other province Wikis, I think the way you have organized the "hours, location and additional services" is good and easy on the reader. I think your Wiki does a great job of navigating us through the NSA and its a very complete product . As one last thought, I wonder if a section on "issues at NSA" or "NSA in the news" etc. would be a good add? Sorry, I know it's pretty unreasonable to ask for additional content at this stage of the assignment, as well, I find your Wiki is more about being classy and giving straight and good information, as opposed to getting into any controversies, gossip and whatnot. After all is said and done, you truly demonstrate and exceed the high quality of Pod One Wikis. By the way, if you check my Wiki out you'll see I added a video : )

Take care,

V

Hi Victor, Thanks so much for feedback. I added a 'See Also' section - good call on that suggestion. Unfortunately I didn't have time to add in an 'Issues' section but it would have been interesting. Looking forward to checking out your video now that I am (finally) done editing my wiki!

Hey, Kaitlin!

You have a great start so far. You've done a lot with not a lot of information, and I'm impressed!

At this point, I have some very general notes. Most of it has to do with expansion. I like that you included online exhibits. It shows that kinds of outreach that the Nova Scotia Archives are willing to participate in. The problem, of course, is that online exhibits can come and go. So what's special about these ones, that they've gained mention?

You may also benefit from adding sections about Outreach in general. I've gone through the Nova Scotia Archives website for a different class, I saw quite a bit.

Very good start, Kaitlin!

Best!

Hi Rosie, Thanks for the feedback. I tried to incorporate outreach throughout my wiki but I agree that I need to discuss outreach more directly. I think it will be difficult for me to create a specific outreach section at this point, but I will try to add in more content for outreach. Thanks again!

Hello again!

So much improvement from last time! You've done well. I only have a couple of comments this time.

1) Watch for general grammatical errors.

2) Do you need to cite the address of an archives? I think it counts as common knowledge.

Good luck!

Thanks for pointing out the reference issue. I have gone through again and rechecked my grammar. Thanks for the feedback!

Hey Kaitlin,

Really good page so far. You have a lot of good content, the history and legislation sections gave a clear context for the NS archives. I don't have many suggestions other than you may what to discuss the genealogical aspects of NS archives in terms outreach. Much of the NS website is geared towards genealogical and might be interesting to discuss how genealogists use the NS archives (through vital statistics, hiring researchers, etc. ) Also the NS archives has a very active social media (compared to some archives) . They also are on more social media platforms than other archives. Because of this I think it would be beneficial to include more about this also with regards to outreach and advocacy.

Kelly

Hi Kelly, Thanks for the feedback - this gives me lots to think about. I will add in a few sentences in the vital statistics subsection about genealogy and outreach and also look at adding to the social media section, linking it more directly to outreach.

Hi Kaitlin,

Good work on the page. In terms of suggestions, you might want to provide some more images, especially at the top of your page. The video is interesting, although you might want to fix the spacing. The images might help break up some of the text as well

Kelly

Hi Kelly, Yes, I am planning on adding images just haven't had the time yet. Hopefully I'll get them in there later today. thanks for the feedback!

Some minor grammatical errors such as missing commas in your large numbers in the overview. I am sure you will catch them throughout your further revisions. My main thought is possibly having the location, hours, and additional services section just being integrated into the overview or something. Unless you are going to add a lot more content I feel like hours and location is a small enough chunk of information that can fit into a general information area instead of warranting its own section. If you want to leave it as a section I might also consider at least putting it further up in your wiki, perhaps first after the overview or somewhere after the history section. I say this because it could be information people are going specifically to the wiki to find out and having it shown sooner on the wiki might make it easier, or at least faster, for them. Fantastic job overall and look forward to seeing the end product!

Hi Eric, Thanks for the feedback. I too agree that the hours and location section is in an awkward place at the moment. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it but I will definitely move it higher up on the page. Thanks again!

Hi Kaitlin,

Your page looks great. I really like the video you embedded (I love that the archives made this). You might be already planning to, but I think adding some photographs to the page would add some more visual interest. Images of a few of the archives' historical photographs, etc. A photograph of the archives or archives' building at the top of the page would work well (if available). Going off of Eric's comment, you could add the archives' location and hours into the caption of the photograph, I have seen this before on wikis and it works well in immediately providing that information without the need of a section. However, if you did this then the "Additional Services" section would be left, so you might want to keep it the way it is. I think a little section on the staffing of the archives would be interesting - how many permanent staff members, do they have volunteers, etc.? Not sure if this information is available. I noticed you hyperlinked "Nova Scotia" in your second section. Perhaps instead you should link both Nova Scotia and Halifax in the intro so that the first time the places are mentioned, they can be clicked on for those readers who are not familiar with them.

Best, Hannah

Hey Hannah, Thanks for the great suggestions. I linked Halifax and Nova Scotia in the overview just now - thanks for spotting this. I am am hoping to embed some photos shortly as well. In terms of staffing, unfortunately I can't seem to find any info on this. I may shoot the archives an email this week to see if they can fill in the blanks on this.