Week 10: 7/24-7/30 Digital issues Readings in Canvas Discussion post
Group E:
Kim Cook, Jennifer Faus, Andre Robinson, Brian Whitmer
Our group is utilizing Canvas Group Discussions and a shared Google Doc to facilitate communication and in the development of our documentation.
Common interests determined our general topic—comic books—within the first few posts and with that, we set about learning how to use the software and running test crawls.
Our theme evolved from comic books to comic book superheroes a focus on influential female cartoonists like Alison Bechdel and Marie Severin who pioneered the cartoon genre. The collection offers a chronology of women’s entry into previously male-only domains like cartooning, editorial cartooning, and comic book authoring.
Our collective experience with the online training was one of mild disappointment. While we each expressed the wish that it had been more comprehensive, more substantive, we were not deterred and used our test crawls as a learning tool to help us build the most comprehensive collection possible. As we each endeavored to learn the software, we shared tips, tricks, rules-of-thumb, youtube videos, blog posts. In other words, anything an individual found interesting or helpful regarding Archive-It was shared with the group. Throughout the process we maintained an open line of communication to help answer questions and offer support when the software was being particularly difficult.
There are a few “rules of thumb” we came up with while working with the software:
Patience. Reports can take several days to compile and become available. Clarity. Metadata can take some time to input, so thoughtfully choose the data sets for the collection. Also, be aware that refreshing metadata takes time. It is possible to inadvertently overwrite metadata that has not yet populated in the public document. Technology. Make sure the computer browser and software on the computer you are using are compatible with the Archive-It software. Open applications can also interfere with Archive-It functionality. Our test crawls improved as we all became more proficient using Archive-It. Our topic was shaped, and our collection was curated using the information in crawl reports, from seeds productivity, with the refinement of crawls, and through lively group discussions. Keeping the goal of the assignment, “present a well-curated collection,” in mind helped to inform our decisions regarding the topic, seeds, and metadata. Each layer and each new phase of the project brought new challenges, as well as excitement, as our project evolved.
Using Google Docs as our tool, and the assignment instructions and rubric as our guide, writing a group report (and a group discussion post) has been a positive experience. The collaborative aspect of Google Docs ensures that each person in the group is able to contribute to each section of the report. With Google Docs, the information we each contribute is open for everyone to comment, edit, and proofread. This way, have been able to share our collective experiences with Archive-It over time rather than trying to weave together disparate pieces of information at the close of the project.