Improving Preservation and Access to Born-Digital Collections: A Critical Disability and Intersectionality-Informed Assessment of Praxis : Long Paper - iPRES 2025 - Wellington, New Zealand / Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa

Abstract

As with most technologies, computers were invented and designed by the status quo with the status quo in mind as the primary users. As such, there are implicit, systemic, and unconscious biases built into hardware and software which can have unintended consequences. The steady increase of born-digital records in archival collections challenges practitioners’ abilities to steward these resources in ways that authentically preserve them while simultaneously accommodating them to fit users’ various needs. Leveraging the frameworks from Critical Disability Theory and Intersectionality Theory, the author identifies examples of historic and current biases that are present in computing design. She provides suggestions for mindful modification of digital preservation, processing, and access workflows to account for said biases and attempt to improve the user experience.

Details

Creators
Kelsey A. O’Connell
Institutions
Date
2025-09-01 00:00:00 +0000
Keywords
digital humanities
Publication Type
paper
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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