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Questions to Consider for Your Counter-Archive

1. What is your “main archive?” Is it concrete or abstract? Define the archive and its mission.
2. What dominant histories does the main archive reproduce?
3. What is the nature of your counter-archive? What does it “counter?” What is the intervention you are making with your counter-archive?
4. What is the nature of the objects in your counter-archive (photographs, books, moving image, etc)? What is the content of these objects?
5. How will you organize your counter-archive?
• Will you create one or several collections (i.e., “Exhibits,” in Omeka terms)
• How many pages per exhibit?
• How many objects per page, or per exhibit?
• Are the objects organized by subject, title, chronology, theme…?
• Digital collection architecture: how will you organize the structure of your collection (home page, pages, sections, subsections, etc)?
6. What tags and conventions will you use?
7. What cross-reference axes might you want to explore?
8. Go through the metadata fields and determine standard practices.
9. What will each of you take care of? How will you manage the division of labor in your group?
10. Develop a detailed timeline for project completion.