Questions to Consider for Your Counter-Archive
- What is your “main archive?” Is it concrete or abstract? Define the archive and its mission.
- What dominant histories does the main archive reproduce?
- What is the nature of your counter-archive? What does it “counter?” What is the intervention you are making with your counter-archive?
- What is the nature of the objects in your counter-archive (photographs, books, moving image, etc)? What is the content of these objects?
- 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)?
- What tags and conventions will you use?
- What cross-reference axes might you want to explore?
- Go through the metadata fields and determine standard practices.
- What will each of you take care of? How will you manage the division of labor in your group?
- Develop a detailed timeline for project completion.