liberating lives: invisible australians and biographical networks

Liberating livesInvisible Australians and biographical networks

www.invisibleaustralians.org

Tim Sherratt@wragge


Records


NAA: ST84/1, 1909/22/41-50


NAA: A1, 1911/13854


NAA: B2455, ALLEN C A


NAA: SP42/1, C1922/4449


NAA: ST84/1, 1909/22/41-50


For the years between 1902 and 1948 there remain:

● More than 50,000 CEDTs● 90 shelf metres of records● 15,000 case files

http://discontents.com.au/shed/hacks/embedded-archives


What changes when we examine the world through the collected fragments of knowledge that we can recover about a single person, reorganised as a biographical narrative, rather than as part of an archival system?

– Tim Hitchcock


(Auto)biographical ambitions


Bright Sparcs will continue to grow. We will keep adding and linking, building layer upon layer of this information environment. New resources will be interwoven. New gateways will be constructed – thematic exhibitions tailored to particular audiences. We will encourage contributions to Bright Sparcs, and assist individuals and organisations to make their material available over the WWW. Each addition will enrich this environment, adding flesh to the original database, until Bright Sparcs’ archival underpinnings seem no more than lines spoken in a grand, unfolding theatre – part of the story, not abstracted ‘collections’.

– Tim Sherratt 1996


http://www.invisibleaustralians.org

http://www.invisibleaustralians.org/


NAA: ST84/1, 1909/22/41-50


● Crowdsourced data extraction● 50,000+ CEDTs● Other files● Match identities● Eeek!




Pauline Ah Hee, 1906.NAA: ST84/1, 1906/111-120


Pauline Ah Hee, 1906. NAA: ST84/1, 1906/111-120


Choy Hing family including their adopted daughter, Pauline Ah Hee, 1906. NAA: SP244/2, N1950/2/4918


Pauline Ah Hee, 1906. NAA: SP244/2, N1950/2/4918


Pauline Ah Hee, c. 1950. NAA: A659, 1950/1/1954


Pauline Ah Hee


Shadee Khan, 1916. NAA: E752, 1916/8


Shadee Khan, 1921. NAA: E752, 1921/21


Shadee Khan, 1925. NAA: E752, 1925/7


Shadee Khan


Pauline Ah Hee

Shadee Khan


Serendipity & semantics


History walldefining.net.au/wall

http://www.defining.net.au/wall


Use URLs to identify things in the real world


Making connections #1 (online)


On the WWW we have the opportunity to give archives back their context, to embed them in stories about the people, places and events that brought about their creation. Our aim should be to create an infinite number of pathways through this collective memory – opening our culture for exploration and greater participation, not simply arranging our institutions in a virtual showcase.

– Tim Sherratt 1996


This is me:http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-479364#foaf:Person

http://nla.gov.au/nla.party-479364#foaf:Person


Wragge’s identity browserwraggelabs.com/identities

http://wraggelabs.com/identities/


The Flickr Machine Tag Challengewraggelabs.com/fmtc/

http://wraggelabs.com/fmtc/


Making connections #2 (offline)


● Make links● Give advice● Create tools & examples● Help!



liberating lives: invisible australians and biographical networks

Documents