Toward a collaborative online framework for archival representation

Abstract

Digitizing archival material is by now a standard part of archival practice. However, accurately describing and representing this material in textual descriptions is a challenge that cannot be addressed using the Rules for Archival Description, the current Canadian archival description standard. This thesis makes the case for collaborating with textual studies and digital humanities scholars to improve the framework within which descriptions are written, as well as for reaching out to members of the public and improving archival representation through crowdsourcing. The thesis also includes a case study examining the ways medieval manuscript fragments could be best represented in online description.