From Collection to Collective: what is an archive now?

About the Annual Digital Lecture

Exploration of digital ideas is an important part of archival work. The Annual Digital Lecture (ADL) offers the opportunity to hear from a leading speaker on a topic related to digital research, in addition to highlighting some of the innovative digital work happening at The National Archives and at the School of Advanced Study (SAS), University of London.

Please join us in-person at Senate House to hear this year's Annual Digital Lecture.

From Collection to Collective. What is an archive now?

Cultural memory seems caught, now more the ever, between competing visions for what it is (or should be), what it means, and to whom it belongs. Accepting that there is no neutral account or curation of the past is not the same as embracing the place within our social documentation processes that digital media companies have established for themselves, a position that has enabled them to redefine our material records as their training data. This transformation can be viewed not just as one predicated on power relations, but also on a shift in the social dimension of knowledge technologies, with the atomised consumer of digital services replacing the spatially, temporally and relationally integrated archival visitor. The archive is well-positioned to resist the gravity of this larger set of social and cultural trends, however, when viewed not as coterminous with its collections, but rather as a site of collective sensemaking processes, perhaps even of ritual. It is in this kind of space that cultural infrastructure can foster multiple levels of meaningful friction (synchronic and diachronic), promote knowledge justice, integrate emerging technologies ethically and responsibly, and demonstrate the value of civic investment in democratic participation, providing a safe space from which to challenge the techno-capitalist dogma of efficiency and individualism.

Programme

18:30-19:30: Talk and discussion in Chancellor's Hall, Senate House

19:30-20:30: Reception and poster exhibition with posters showcasing digital research from The National Archives and Digital Humanities Research Hub (DHRH) at the School of Advanced Study.

Speaker’s biography

Jennifer Edmond is Professor in Digital Humanities at Trinity College Dublin where she is co-director of the Trinity Centre for Digital Humanities, Director of the MPhil in Digital Humanities and Culture and a principal Investigator in the newly founded national Centre for advanced digital research Rinn AI.

Over the course of the past 10 years, Jennifer has coordinated numerous significant funded research projects, including her most recent collaborative investigation of AI, big data and democracy, Knowledge Technologies for Democracy (KT4D). She has served in leadership roles in a large number of European-level policy and infrastructure organisations, including six years as a Director and President of DARIAH-EU, four on the European Commission’s Open Science Policy Platform, and her current role as a member of the Governing Board of the European Association of Social Sciences and Humanities (EASSH).

Her research explores interdisciplinarity, humanistic and hybrid research processes (with a special focus on the infrastructures they require), critical digital humanities as a contributor to both research and technology development, and transdisciplinarity as a paradigm for the humanities. In these fields, she has a publication record including more than 60 internationally peer-reviewed articles, chapters, reports, datasets and books.

Information about event and location

This event will take place in-person at Senate House, London, in Chancellor's Hall. The room is wheelchair accessible. If you have any accessibility requirements, please let us know via research@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

In the event of a tube strike, the University of London Senate House is within walking distance of three national railway stations, London St Pancras (c. 18 mins), London King’s Cross (c. 18 mins) and London Euston (c. 12 mins). The nearest bus stops are Tottenham Court Road or Russell Square (Numbers 1, 24, 29, 68, 73, 91 and 390).

Please note that photography might take place during the event. If you would like to withdraw your consent, please email research@nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Image credit: FO850-234 Colossus electronic digital computer, 1943.