From Wall to Web: How to Archive Black History & Belonging Events?
Throughout the recent years, Scotland hosted numerous exhibitions and other events dedicated to Black history, migration, communities and belonging. Information on these events, their key messages and their impact on the wider society has not been systematically collected and preserved. The Scottish Museum of Empire, Slavery, Colonialism and Migration is interested in exploring how the memory of such events will not be lost, and the ongoing initiatives of communities will continue their life in a digital archive.
This round table will bring together a panel of practitioners, academics and citizens to discuss a wide range of questions: what to preserve? How? When? For whom?
·The round table focuses on exhibitions and other relevant events by and about Black and other ethnic/migrant? communities in Scotland, and the practical steps for creating digital archives that serve those communities first. We will explore:
The Scottish Museum of Empire, Slavery, Colonialism and Migration is interested in exploring how the memory of such events will not be lost, and the ongoing initiatives of communities will continue their life in a digital archive.
- Why archive (visibility, accountability, cultural memory, education, advocacy);
- For whom archives are made (participating Black communities, artists and speakers; future curators; learners; wider publics);
- How to curate with care (consent, credit, community‑preferred language; platforms and metadata; preservation and sustainability).
- What to capture—programmes and run‑sheets, recordings, transcripts, posters, photos, wall text, social media, artist/speaker files, audience responses, co‑curation outputs and oral histories—and how to document decisions so others can reuse and build on the work.
