Three Gifts of Digital Archives

Three Gifts of Digital Archives

Digital humanities

James Purdy’s 2011 article builds on Susan Wells’ 2002 chapter "Claiming the Archive for Rhetoric and Composition,” in which Purdy discusses the importance of Wells’ previous “gifts” while extending and redefining it to include three new “gifts” afforded by emergent archiving technology: “integration”, “customization”, and “accessibility.” Purdy breaks the gift of integration into two key components; he suggests that the integration of the writing, and research space, and the integration of collaborative possibilities are both possible in new digital environments, allowing for new forms of creation, and interaction. Purdy describes that the customization of research spaces afforded by new digital archives are especially useful for novice academic researchers, and writers, but also offer the most advanced researchers new opportunities and conveniences such as the ability to save, bookmark, and access research from multiple sites and devices. Accessibility is defined as the ability for researchers to overcome “temporal and spatial” obstacles that restricted research prior to digital networks.

Purdy, James

2011-11

Foley, Christopher

Journal Article

Purdy, James P. "Three Gifts of Digital Archives." Journal of Literacy & Technology 12, no. 3 (November 2011): 24-29.