Creating Inclusive Digital Collections

Learn about inclusive approaches to describing digital cultural heritage collections.

Join the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) for an online training event on Tuesday 26 Nov at 15:00 GMT to learn about inclusive approaches to describing digital cultural heritage collections.

This event is aimed at digital archivists, cultural heritage professionals, community archivists, curators, librarians, and all those interested in learning more about enriching archives through community engagement methodologies, participatory practices, and inclusive strategies.

Attendees will learn about:

• The need for a more inclusive and respectful approach to describing digital cultural heritage collections
• Practical resources and toolkits available to help detect harmful language, address bias, and implement inclusive interpretive strategies when describing cultural heritage content such as the Family Inclusive Language Chart and the Community Engagement Methodology: Resources, Reflections, Recommendations
• Queer-affirmative interpretive strategies that can be applied to describing cultural heritage collections
•  Methodologies for embedding working with communities into cultural heritage practices when creating metadata and curating collections related to the histories and stories of underrepresented or misrepresented communities
• The event will feature a brief introduction, presentations by the speakers, followed by a questions and answer session moderated by the event Chair, Beulah Ezeugo, where participants will have the opportunity to ask questions of the speakers, Margaret Middleton and Sofie Taes. The programme running order is outlined below.

15:00 Event Introduction
15:10 ‘An Introduction to Queer Possibility’ with Margaret Middleton
15:30 ‘An Introduction to the Community Engagement Methodology’ with Sofie Taes
15:50 Question and Answer Session moderated by Beulah Ezeugo
16:00 Event Ends

We look forward to welcoming you!

About the Speakers

Event Chair:

Beulah Ezeugo is an artist and curator who works with others against the rapid tightening and regularisation of national borders. Her practice engages with postcolonial geographies, archival practices, and collective memory, and expands outwards through exhibition-making, programming, and publication. As an independent curator, she is interested in supporting collaborative and research-led artists’ practices. Beulah is currently a research associate at the Centre for Contemporary Art Derry~Londonderry, and one-half of the collective Éireann & I Archive, a migrant memory project. Beulah is also a member of the Digital Repository of Ireland’s Expert Advisory Board.

Speakers:

Margaret Middleton is an American independent exhibit designer and museum consultant currently based in Manchester, England. With a degree in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design and nearly 20 years of experience in the museum field, they work at the intersection of design and social justice. Margaret developed the popular Family Inclusive Language Chart and consults with museums on implementing inclusive practice with special focus on children, gender minorities, and queer people.

Sofie Taes has been working for over a decade at the Department of Cultural Studies (CS Digital) of KU Leuven, mostly in international projects in the digital humanities and digital cultural heritage sectors. She is currently the innovation (IOF) manager for DigitGLAM, a research valorisation consortium at the intersection of humanities and innovative technologies. Since January 2022, Sofie has acted as vice-chair of the Europeana Network Association. In this role, she is also a member of the sub-group of the expert group of the European Commission dedicated to the Data Space for Cultural Heritage (CEDCHE).

Access Requirements

Have you got any access requirements that we can assist you with, so that you can fully engage with our event? Please let us know by contacting our access officer, in advance of the event, by email at accessofficer@ria.ie

For all other queries please contact DRI Senior Programme and Communications Manager Áine Madden at a.madden@ria.ie

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About the Digital Repository of Ireland

Is taisclann dhigiteach iontaofa í Taisclann Dhigiteach na hÉireann, a sholáthraíonn caomhnú fadtéarmach agus rochtain ar shonraí daonnachtaí, oidhreachta cultúrtha agus eolaíochtaí sóisialta na hÉireann.

The Digital Repository of Ireland is a certified trustworthy digital repository that provides long-term preservation and access to Ireland’s humanities, cultural heritage, and social sciences data.