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A zine exploring the subjective nature and results of archiving.
Graduation Project / Informative Publication
Design by Remco van Baren
Thanks to the Internet Archive for providing access to the digitized historical materials featured in this publication. Flickr Commons for hosting historical photographs and images. And The Library of Congress for their By the People initiative.
This volume explores how digital archiving can lead to incomplete preservation of history and context, focusing on the negative side of making archives digital. Digitized historical materials often become incomplete or distorted, making them hard to find and understand, which leads to digital bias. This publication aims to raise awareness about this issue and offer speculative strategies to ensure our digitized history is more accurate and inclusive. At the heart of this volume is the example of The Great Gatsby, which the Internet Archive uses as a good example of a digitized work. In this volume, The Great Gatsby is compared to the works of Langston Hughes, an influential author from the same era and area. In contrast to Fitzgerald's work, Hughes’ presence in digital archives is minimal and, therefore, has more opportunity to be inaccurate.
The publication, handbound with colorful thread, contains the first volume alongside three booklets, each offering different strategies to combat and address digital bias. The main zine explains the early research, the importance of proper archiving, and the steps behind the other booklets. It starts by discussing the shift from physical to digital archives and how this transition often strips away crucial context and introduces new challenges.
Through Strategy A, I developed a method to visualize how the Internet Archive reads text from printed (and then uploaded) matter. Using overlay sheets to show discrepancies, these sheets help illustrate the gaps and errors introduced by OCR, particularly in complex layouts. By seeing these issues firsthand, it becomes clear why accurate metadata and digitization practices are essential.
Inspired by the difficulties in finding minority works, I created Booklet B to be scanned back into the archive, ensuring no columns or hyphens that could confuse OCR. This booklet broadens the context of the original archive, adding minority voices and perspectives that are often overlooked.
Throughout the book, you will find personal notes from Strategy C, interspersed to provide additional context and reflections on the topics discussed.
This volume is just the beginning of a series of publications that aim to address the issues of digital bias in archiving. By visualizing OCR errors, expanding the context of archived materials, and reflecting on personal biases, this project strives to create a more accurate and inclusive digital historical record.