[Asis-l] Virginia Tech Launches April 16 Archive

[Jeremy Hunsinger]

(distribute as appropriate -jh)

> For immediate release
>
> Virginia Tech Launches April 16 Archive
> http://www.april16archive.org/
>
> BLACKSBURG, Va., April 30, 2007 - Virginia Tech's Center for  
> Digital Discourse
> and Culture (CDDC) is pleased to announce the launch of the April  
> 16 Archive
> (www.april16archive.org). This new online archive assists artists,  
> humanists,
> social scientists, and all other scholars who seek, today and in  
> the future, to
> develop a better understanding of the violent events of April 16,  
> 2007 at
> Virginia Tech. It is also available to the general public of the  
> Commonwealth
> of Virginia, the United States of America, and the world at large  
> as we come to
> terms with a local, national, and global event that will have  
> ramifications for
> years to come. This archive works actively to deploy electronic  
> media for the
> collection, interpretation, preservation, and display of stories  
> and digital
> objects related to the tragedy of April 16, 2007 and its many  
> effects as text,
> image, and sound. Developed in cooperation with George Mason  
> University's
> Center for History and New Media (CHNM), this project is receiving  
> technical,
> curatorial and administrative support from Virginia Tech students,  
> faculty, and
> staff.
>
> The archive will preserve a diverse record of the events  
> surrounding April 16,
> 2007 by collecting first-hand observations, photographic images, sound
> recordings, media reports, personal writings, official statements,  
> individual
> blog postings, and any other documents that can be stored as  
> digital files. In
> addition to local reactions, the archive welcomes responses from  
> across the
> globe in any language. Through this archive, we aim to leave a  
> positive legacy
> for the larger community and contribute to a collective process of  
> healing,
> especially as those affected by this tragedy tell their stories in  
> their own
> words. The larger trend exemplified by this project is the "digital  
> memory
> bank." Memory banks are being used to preserve the richness of the  
> present as
> it transitions to the past, thereby ensuring that the collected  
> records can be
> both readily accessible and carefully preserved for future access.
>
> The April 16 Archive welcomes contributions from the Virginia Tech  
> community, as
> well as from anyone around the world who wants to share words of  
> support or
> reflection following the events of April 16, 2007. The attacks  
> happened in
> Blacksburg, Virginia, but they were experienced around the world  
> through mass
> media and community ties. The accounts of that day from any site  
> across the
> globe are, therefore, very important to the April 16 Archive as it  
> documents
> the full impact of this tragic event. For more information, visit
> www.april16archive.org or contact admin at april16archive.org. For media
> inquiries, contact Brent Jesiek, Manager of the CDDC, at (540)  
> 231-7614 or
> cddc at vt.edu.
>
> Established in 1998, Virginia Tech's Center for Digital Discourse  
> and Culture is
> one of the world's first university based digital points-of- 
> publication for new
> forms of scholarly communication, academic research, and cultural  
> analysis.
> Virginia Tech's College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences (CLAHS)  
> as well as
> the Institute of Distance and Distributed Learning (IDDL) actively  
> support the
> Center for Digital Discourse and Culture. The CDDC is also working  
> with
> Virginia Tech's newly established Institute for Society, Culture,  
> and the
> Environment (ISCE) to develop new scholarly initiatives, such as  
> the April 16
> Archive, tied into the practices of rhetoric, representation and  
> the public
> humanities.
>
> This story is also posted on the April 16 Archive website:
> http://www.april16archive.org/news/

jeremy hunsinger
Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research,  
School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee  
(www.cipr.uwm.edu)

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