ARTchivist's Notebook: Metadata-tion
Metadata-tion
Records are like clouds
Credit: Dmitry Makeev, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Here's one for the catalogers and processors. I've been taking meditation classes lately and some of the concepts I've learned remind me of the mindset I sometimes fall into when I'm cataloging or processing records.
Meditation and mindfulness have a lot to do with noticing when you're having a thought or a feeling. In one guided meditation led by Rev. Keiryu Liên Shutt, we envisioned our thoughts as clouds in a blue sky. As they floated by, we could observe and name them—that's a thought; that's a memory; that's anger; that's joy. This process of naming helps to distance oneself from getting caught up in each immediate memory or feeling. The idea is to observe yourself thinking so you don't get lost in a swirl of emotion or obsession. (It is a lot harder than it sounds.)
This process reminded me a lot of cataloging. When faced with an unprocessed collection, which might arrive as simply a box of undifferentiated "stuff," we are confronted with items or records that feel like random thoughts; a collection is a sky full of clouds, each asking for our attention. As we pull each item from the container, we look at it and name it—that's a letter; that's a drawing; that's a manuscript. Our job, as archivists or catalogers is to describe each one efficiently and move on. We're not supposed to get too absorbed in whatever the letter, drawing, or manuscript says or depicts. That would bog us down and we'd never finish processing the collection or be able to make it available to those who might benefit from it. Our job is to float among the clouds. :)
In this way, cataloging can be a form of meditation: recognizing, naming, and moving on. Observing and naming your thoughts makes them easier to manage and understand; processing your collection makes it easier to navigate and use. In both cases, you gain an understanding of what is simply there, and you can choose to dive in deeper, or you can let it float on by.
Some shameless "clouds"
I'll be teaching a Reparative Description webinar with Stephanie Luke for the Society of American Archivists on June 8. Come learn practical guidelines for making your collection descriptions more accurate, representative, and respectful of the people they represent and serve. And it's a steal at only $49. Reserve your spot before it floats away.
Also around for a limited time, my webinar (also for SAA) on how to do a DEI audit of your collections is now available for FREE until April 30.
And finally, I'm on the editorial staff of a new Medium publication from MHz Curationist—Metadata Learning & Unlearning. The series raises questions and makes proposals for what metadata can do to advance diverse worldviews within open education and openGLAM realms. We just published two excellent articles about open education projects: Bethany Ellerbrook relates her experiences teaching "digital natives" to use social media responsibly, and Dovi Mae Patino-Liu describes helping incarcerated youth use virtual reality to tell their stories. Other articles explore challenges in openGLAM metadata, including my suggestions for how to deal with the twin demons of Orientalism and patriarchy, and Garrett Graddy-Lovelace's exploration of the erasure of Indigenous Incan knowledge.
Thanks for reading! If you have any comments or questions about this issue, please feel free to get in touch. Or follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter @SharonMizota.
ARTchivist's Notebook is an occasional newsletter musing on the intersection of archives, art, and social justice by me, Sharon Mizota, DEI metadata consultant and art writer.
I help museums, archives, libraries, and websites transform and share their metadata to achieve greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. Contact me to discuss your metadata project today.