Paper short abstract:

This workshop contribution will address certain challenges associated with digital archival documentation. Questions regarding cataloguing, and arranging recordings will be posed. It will recognize long-standing folklore traditions and new ways to engage with a tradition archive.

Paper long abstract:

At times, individual scholars and researchers find they have a body of recorded material from years of fieldwork. This contribution to the workshop will address some of the challenges associated with this digital archival documentation. A number of questions will be addressed such as how best to catalogue, index and arrange the contents of audio and video recordings. What is the best way to present content for further research and analysis? Facilitating this kind of access to collections will generate opportunities for internal collaboration as researchers, who may not engage with ethnographic fieldwork themselves but will be able to access and utilise relevant collections. This will offer increased possibilities for cross-pollination between disciplines and the creation of a diverse array of interdisciplinary research projects. Arguably, there are those who may find this methodological process a flawed approach. There are, however, a number of academics who are engaging with this process and bringing new insights to the archive. This workshop will give recognition to a long-standing tradition in folklore studies and will identify new ways to engage with archival sources. The workshop will strive to demonstrate that scholars who work with the archive in their research activity enhances one's ethnographic fieldwork.