A Year in Review: Celebrating the impact of our Decentralized Archivist Communities
This Human Rights Day, OpenArchive is highlighting the important work our Decentralized Archivist Communities do to fight for a more just world for at-risk groups. They work to combat electoral violence, threats to the environment, gender-based violence, arbitrary detention, and many other pressing issues.
In 2023, OpenArchive deepened its collaboration with inspiring Decentralized Archivist Communities (DACs) across Eastern Europe, MENA, and Latin America. Our co-research throughout the year provided invaluable insights into their needs and how we could best support their essential work in preserving mobile media. Our primary goal was to understand the unique challenges they face and discover opportunities to help them better preserve their invaluable mobile media. While the specific details and challenges varied slightly by region, our overarching takeaway was clear: they consistently require a decentralized, trustworthy place to safely save their media.
Many of these communities consistently emphasized the paramount importance of safety, both for themselves and their media. They need to know their media is secure from any potential threats, stressing that its integrity must remain unaltered, protected from corruption, accidental loss, or unauthorized changes. The desire for a secure and reliable system for safeguarding their mobile media was a universal theme. Equally vital is the ability to easily find their media in the future, ensuring that their efforts to document are not in vain.
Our Collaborations and Key Learnings
Through various phases of co-research, OpenArchive gained a deeper understanding of the unique contexts in which these DACs operate. These learnings allowed us to tailor workshops and training sessions and implement usability enhancements to our Save app. Our goal remains to better protect these communities and their media as they work to document, preserve, and share vital information. Our ongoing commitment is to provide these communities with the tools they need to ensure their mobile media, capturing moments and histories, is securely preserved and accessible for generations to come.
Looking Ahead: Archiving for a Secure Future
As we commemorate Human Rights Day and reflect on the incredible work of our partners this year, our commitment to privacy conscious users remains steadfast. By equipping them with tools that prioritize the safety and integrity of their digital records, we are doing our part in advancing justice and accountability around the world. We look forward to continuing this work and expanding our DAC program next year.
