COVID-19: Advancing the Digital Participatory Microhistory

Bonface Odhiambo is a University Archivist, United States International University- Africa. He is representing the Kenya Association of Records Managers and Archivists (KARMA) and International Council of Archives (ICA). 

The year 2020, will be one of the memorable years that will never fade away from people’s minds. Everyone will tell you how COVID-19 disrupted their lives, how the pandemic led to several deaths, how lockdowns brought about travel restrictions, how they lost their jobs and many more. Despite the myriad of shortcomings, the pandemic has instead reinforced the participatory or post custodial perspective towards digital preservation. Building on the UNESCO communication on turning the threat of COVID-19 into an opportunity for greater support to documentary heritage and ICA’s declaration that the duty to document does not cease in a crisis, it has become more essential and necessary to advance the digital participatory micro history. As a digital preservation enthusiast, I believe that this year, the current situation, has set the pace for a new paradigm in preserving heritage and culture. Let’s embrace “Digits for Good” as a rallying call, and let’s use the pandemic as an opportunity to advance the digital preservation landscape.

The World over has experienced deadly pandemics from ancient Rome to the modern world. Centuries before the COVID-19, small pox, yellow fever, plague and other contagions have killed hundreds of millions around the world. The year 2020, therefore is not left out, it will be one of the memorable years that will never fade away from people’s minds. Everyone will tell you how COVID-19 disrupted their lives, how the pandemic led to several deaths, how lockdowns brought about travel restrictions, how they lost their jobs and many more.  But, the same history, also shows how past pandemics have redefined and reshaped societies in many ways for example, many historians trace the fall of the Roman empire back to the Antonine plague caused by measles and chicken pox, which swept Rome during the reign of Marcus Aurelius around 165-189 AD. In 541-542 AD, during the Plague of Justinian that was caused by rats and fleas, many people thought that the end of civilization was upon them, as human race was near being annihilated.  Black Death caused by rats and fleas again, killed almost 200 million people in 1447-1452, and it heralded the transformation of the medieval society to early modern European society, during the dynamic phase of modernization. It was later dubbed as the golden age of bacteria by Benedictow, so one would ask, can COVID-19 be another golden moment in history? And how has the pandemic shaped the records and archives management community?

In my view, Covid-19, has reinforced the participatory or post custodial perspective towards digital preservation. Building on the UNESCO communication on turning the threat of COVID-19 into an opportunity for greater support to documentary heritage and ICA’s declaration that the duty to document does not cease in a crisis, it becomes more essential, was enough to drive the point home. This in part was a blessing in disguise to the digital preservationists and many institutions and individuals took the advantage of the pandemic to advance the digital participatory microhistory by fronting innovative projects to document the pandemic, for example, The (UK) National Archives is running a “Letters of Lockdown”  project and is inviting members of the public to express themselves and their experiences of the pandemic through written communication, inform of letters, notes, postcards or diary entries.  Mashal Ahmad & Kathryn Cassidy both software developer and engineers respectively, demonstrated how, The Digital Repository of Ireland initiated the 3D printing of face shields, at a time when personal protective equipment for health professionals were in short supply world-wide. A group of young Kenyans under the umbrella research data working group Kenya, visualizing COVID-19 in Kenya through capturing and preserving images from of the pandemic using their mobile phones. And finally, documenting COVID-19 USIU-A Experiences, is a project my institution is undertaking through collecting and preserving the experiences and reactions of USIU students, staff, faculty, and alumni.   Personal experiences ranges from direct observations to artistic reflection and touch on any number of themes such as displacement from student housing, working from home, the shift to online learning or teaching, social distancing or self-quarantining, or leading the university through the crisis.  Personal accounts can be in the form of a journal or blog, email, photos, videos, audio recordings, or social media posts and other materials that reflect the campus community’s experiences during the COVID-19 crisis.    

Digital preservation therefore relies on a wide range of skills and services, so practitioners and managers must coordinate a diverse set of skills, policies, tools and services from disparate sources within and outside their organizations as presented by this global pandemic.  Working from home has presented an extra- ordinary ability to communicate the importance of digital preservation within the community and with the community. In underscoring the digital participatory microhistory, the six high-level functional components of the OAIS model which, taken together, constitute the mechanisms by which the digital information is preserved and made available to a designated community, is therefore a guiding framework during this moment to ensure that the trend, becomes the new normal, and we don’t go back again to custodial approach of preservation where we wait as archivist for collections, we have learnt, the pandemic has introduced a new frontier. The duty to document does not cease in a crisis, it becomes more essential than ever. With the theme ‘Digits: for Good,’ WDPD2020 is an opportunity to connect the digital preservation community and celebrate the positive impact digital preservation has had in a year which has seen a sudden and global reliance on digital information and infrastructure.

As a digital preservation enthusiast, I believe that this year, the current situation, has set the pace for a new paradigm in preserving heritage and culture. The community and independent led initiatives of preservation which reflects Cook’s assertions that the fourth archival turn which is community led and community initiative is with us.  Let’s embrace “Digits for Good” as a rallying call, and lets use the pandemic as an opportunity to advance the digital preservation landscape.