Understanding digital archives: Tips for effective online storage

After introducing the participants, the event host Shreya handed over the session to Deepthi Sasidharan from Eka. “The nature of collecting comes when you are a performing artist — it can be costumes, dance notes, jewellery, instruments and so on. Some will be having a large database of photos or videos from past performances that they don’t know how to organise. Some might have lost important documentation of past performances due to the floods, humidity or even to insects. Since it is lockdown and we have a lot of time on hand, this is the best time to organise your archive,” Deepthi said.

In the first 15 minutes of the workshop, the expert spoke about understanding an archive, digital archives, why an organised archive, what comprises an archive, how to begin and the process of archiving. She pointed out that digital repositories are borderless as they are meant to be. The digital realm is challenging all the traditional brick and mortar institutions to redesign and realign how information can be shared more collaboratively, shared the researcher.

Addressing the important question of the need of an organised archive, Deepthi explained to the registrants. “Archiving confirms ownership, identifies the object and records their location. It also aids the security of the objects, used to maintain the current status and descriptions provide evidence of ownership in the event of theft. Archiving your work as a performing artist can be extremely helpful for research, revealing new aspects to your work and most importantly potential for inspiring new work in the future through creative reuse. Your archive will help explore the key questions or who, how, what, where, when and why of artistic and business practice,” the researcher said.

In the two-hour workshop, Deepthi shared important tips for archiving digitally, how to store photographs/paper, how to store costumes/textiles since the majority of the participants were dancers. Deepshikha Kalsi, a leading textile conservator in India, also joined the workshop sharing tips on archiving textiles. Deepthi also answered the questions raised during the online workshop. As a concluding note, she said, “Digital archiving can be a nightmare without a plan. So plan what you want to archive — write it down and pin it against a time schedule or it will never get done!”