Categorizing Queer Identities: An Analysis of Archival Practices Using the Concept of Boundary Objects

In this paper, we present a field study that examines the development, application and maintenance of classification systems and controlled vocabularies in three archives documenting lesbian, trans* and queer-feminist histories. Queer archives face the challenge of documenting identities that are inherently characterized by embracing fluidity and ambiguity. Thus, queer identities are diametrically opposed to archival procedures of unambiguous classification. At the same time, queer activism relies partly on coherent identity categories in order to be able to act politically. We examine the pragmatic solutions that queer archives establish when dealing with tensions between those requirements. Our goal is to contribute to the ongoing discussions about the ethical dimensions of classification practices. Following the work of Geoffrey C. Bowker and Susan Leigh Star (1999) we use the concept of boundary objects as a central theoretical foundation of our research. This concept allows for tracing the negotiations and decision-making processes that influenced the creation of a specific classification system. Through conducting semi-structured interviews with staff members of queer archives in Germany we collected data about their efforts to archive the history of queer communities. Although there are initiatives developing metadata standards for queer identities, these standards are only used to a limited extent by the queer archives we examined. Rather, those archives established individual strategies for categorizing objects that are rooted in their specific history. We argue that classification systems and controlled vocabularies themselves can be understood as artifacts documenting the history of queer movements

The close-up cloud : visualizing details of image collections in dynamic overviews

This paper introduces a visualization technique designed to uncover iconographic patterns prevalent within a collection while at the same time allowing close viewing of these particular details. Challenging an institutionalized understanding of overview and detail as inherently opposed, the intention of this research is to develop a visualization method that accounts for the iconographic abundance of a collection and encourages its casual exploration. Expanding digitization efforts have led to a growing number of rich cultural heritage datasets that are successively being published online. At the same time scholars are exploring the potential of computational methods to expand the scale and scope of art history. In this context, data visualization is often equated with a distanced perspective diminishing the intricate and intriguing details of individual artifacts. In collaboration with a museum of applied and decorative arts, we have devised a novel interface concept for the exploration of image collections such as historical glass plate negatives. Inspired by photographic plates on a light table, the resulting Close-up Cloud translates the art historical method of close viewing into the digital by combining it with a dynamic representation of quantitative iconographic patterns across an entire image collection

Close-Up Cloud: Gaining A Sense Of Overview From Many Details

Abstract of paper 0534 presented at the Digital Humanities Conference 2019 (DH2019), Utrecht , the Netherlands 9-12 July, 2019

Close-Up Cloud: Gaining A Sense Of Overview From Many Details

Abstract of paper 0534 presented at the Digital Humanities Conference 2019 (DH2019), Utrecht , the Netherlands 9-12 July, 2019