The Digital Archive of Łódź Citizens Miastograf.pl and the Community Archive of Bronowice - a comparative study of two digital community archives

Abstract

The article is a comparative study of two digital community archives (the Digital Archive of Łódź Citizens Miastograf.pl and the Community Archive of Bronowice) based on field studies of these archives conducted as a part of case study strategy. The author shortly presents the methodology and course of the research, as well as sources used in it (interviews, observations, scientific and press articles, websites and social network pages, office records accessed as public information). Then the author shows similarities and differences between the two archives found thanks to comparison of the collected data. Among similarities she mentions the type of collected materials (oral histories in original and copies of other types of documents, especially photographs), local subject of the collections and impact of specific local characteristics to the shape of the archives, as well as social objectives and activity based on projects. Among differences she names various ways of acquiring, describing and providing access to the materials and archival knowledge of the coordinator of the Community Archive of Bronowice.