Jewish Digital Archive Project

The Jewish Digital Archive Project (JDAP) is a community project that connects people by creating an online home for old movies, photographs and oral history interviews.

About

The Jewish Digital Archive is a community project that is embarking on a major collection of Visual material for their archives with an aim of developing accessible interactive data for academic study and research. The Centre is now seeking to expand and deepen their understanding of Jewish social history through this project. Taking place in South Africa in a post- Apartheid era with new digital technology (like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom) the project aims to bring together new ways of remembering and shaping our understanding of Heritage and Social History. This period is often referred to as ‘The Time of the archive’ as news ways of recording our past are being developed.

Aims

JDAP aim to integrate the present with the, past making it a living archive. JDAP aims to ensure that future generations benefit from stories of the past and keep up with the present. This project is similar to another archival initiatives taking place at UCT for example: The Center for Popular Memory^[1] , The Michaelis Photographic Archives, and the Manuscripts and Archives Division of the UCT Libraries. However The Jewish Digital Archive Project fundamental purpose is to connect members of the Jewish Community in Southern Africa .

History

The Jewish Digital Archive Project (JDAP) started in 2011 with the aim of expanding and deepening the understanding of Southern African Jewish Social History. The archive project is based at The Isaac and Jessie Kaplan Centre at The University of Cape Town . The archive project is building on an earlier oral history project conducted in the 1980s at the Kaplan Centre.

Website

The JDAP website will soon go live. On the website, people will be able to view and share their histories and memories with others. The website will be an interactive project which is constantly being updated and co-created by the user. There will be a space for comments, insights and identifications which are essential when it comes to helping find people, form links and identify areas and themes of interest such as Genealogy. Those looking for stories, family, towns or historic figures may be able to find links through a search tool function. Registered users will be able to:Upload stories, videos and multimedia with a community of interested people, Post on a noticeboard, Make connections with other contributors, comment on photos and films and identify names and places.

Collection Content

The photograph and film collections in the archive follow the journey of Jewish people in Southern Africa from as early as 1919. Many of these people came from places such as: Zimbabwe, [the Platte land]], Potchefstroom, Cuba and Lithuania. The family collections tell stories of migrations that took place over time for a myriad of reasons, political economic, cultural and personal. Interwoven in these journeys is the dynamic notion of Jewish diaspora in Southern Africa. As a Social history project it examines the lives of examines the lives of ordinary and prolific people. Their experiences , beliefs and “quotidian historical data such as lifestyle, dress, diet and behavioural codes” all become important when documenting and capturing different periods of time.

Mediums

By uploading material on to the website precious material is no longer at risk of being damaged. Old Film is sourced, often in the form of 8mm reels. While a lot of this film contains images from everyday life and celebrations. The domestic home video ( i.e the batmitzvah or wedding video) can illuminate an important period of social history or contain previously unseen footage. Photography of both personal and public content is sourced. Photography can offer visual evidence of a particular time in history. Oral History Interviews can examine the lives of ordinary and prolific figures through first hand experience.

Copyright Procedure on Material

The acquisitions will be preserved in the UCT Manuscript and Archives at a high resolution and archived according to international standards.The JDAP shares the rights with you for education, documentary, research and JDAP marketing purposes. For professional photographers the copyright can be suitably adjusted.A selection of the digitized material will be uploaded to the internet for access by researches and the general public. Once you donate a particular collection the donors name will appear beneath it. The project will make use of digital watermarking for Photographs so they can’t be copied easily. If people want access to high resolution photographs they will contact the archive directly. Once your material is sent to the JDAP and has been scanned, a DVD will be returned. The original material can be given back or stored.

References

^ http://www.popularmemory.org.za/. Retrieved 8 May 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |So=, |8 May 2013=, and |The Centre for Popular Memory= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)|accessdate=2013-05-07}}

Literature

External links

[[:Category:]] University of Cape Town (−) (±)

(++): Discipline-oriented digital libraries (−) (±)

[1] ttp://www.popularmemory.org.za/. Retrieved 8 May 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |So=, |8 May 2013=, and |The Centre for Popular Memory= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)|accessdate=2013-05-07}}

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