Day to Day at the ARA Conference - Friday
Day by Day at the ARA Conference
If you can only make one (or two) day(s) at the ARA Conference we have made a handy day-by-day guide so you can choose which day to come… Difficult, because every day is packed with content! You can find Wednesday here and Thursday here.
Our Friday keynote is: Archives for All! A Multisensory Approach to Archive Collections
purpleStars: Dr Kate Allen, Senior Research Fellow, RIX Inclusive Research UEL, Mr Ajay Choksi, Co-researcher, Technical Assistant, Rix Inclusive Research, University Of East London, Ms Samantha Walker, Co-researcher, Rix Inclusive Research purpleSTARS
purpleSTARS will be presenting as a team: the co-researchers at Rix Inclusive Research are people with and without lived experience of learning difference and disability who work with art, sensory materials and technology in collaboration with institutions like museums and universities.
The purpleSTARS name was chosen because purple is the colour associated with the economic power of disability and STARS stands for Sensory Technology Art Resource Specialists. They employ inclusive and universal design principles and practice-based research to co-create displays, events and engagement opportunities that appeal to all of our senses and lead to more inclusive research, engagement and spaces.
In their keynote - Archives for All! A Multisensory Approach to Archive Collections – they will share their many years of experience of working with museums and archives, sharing practical tips on how to create accessible experiences, making museums more inclusive and fun. They will be presenting some of their past projects including:
their interactive sensory labels at the British Museum
their recent UKRI funded Mindsets + Missions commission, Something New, Sensory belts and role play quest Operation Dragon at St Fagans National Museum of Wales, [LINK https://vimeo.com/1001142476?share=copy#t=0]
and
their recent collaboration with The UK National Archives connecting sensory engagement with the materiality of archives. Collaborating with Sarah Petter and Natalie Brown from The UK National Archives, they designed their own seals, inspired by the historical wax seals they touched, and also created their own paper with Conservator Victoria Stevens. These hands-on activities not only provided active engagement with historical materials but also added a material and personal twist to the museum and archive experience.
Friday’s programme:
In Track A – AI and digital innovations – several presentations look at the balance between traditional record-keeping skills and the ‘new’ digital world, along with intriguing presentations on Chinese fashion, video games and archiving in the Arctic. Track B – our conservation track – looks at life after Hanwell, as well as a number of presentations on environmental stability and lessons learnt from natural disaster. In Track C – Challenging Collections – the theme is challenging current thinking and taking a critical approach. Track D – training, outreach and inclusivity – looks at archives in partnership, global collaboration and queering the map.
Friday finishes with a plenary session in which delegates have a chance to reflect on their experience of the conference.
Details of Friday’s sessions are below and the full programme with full abstracts can be found here: https://openingdoors.eventsair.com/ara2025/programme
Day rates are:
Members:
One day: £285
Two days (any two consecutive days) £500
Non members:
One day: £385
Two days (any two consecutive days) £700
Thursday’s gala dinner can be added on to the day rates for an extra £89
Full rates and registration can be found here: https://openingdoors.eventsair.com/ara2025/registration
Friday’s Programme
Track A: New Horizons - Artificial intelligence and digital innovations
Analogue and Digital Technologies: The Best of Both Worlds in Preserving Orphan Microforms at the National Archives of Zimbabwe
Dr Amos Bishi, Principal Lecturer, Harare Polytechnic
Microforms, once a space saving and efficient solution for preserving critical historical and cultural information are increasingly becoming redundant, and the tide shifting due to the escalation of digital technologies. As microforms readers become scarce and the long-term stability of the microform format becomes questionable, it becomes essential to migrate and repackage, orphan microforms in digital format
Record Surveys: a classic concept for the future
Mrs Fiona Bourne, Archive Manager, Royal College Of Nursing Archive
If you qualified in the UK in the last few decades, your training would have included basic principles that you may now consider relegated to physical records. However, the simple records survey should not be dismissed as unnecessary in a sector pivoting into digital domination.
Challenging Legacy: Embracing Digital Scholarship for Global Futures
Ms Valentina Flex, Gertrude Bell Project Archivist, Newcastle University
The session will cover recent transformative work at Newcastle University Special Collections focusing on the UNESCO Memory of the World Gertrude Bell Archive as a testbed for utilising digital scholarship to encourage engagement with and interpretation of cultural heritage. Exploring the drivers, methodologies, and impacts of three recent projects – Gertrude Bell and the Kingdom of Iraq at 100, Evolving Hands and Beyond the Margins – the session will consider the ways in which improved metadata, enhanced digital resources and the use of emerging technologies and standards have increased the equitable accessibility of the archive by researchers nationally and internationally, particularly where the content of that archive is disputed and colonial, with a legacy of curation that has at times reinforced rather than challenged these aspects
Fashioning Chinese History: Chinese Fashion Archives in the Twenty-First Century
Dr Mo Shi
My presentation, based on my dissertation, will explore two key questions: What is a fashion archive in China? and How do Chinese fashion professionals understand history through their archives? Drawing from interviews with Shanghai-based fashion professionals (since 2000), I investigate how archives in the Chinese fashion system are being defined, created, and used to write their own history.
This work aligns with the call for innovation and imagination in recordkeeping by proposing an alternative, culturally specific methodology for archival development in the Chinese fashion industry. By challenging the dominance of Eurocentric frameworks, this research demonstrates how culturally specific approaches can enrich the global understanding of archives as dynamic and inclusive systems of recordkeeping.
Tecromancy: An exploratory case study of The Rebellion Group and the reuse of their videogame archive
Mr Alex Habgood, Archivist (Digital Curation) and Miss Charlene Taylor, Archive Manager, Rebellion Film
The UK has a long-standing heritage in developing videogames and participating in their surrounding culture. However, initiatives to archive around this medium can struggle with sustainability, as illustrated by the effort to establish the National Videogame Archive (NVA). After formally launching in 2008 from a collaboration between Nottingham Trent University’s Centre for Contemporary Play (CCP) research group and the National Science and Media Museum, it was effectively disbanded by 2014. Nevertheless, momentum around videogame archiving seems to be growing once again, as the British Film Institute’s Screen Culture 2033 strategy promises to embrace a wider screen culture, that includes creating the necessary partnerships and infrastructure to better support videogame preservation.
Full Circle: Why Jaguar Heritage Trust safeguarded historical data onto photo-sensitive film - stored forever in the Arctic Circle
Mr. Simon Clark, Ceo, Simon Clark Limited and Ms. Joanne Shortland, Head Archivist, Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust
Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust (JDHT) and Simon Clark Limited (SCL) will discuss the challenges involved in ensuring key digital artefacts will be available for future generations and will show how photo-sensitive film offers a real alternative to more common data preservation methods.
Track B Innovation, sustainable conservation and the next generation
Life after Hanwell: options, ideas, support
Panel: Elizabeth Stettler, Preventative Conservator Projects, Royal Armouries; Mr Pedro Maximo Rocha, Senior Conservation Scientist, The National Archives and Rhiannon Griffiths, Gwent Archives
After the news that Hanwell, one of the biggest environmental monitoring software and hardware suppliers in heritage in the UK, announced they would no longer be serving their customers, many institutions were shocked. What do we do now? Join us in this panel session to find out how a few archives are handling this change, learn about the many environmental monitoring system options, and bring your own ideas and solutions to share in an open discussion.
Learning from the Christchurch disasters of 2011 and 2015. Old problems – new solutions
Mrs Lynn Campbell, Paper Conservator, Campbell Conservation
On Saturday 4th September 2010, Canterbury, New Zealand was shaken by a 7.1 magnitude earthquake. The epicentre was 40 kilometres west of Christchurch and had a focal depth of 10 km causing widespread damage. On the 22nd of February at 12.55 pm there was a 6.3 magnitude aftershock that devastated central Christchurch. 14 years later what can be seen to have changed? Have the archives and libraries recovered? What new strategies and procedures have been put in place to ensure no damage occurs to their collection again?
Facing the future: Reimagining environmental monitoring
Mrs Amy Sampson, Preservation Manager and Mr Pedro Maximo Rocha, Senior Conservation Scientist, The National Achives
Storage Environmental Close Control Issues
Mr Richard Aitken, Senior Conservator, High Life Highland Archive Service
HVAC shutdown and alternative environmental control methods
Ann Attwood, Gloucestershire Archives
Old challenges, new solutions: Gloucestershire Archives has been working with Nick Grant at Elemental Solutions to decommission air conditioning plant and install more energy efficient control methods. This paper will describe the journey we have taken and the solutions we have adopted resulting in low energy control, lower running and maintenance costs and reduced carbon emissions.
Track C: Challenging Collections
Critical conversations: should UK archives reassess their holdings?
Natalie Brown, The National Archives
This session aims to bring together diverse perspectives from across the sector to consider the challenges, opportunities, and implications of initiating critical reassessments. Through dialogue and case studies, the panel will explore questions of professional responsibility, the sensitivity of these discussions, and how institutions can work collaboratively to address them.
Future First - How to remain sustainable in IM
Mrs Anne Cornish, Ceo. Rimpa Global
This interactive and engaging workshop presentation will challenge participants to think critically about the future of the industry and their role within it. The session will explore and evaluate the key aspects of current practices, including the skills required to remain competitive, the changes needed in practices and processes, and how we can reimagine the delivery of our services to meet evolving demands. Beyond operational shifts, the workshop will emphasise the importance of mindset, encouraging participants to adopt forward-thinking attitudes that embrace innovation and adaptability.
Track D: Next Generation - Rethinking Training, Outreach and Inclusivity
Global Collaboration: The Vision of the Global Information Consortium (GIC)
Mrs Anne Cornish, Rimpa Global
In a world increasingly shaped by data and digital transformation, the need for a unified voice in records and information management (RIM) has never been more urgent. This panel introduces the Global Information Consortium (GIC), a newly formed collective of international professional associations dedicated to advancing global standards, collaboration, and innovation across the information management landscape.
To engage with pin and place’: Queering The Map and the unsettled community archive
Eleanor Graham, Student, University of British Columbia
Within my presentation, originally prepared as a final paper for my class on Personal and Community Archives, I consider Queering The Map (QTM) and the records it holds in the context of recent scholarship on community archival theory. QTM is a counter-mapping platform where individuals can link a created digital record of their queer experience in relation to physical space for exploration by other users, and in my work I explore how the site’s use of a queer methodology throughout disrupts and unsettles the inherited hetero-centric norms present in community archivy
Archives in Partnership: One Community, One Purpose - Where Community Knowledge Meets Professional Practice
Karyn Williamson, Digital Preservation Analyst, Digital Preservation Coalition
Last year the Digital Preservation Coalition became a partner on the Towards a National Collection, Community Archives focused, 'Our Heritage, Our Stories project.' This project focused on researching and documenting the community archive sector across the UK, identifying challenges and suggesting solutions.