stranding

A Play of Archiving

I propose an open house where guests are invited to archive the physical material from Digitales 2004 by way of a play of encounters. I propose that this open house will take place on June 2nd or 3rd, 2003 from 9h-17h. In the house I will set up media stations where guests can access the material ( audio station, video station, digital image station, text station, photographic image station). Guests will receive an invitation to the event in advance and will be asked to come prepared with a character profile; this could be accurate or fantasy. Guest will be asked to confirm if they plan to attend.

Upon arriving, each guest will receive a small booklet within which to record their profile, encounters, and archive material information. Guests will be able to browse the archive material at the various stations. In order to play, guests will be asked to find something which interests them in a specific record, find someone to share and discuss that interest with, and record the item (including a brief description of the item), the subject of the discussion, and with whom the discussion took place in their booklet. Guest may record more about the discussion if they like. This play can be continued for as many items as the guest wishes. To finish playing, guests will be asked to summarize their experience by writing a brief reaction in their booklet.

The Physical Archive(s)
This system works through a collection of people. When one wishes to access the material in the archive, one does so through people. The archive is therefore more accurately described as a collection of archives. Material will be stored in relation to a person, so that instead of having sections based on subject, or media, there will be sections based on people. In a section based on Ms. X, for example, one would find her booklet (mentioned above) and the various materials that Ms. X had used in play. A search tool, conceived much like the index of a book, would be made available for those persons who would like a faster access to the material in the archive. This index would lead to the profile of each player’s archive. For example, an index of subjects ( made from the description that each player had made for a record) would lead to a page containing the profile of the player and listing each of their archive objects with additional information such as: the media of the items, the encounters, the descriptions, the titles, the running time… this index would have to be compiled by a ‘resource manager’ after guests had played the game and filled in their booklet.

Project Goals
This system is meant to work as a tangible parallel to the online system, which is outlined on the blog site. For June, 2004 I plan to hold the open house, prepare a prototype search/ index booklet, and prepare a prototype html venue for the online play of archiving. This html prototype will not have the programmed functionality or a database. The idea is to prepare a prototype ( for both a physical and online venue) which will facilitate the search for additional funding to complete the project.