about
Euromayday Online Multimedia Archive
The Euromayday Online Multimedia Archive is part of the research project protest as medium - media of protest at Lucerne University (Switzerland), funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF) and hosted by the IT-department of Lucerne University.
It was developed to collect materials around the transnational Euromayday Parades, including mobilisation materials and reports in image, video, text and audio formats. The Euromayday Online Archive collects and preserves these meaningful materials.
A comprehensive indexing system allows for systematic academic evaluation of the media use of a contemporary social movement; and invites the wider public to browse through its materials.
>> Visit the Euromayday Online Archive
Using the concept of precarity or precarisation, the Euromayday network is developing forms of political articulation suited for postfordist conditions. Since 2004, EuroMayDay Parades were organised in over 40 European Cities on May 1st. In this radical update of the International Day of Worker’s Struggles, interactive media are contributing to the concatenation of street and internet and the construction of transnational spaces of protest.
Megaphone and websites, soundsystem and fancy dress, spray can and online radio, poster and camera: Media are not only used for mobilisation and representation purposes. They also operate as an invitation for reflection and communication and a tool to construct political subjectivities by inspiring people to inscribe themselves into the figure of the precarious. In multiple ways, media are being used as tools to broaden the scope for political action. The Euromayday Online Archive provides insights in the productivity of a contemporary social movement.
What is being collected?
The collection is focussing on media materials produced in connection with the EuroMayDay Parades. This includes:
* Mobilisation materialials (leaflets, calls, posters, stickers, logos …)
* Websites
* Reports about EuroMayDay Parades (image, audio, video, text)
* Documentation of media use in public (physical or virtual) space
The multimedia archive was presented at the EuroMayDay network meeting in February 2008. This was accompanied by the offer/request to make existing archives available for inclusion. Additional advice will be gratefully accepted.
A wealth of media products is spread across several platforms ranging from commercial enterprises like flickr, facebook or youtube to political projects like the Independent Media Centers, as well as the websites of individual groups. Therefore, material is also collected on the internet. Additionally, the project team collects materials during the EuroMayDay Parades since 2007.
Licences: who owns the material in the Euromayday Online Archive?
The Euromayday Online Archive http://archive.protestmedia.net in its entirety is protected under a Creative Commons attribution - non commercial - share alike - 2.5 Switzerland Licence. Permissions extending this licence might be granted under protestmedia.net.
The digital material uploaded in this media archive remains in the possession of the authors. The sources of such material are accredited. Existing Creative Commons and similar licences remain in place. In case of doubt, authors will be contacted where possible. Materials distributed during Euromayday events are scanned and uploaded. The location where they were collected is registered. Material from private archives will be marked as such, depending on the preferences of the donator. Should the database accidentally contain non-authorised materials, these will be removed on request of the authors.
How can I search the Euromayday Online Archive?
The multimedia archive can be accessed and searched in three ways: full text search, timeline and category tree.
* Full text search can be accessed from the startpage und through the link "search" on the right hand side navigation.
* If you are looking for information on a EuroMayDay Parade in a specific year and city, you can search via the timeline. The timeline can be found via the link "search" on right hand navigation.
* The category tree can be found on the left hand side of the startpage and via the link "search" the navigation bar. On the startpage, you can search for all entries in one category or sub-category. On the "search" page, you can search the category tree using "AND" and "OR" combinations.
How is the Euromayday Online Archive programmed?
The archive is based on the Opensource database modelling software spunq. It was developed by the Vienna-based Opensource Software Business strg.at in collaboration with the project team. The archive will be hosted by Lucerne University until 2010. Ideas for potential hosting opportunities afterwards would be appreciated.
Why a multimedia archive on EuroMayDay Parades?
The multimedia archive has been set up to document and systematically analyse the production and use of media within the transnational EuroMayDay Network.
Social movement groups and networks tend to prioritise immediate use of their media production rather than long-term documentation. Although today, many materials produced by social movements are available on the internet, documentation of their materials remains insufficient. Changing and expiring domain names and broken links often make materials untraceable. Availability is often short term.
Only few institutional archives are focussing on the collection of social movement materials. By setting up the multimedia archive, the research project "protest as medium - media of protest" aims to make far-scattered materials accessible and contribute to a long-term preservation of social movement media production.
Contact
marion.hamm at STOPSPAM unilu.ch
