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Download It Immediately to Google Drive and Record an Entry for the Image in a Corresponding Spreadsheet HISTORIANS’ EXPERIENCES USING DIGITIZED ARCHIVAL PHOTOGRAPHS AS EVIDENCE Alexandra M. Chassanoff A dissertation submitted to the faculty of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School Information and Library Science. Chapel Hill 2016 Approved by: Christopher A. Lee Sandra Hughes-Hassell Matthew Kirschenbaum Ryan Shaw Helen Tibbo ©2016 Alexandra M. Chassanoff ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ii ABSTRACT Alexandra M. Chassanoff: Historians’ Experiences Using Digitized Archival Photographs as Evidence (Under the direction of Christopher A. Lee) Widespread digitization has presented scholars with unprecedented access to archival sources. In particular, the availability of archival photographs through online collections has been championed as an opportunity to fill in underrepresented histories absent from archival collections. Yet the degree to which scholars are using digital visual sources, and how they are using them, is relatively unexplored in the literature. In part, this can be attributed to the difficulties of modeling visual information use; no empirical models currently link scholarly interpretive practices to how scholars actually use visual materials. This dissertation sought to address these gaps in the literature by examining the experiences of one group – self-identified historians using digitized archival photographs as evidence in their scholarly activities. This study uses an embedded case study approach to explore how and why historians use images in the construction of their arguments. Fifteen participants were recruited during the spring and summer of 2015. I conducted semi-structured interviews with each participant, eliciting descriptions about their image practices and specific experiences related to image use. I used thematic analysis and thematic synthesis to reveal salient aspects of historians’ experiences as they interpret and decide to use (or not use) materials. To strengthen and verify the analysis, I used triangulation strategies at different stages in the study. The results of this exploratory research can be used to inform designs for archival description and access, and to provide guidance for historical image use. In particular, my iii findings disclose the various factors that matter to historians in their experiences interacting with archival photographs in digital environments. Examples of image use are largely absent from the historical literature; the case studies presented in this research help to illustrate the functional ways historians currently use digitized photographs in both research and instructional capacities. Each case also sheds light on the processes and practices historians employ as they construct evidence from photographs and supplementary materials. This research also makes important theoretical contributions to the LIS literature. While there has been unquestionable growth in access to digital sources, few empirical studies have examined scholarly interactions with digitized archival materials. Toward that end, this study introduces a conceptual framework for exploring how and why historians use digitized photographs. It presents a holistic methodology that focuses attention on information experiences as spaces for meaning-making in digital environments. Attending to my participants' experiences using photographs as historical evidence helped to reveal, in the words of Gregory Bateson, “the difference that makes a difference. iv To my parents Judy and Arnie v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am immensely grateful to the fifteen participants who contributed their time and perspective over the course of fifteen months to participate in this research study. Their particular insights and lived experiences were essential components in telling this story. This dissertation would not have been possible without the guidance, advice, and patience of my advisor, Dr. Christopher (Cal) Lee. Cal continually kept an open mind as I talked through various ideas and strategies, providing structure and endless suggestions for sculpting a dissertation topic out of vague connections of interest. Simply put, Cal made me a better writer, editor, and researcher. I am grateful for his support and guidance. I am also extraordinarily lucky to have been able to assemble a superior group as my committee members: Matthew Kirschenbaum, Sandra Hughes-Hassell, Ryan Shaw, and Helen Tibbo. Your careful attention and feedback at different points in this process were essential contributions. Thank you to SILS faculty member Diane Kelly for providing methodological guidance early-on. I’d also like to thank my good friend and colleague, Kaitlin Costello, for endless support, timely feedback, and simply “just getting it.” Friends and loved ones, thank you for being there. I could not have done this without you. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………....xi LIST OF TABLES……………………………………………………………………………….xii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION……………………………...………………………………….1 1.1 Statement of the Problem………………………………………………………………….4 1.2 Purpose of the Study and Research Questions……….……………………………………5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………….……………………………....7 2.1 Information Practices of Historian Scholars Using Primary Source Materials……..…….7 2.1.1 Research practices of humanities scholars……………………………………..….8 2.1.2 Information behavior of historians in archival settings………………………….10 2.1.3 Scholarly use of digital collections…………………………………………...….14 2.2 Describing Photographs in Archival Collections: History, Methods, and Implications…16 2.2.1 Institutions and photographic materials………………………………………….17 2.2.2 Descriptive approaches to photographic print materials…………………………18 2.2.3 Descriptive standards for digital image collections…………………………...…28 2.2.4 The problem with visual materials: Implications for archival access……………36 2.3 LIS Approaches to Studying Image Use…………………….………………….……..…39 2.3.1 Query analysis……………...…………………………………………………….40 2.3.2 Task-based analysis……………………………………………………………...42 2.3.3 Experiential analysis……….…………………………………………………….45 vii 2.4 Historians and the Use of Photographs as Evidence……………………….…………….50 2.4.1 Concepts of evidence in modern historiography………………………………...51 2.4.2 Historians and photographic use………………………………………………....60 2.4.3 How historians approach photographs as visual evidence…………………….…62 2.4.4. Methods for analyzing historical photographs…………………………………...67 2.4.5 Case studies: Historians using photographs as visual evidence………………….68 2.4.6 The current state of historical practice: Summary and implications………….….72 2.5 The Experience of Information: Methodological Approaches………..…………………73 2.5.1 Information as material practice: a short history………………………………...75 2.5.2 Information use in digital environments…………………………………………81 2.5.3 Theoretical approaches to understanding experiences in digital environments….84 2.5.3 Information use as emergent experience………………………………………....91 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY……………………………………………………………….95 3.1 Methodological Approach..……………………………………………………………...95 3.2 Rationale for Methodological Approach………..…………………………………….…96 3.3 Participants……………………………………………………………………………...101 3.4 Data Collection……...………………………………………………………………….104 3.5 Data Management………...…………………………………………………………….108 3.6 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………...………109 3.7 Reliability and Validity….…………………………………………………..………….115 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION………………………………………….……120 4.1 Summary of Cases………………...……………………………………………………120 4.2 Descriptive and Analytical Themes of Historians’ Experiences…………………...…..132 viii 4.3 Potential Image Use..…………………………………………………………………...135 4.3.1 Research practices in digital environments ……………………………………....135 4.3.2 Motivations in potential image use……………………………………………….139 4.3.3 Factors that matter in potential image use………………………………………..142 4.4 Evidential Image Use…...……………………………………………………………....149 4.4.1 Constructing modes of historical evidence……………………………………….151 4.4.2 Case vignettes…………………………………………………………………….152 4.5 A Conceptual Framework for Studying Historians’ Image Use…………………….….190 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION………………………………………………………...…….….191 5.1 Significance of the Study………….………………..……………………………….….191 5.2 Limitations of the Study………………………………………………………………...193 5.3 Implications and Future Work……..…………………………….……………………...196 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW RECRUITMENT POST…………........……………….……….203 APPENDIX B: INTERVIEW RECRUITMENT EMAIL…………..………………………….204 APPENDIX C: FACT SHEET………………………….………………………….……….…..205 APPENDIX D: VERBAL CONSENT SCRIPT……………………………………………..…207 APPENDIX E: SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEW PROTOCOL………….……………….208 APPENDIX F: PHOTO-ELICITATION INTERVIEW PROTOCOL…………………...........210 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………….………...………212 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Jorgensen’s twelve types of image attributes……………………………….........27 Figure 2. Stages of analysis and interpretation…………………………………………....114 Figure 3. Thematic analysis and synthesis of historians’ experiences…………………....132 Figure 4. Thousand Mile Tree, 1000 Miles West of Omaha..……………………………..154 Figure 5. Thousand Mile Tree, 1000 Miles West of Omaha, Looking West........................155 Figure 6. Thousand Mile Tree, 1000 Miles West of Omaha, Looking East………………156 Figure 7. Debris at P.R.R. Stone Bridge………………………………………………….157 Figure 8. Young Russian Jewess at Ellis Island……………………………………….….160 Figure 9. Minnie Hauk…………………………………………………………………....162 Figure 10. They Asked For Food and Got This……………….............................................164
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