Increasing the Evidentiary Value of Oral Histories for Use in Digital Libraries
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DESIGNING A GRIOTTE FOR THE GLOBAL VILLAGE: INCREASING THE EVIDENTIARY VALUE OF ORAL HISTORIES FOR USE IN DIGITAL LIBRARIES A Dissertation by RHONDA THAYER DUNN Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2011 Major Subject: Computer Science DESIGNING A GRIOTTE FOR THE GLOBAL VILLAGE: INCREASING THE EVIDENTIARY VALUE OF ORAL HISTORIES FOR USE IN DIGITAL LIBRARIES A Dissertation by RHONDA THAYER DUNN Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, John J. Leggett Committee Members, Frank M. Shipman III Anat Geva Walter D. Kamphoefner Head of Department, Valerie Taylor August 2011 Major Subject: Computer Science iii ABSTRACT Designing a Griotte for the Global Village: Increasing the Evidentiary Value of Oral Histories for Use in Digital Libraries. (August 2011) Rhonda Thayer Dunn, B.S., Xavier University of Louisiana; M.C.S., Howard University; M.U.P., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. John J. Leggett A griotte in West African culture is a female professional storyteller, responsible for preserving a tribe‘s history and genealogy by relaying its folklore in oral and musical recitations. Similarly, Griotte is an interdisciplinary project that seeks to foster collaboration between tradition bearers, subject experts, and computer specialists in an effort to build high quality digital oral history collections. To accomplish this objective, this project preserves the primary strength of oral history, namely its ability to disclose ―our‖ intangible culture, and addresses its primary criticism, namely its dubious reliability due to reliance on human memory and integrity. For a theoretical foundation and a systematic model, William Moss‘s work on the evidentiary value of historical sources is employed. Using his work as a conceptual framework, along with Semantic Web technologies (e.g. Topic Maps and ontologies), a demonstrator system is developed to provide digital oral history tools to a ―sample‖ of the target audience(s). This demonstrator system is evaluated via two methods: 1) a case study conducted to employ the system in the actual building of a digital oral history collection (this step also created sample data for the following assessment), and 2) a survey which involved a task-based evaluation of the demonstrator system. The results of the survey indicate that integrating oral histories with documentary evidence increases the evidentiary value of oral histories. Furthermore, the results imply that individuals are more likely to use oral histories in their work if their evidentiary value is increased. The iv contributions of this research – primarily in the area of organizing metadata on the World Wide Web – and considerations for future research are also provided. v DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to Danielle and Gabrielle – always remember to work hard, trust God and never give up on your dreams. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I wish to offer a special thanks to Dr. John Leggett, the chair of my advisory committee. He believed in my ―big idea‖ when others said it could not be done. Moreover, he and Dr. Anat Geva tirelessly provided insightful feedback on the numerous drafts of my research proposal and dissertation – thanks go to both of you. I also desire to extend a ―group thank you‖ to my graduate advisory committee for their guidance and encouragement throughout the course of this research. With respect to my family, I wish to thank my husband for his technical, emotional, and financial support. Also, I am appreciative of the many nights he allowed me to keep the lights on all night while I studied. Thanks also to my mother and father for their encouragement, and especially to my mother for pushing me to not only do my best but to be my best. Also thanks, Mom, for teaching me to write. Of course to my children, I am thankful for you and I am proud of the accomplished young women you have grown up to be. I also desire to extend my gratitude to the members of the Houston Archaeological Society (HAS) and the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground (FSJB) associations, who were willing to participate in the study. To Dr. Gregg Dimmick, author of the Sea of Mud: The Retreat of the Mexican Army after San Jacinto, An Archeological Investigation [22] and affiliate of both organizations: you have my deepest gratitude for ―opening doors‖ and arranging interviews with the members of HAS and FSJB. Additional thanks are extended to the staff and volunteers of the Brazos Valley African American Museum. Your willingness to help and persistent encouragement moved me toward this point. Thanks also to Scott Philips and the Texas A&M Digital Libraries Initiatives team; Manakin is awesome! To the archivists/librarians of Cushing Library: I am appreciative of the time offered as docents and help desk operators in my venture to understand the field of archival science. vii Finally, a note of gratitude to my friends and colleagues and the department faculty and staff: thanks for making my time at Texas A&M University enjoyable. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iii DEDICATION .......................................................................................................... v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................................... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... xiii 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1.1 The Global Village: Utopia or Dystopia .............................................. 2 1.2 Intended Audience ................................................................................ 3 1.3 Research Goals ..................................................................................... 5 1.4 System Overview ................................................................................. 6 1.5 Dissertation Overview .......................................................................... 7 2. SIGNIFICANCE AND MOTIVATION ............................................................. 9 2.1 Propagating Oral History ..................................................................... 9 2.2 The Digital Heritage at Risk ................................................................. 11 2.3 Discussion: Roots: A Saga – An Example of Why Quality Matters ...... 12 3. FOUNDATIONS ................................................................................................ 16 3.1 Technical Foundations ......................................................................... 16 3.1.1 Moss‘s Taxonomy .......................................................................... 16 3.1.2 Discussion: Digital History Objects ............................................... 18 3.1.3 Research Question .......................................................................... 19 3.1.4 Digital Annotation ......................................................................... 20 3.1.4.1 The Perceived Value of Annotations ...................................... 20 3.1.4.2 Annotation System Design Considerations ............................ 23 3.1.4.3 Document-Annotation Hypertext Model ............................... 24 3.1.4.4 Discussion: The Griotte Hypertext ........................................ 26 3.1.5 Topic Maps or RDF ........................................................................ 29 ix Page 3.2 Cultural and Social Foundations .......................................................... 31 3.2.1 Social Informatics .......................................................................... 31 3.2.2 A Cultural Framework ................................................................... 33 3.2.3 Literacy as an Issue ........................................................................ 35 3.2.4 The ―New Literacy‖ ....................................................................... 36 3.2.5 Emic versus Etic ............................................................................. 37 3.3 Summary .............................................................................................. 38 4. RELATED COMPUTER APPLICATIONS ...................................................... 39 4.1 Oral History Systems ........................................................................... 39 4.1.1 USC Shoah Foundation Institute .................................................... 39 4.1.2 Palaver Tree Online ........................................................................ 41 4.1.3 Books with Voices .......................................................................... 43 4.2 Annotation Systems .............................................................................. 44 4.2.1 Discussion: Collaborative Annotation Systems ............................. 44 4.2.2 XLibris ............................................................................................ 45 4.2.3 Annotea ..........................................................................................