SPEC Kit 347: Community-based Collections · 101
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
Documenting Ferguson. Project Explanation and Purpose
http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/DFP-Plan.pdf
made. For example, one of the first contributors shared over forty images and found completing a form for each
item to be tedious. Responding to this concern, we put the dropbox work around in place. We will continue to
respond to feedback from contributors to make this process as welcoming as possible.
As the site continues to reach more users and more content is contributed, using a standard such as Dublin Core
and having minimal metadata facilitates interoperability and sustainability.
Archive-It -Archive-It is a service, built by the Internet Archive, that allows users to capture and archive born-
digital content that is hosted on the web. All captured content is served through the Archive-It webpage under
the capturing organization. You can see the Washington University page at https://archive-
it.org/organizations/786. The service crawls websites and digs into the site to capture content that is linked from
the main webpage. This method provides an archived website that is as true to the original in feel and
functionality as is currently available.
The DFP is utilizing the Archive-It service in two specific ways. The Washington University Archives is capturing
websites that are directly related to the campus and Wash U community. We are recording those sites and they
are publicly available on the Washington University in St. Louis Archive-It webpage. In addition to this internal
capture, DFP has coordinated with Archive-It to help supplement and strengthen their collection of web content.
Archive-It developed a Google form that allows the public to submit websites that relate to the events that
occurred and continue to occur in Ferguson, MO surrounding the August 9th, 2014 shooting of Michael Brown.
The DFP webpage includes the link to the Archive-It form, encouraging continuing submissions to their collection
of web content. WUA has also been collaborating with Archive-It, by submitting links directly. Both of these
methods have helped to provide a significant amount of material to assist Archive-It in documenting the
Ferguson events.
Approving Content
Once items are contributed, media files are stored on WUSTL hosted Omeka servers and an item is created in
the Omeka system with metadata entered by the contributor. An email is automatically generated and sent to
digital@wumail.wustl.edu so that an administrator in Digital Library Services (currently Shannon Davis) may
review the contributed item. Items are by default put into the Documenting Ferguson Omeka collection, but are
only viewable to those logged in to Omeka. After reviewing the contributed item file and metadata, the
administrator makes the item public, so that anyone may view it. The project team has created a list of approval
criteria for contributed items, which are as follows:
1. Content is related to the events surrounding the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson,
MO on August 9, 2014
2. File size of contributed content does not exceed 30 MB
3. Metadata submitted is deemed to be accurate by the administrator
4. Users have the right to submit content and submission does not infringe any existing copyright
5. Content does not provide personal information of the contributor or any other individual,
including addresses, phone numbers, etc.
6. Content does not endorse any commercial product
7. Content does not pose a risk of damage to the network, computers, or servers of Washington
University
2
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS
Documenting Ferguson. Project Explanation and Purpose
http://digital.wustl.edu/ferguson/DFP-Plan.pdf
made. For example, one of the first contributors shared over forty images and found completing a form for each
item to be tedious. Responding to this concern, we put the dropbox work around in place. We will continue to
respond to feedback from contributors to make this process as welcoming as possible.
As the site continues to reach more users and more content is contributed, using a standard such as Dublin Core
and having minimal metadata facilitates interoperability and sustainability.
Archive-It -Archive-It is a service, built by the Internet Archive, that allows users to capture and archive born-
digital content that is hosted on the web. All captured content is served through the Archive-It webpage under
the capturing organization. You can see the Washington University page at https://archive-
it.org/organizations/786. The service crawls websites and digs into the site to capture content that is linked from
the main webpage. This method provides an archived website that is as true to the original in feel and
functionality as is currently available.
The DFP is utilizing the Archive-It service in two specific ways. The Washington University Archives is capturing
websites that are directly related to the campus and Wash U community. We are recording those sites and they
are publicly available on the Washington University in St. Louis Archive-It webpage. In addition to this internal
capture, DFP has coordinated with Archive-It to help supplement and strengthen their collection of web content.
Archive-It developed a Google form that allows the public to submit websites that relate to the events that
occurred and continue to occur in Ferguson, MO surrounding the August 9th, 2014 shooting of Michael Brown.
The DFP webpage includes the link to the Archive-It form, encouraging continuing submissions to their collection
of web content. WUA has also been collaborating with Archive-It, by submitting links directly. Both of these
methods have helped to provide a significant amount of material to assist Archive-It in documenting the
Ferguson events.
Approving Content
Once items are contributed, media files are stored on WUSTL hosted Omeka servers and an item is created in
the Omeka system with metadata entered by the contributor. An email is automatically generated and sent to
digital@wumail.wustl.edu so that an administrator in Digital Library Services (currently Shannon Davis) may
review the contributed item. Items are by default put into the Documenting Ferguson Omeka collection, but are
only viewable to those logged in to Omeka. After reviewing the contributed item file and metadata, the
administrator makes the item public, so that anyone may view it. The project team has created a list of approval
criteria for contributed items, which are as follows:
1. Content is related to the events surrounding the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson,
MO on August 9, 2014
2. File size of contributed content does not exceed 30 MB
3. Metadata submitted is deemed to be accurate by the administrator
4. Users have the right to submit content and submission does not infringe any existing copyright
5. Content does not provide personal information of the contributor or any other individual,
including addresses, phone numbers, etc.
6. Content does not endorse any commercial product
7. Content does not pose a risk of damage to the network, computers, or servers of Washington
University
2
