copyright issues

As long as the majority of my sources will be self-generated or provided by different state institutions, then I would guess that my copyright problems will hopefully be minor issues. Although, you never know how the dices will be arranged. As we've seen from the readings the dilemma of "to copyright or not to copyright" is a false dilemma and the researcher with all his non-profit desire is left to the mercy of a couple of greedy corporations.

Aside from these "wild capitalism" rules, there is also another issue of a special concern for me: It is clear that the copyright law applies to one's work even after "the death of the author", then what about the copyright conundrum of a dead state? For example, the documents, which I am going to use were mostly produced by now physically defunct, but still psychologically influential Soviet Union. By the logic of the field, I might say that all the content produced by former or present states is open to the use of the public.

Since in my focus on the first half of the 20th century, I am going to use also some primary sources, which were produced by some individuals there are concerns about their private lives. In this sense, referring to some diaries or letters by current survivors, I will try to reach them and to ask for their permission. Finally, while recognizing the premature nature of my gesture, I will apply a Creative Commons "Attribution Non-Commercial License" to my final product.

project outline

Abstract

This project will potentially be a part or an annex of my PhD dissertation, which I will hopefully write during my participation in the PhD program of the History and Art History Department, at George Mason University. As my dissertation project will focus on the comparative analysis of two neighbor towns-Ribnita and Rezina-situated in the north-eastern corner of this map, which represent a de jure non-existent, but a de facto entity called Transnistria, my web project will entail a structure of different layers (maps, images, photos, texts), which will illustrate the evolution of these two localities during the first half of the 20th century.

The necessity of the project

In addition to the objective necessity of fulfilling certain academic requirements, the project will focus on the achievement of following goals:

1. It will serve as a platform for the cooperation involving both the scholars in the field and people in the region
2. It can be an instrument for the exploration of the online environment in different conflict-resolution strategies
3. It will serve as a valuable tool for teachers and students who want to explore the journey of "real people" through different political, social and economic contexts.
   

Main features

First of all, it will be a web based collection of different tagged items pertaining to the history of the region. Secondly, it will be possible for visitors not only to comment on each entity of the collection, but also to tag different elements inside the items. Finally, the web resource will also have a section, which will deal with my dissertation. This section will display an interface similar to a blog, with entries referring to my ideas on the dissertation and readings on this subject.

Audience

I have mentioned some thoughts on this issue, in my previous post. Since at that time, I was thinking about two projects, I might say that at this stage, the audience is a sum of the both projects' audiences. Thus, it is targeted toward scholars and local communities.

Technologies

For this undertaking I consider mainly two technologies such as: Omeka and GIS. First tool is for the management of the collection and second is mainly for the creation of complex environments from the individual items.

Interactive elements

Referring to the existence of certain Web 2.0 applications, I would say that, initially this project will rely mainly on the "Comments" feature enabling each visitor to comment on the items and on any blog post. The next step would be to develop the trust of the community and to involve it into the online mechanisms of documents collection.

some thoughts on a great movie

For those who enjoyed or who are going to enjoy this article by Errol Morris, I would recommend to dedicate two hours more and to watch the movie "Memento" by Christopher Nolan.

The movie is a multidimensional saga of one guy who is suffering from "this condition" of a short term memory loss. It is multidimensional because the action is not staged according to a classical linear time framework, but it is a series of flashbacks, which starts from a certainty and lead to an illusion. The certainty is represented by a murder, the illusion is represented by the tricks and traps of memory and of interpretation. In a sense, if the story would have been developed according to a typical detective story it would not have the same appeal.

Instead, the director added some layers on the subject of the murder. The murderer is a typical human enraged by a cause, which to him seems to be a "just cause" of revenging his wife's murder. As is so often the case, what to him seem to be a series of certainties, actually are no more than illusions, which are rendered possible by his guilty consciousness. As a matter of fact, it turns out that the murderer and his chaser proved to be the same person. Finally, the murderer decide to surrender to "his condition" and to tell his story in his own way. Instead of coming into terms with his own personality, he is becoming a prisoner of his mental condition.

In addition to this fascinating narration of the story, the movie entails some great historiographical questions, such as: the issue of memory and its mechanisms, the objective/subjective value of historical interpretation, the multifaceted nature of identity.

project audience

Since I have in mind two projects I will try to convey a general idea about the audiences of both projects. In the case of a website for The Moldovan National Archives, I guess the main audience would be researchers from all around the world, interested in browsing through numerous collections of the Archives and finding their way through them without making a journey to the Archives. Of course, it is impossible to provide all the content in the digital form, but at least, this web site will provide general guidelines, such as: available collections, hours of operation, archival policies in the area of document reproduction, telephone numbers and physical address of The National Archives and of other archives from the area. Since Archives are open not only for researchers but also to the local communities, the web site will also try to reach to the local population in terms of genealogical research or other services, such as, for example, the restoration of property rights after the fall of USSR.

Concerning the second project, the one concerning the analysis of the two localities in the first half of the 20th century, there is a chance that this project will have as its audience the local population. I am referring to "a chance" because as any new media project this one has got a lot of unexpected elements. Taking into consideration the fact that, nowadays, the two localities Ribnita and Rezina, which can be located in the upper right corner of this map, are divided not only by the Nistru river but also by the legacy of the Transnistrian conflict, then the web site can be not only a historical project but also a site of shared memories, where each community could share its moments of pain and hope. This being said, I am waiting for your comments and criticism.