1. Audiovisual Cataloging using PBCore

Objective: Apply structured audiovisual metadata standards to document the relationship between original analog carriers and digital derivatives while improving discovery and long-term stewardship of community archival recordings.

Context & Why It Matters: Audiovisual materials require specialized metadata to preserve both their technical characteristics and cultural context. This workflow applies the PBCore metadata standard to a digitized interview collection from Lambda Archives of San Diego, incorporating descriptive metadata, contributor information, technical instantiation details, rights documentation, and community-centered subject terminology using Homosaurus.

Directory Architecture:

pbcore-audiovisual-cataloging/
├── README.md                # Project overview & metadata methodology
└── slightly-older-lesbians-interviews/
    ├── source-metadata/     # Original repository metadata & provenance
    ├── documentation/       # Metadata mapping, technical characterization & preservation notes
    └── pbcore/              # Structured PBCore XML metadata record

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2. Digital Preservation & Ingest using BagIt

Objective: Ensure baseline file integrity and safe transfers for incoming digitized community collections, protecting files against corruption and unintended alteration during ingest and transfer.

Context & Why It Matters: Digital materials are profoundly fragile; files can silently corrupt over time simply by being moved between drives. This workflow utilizes the Library of Congress BagIt specification (RFC 8493) to wrap archival digital objects from the Lydia R. Otero Archive at Los Angeles Public Library Special Collections into a secure preservation package, embedding cryptographic fingerprints (SHA-256) to verify data fixity upon ingest.

Directory Architecture:

lydia_otero_digital_preservation_demo/
├── 01_source_metadata/      # Collection inventory spreadsheet
├── 02_original_files/       # Original digitized image files
├── 03_bag/                  # BagIt preservation packages
│   ├── lydia_otero_digital_preservation_demo/
│   └── lydia_otero_fixity_test/
├── 04_documentation/        # Metadata, provenance & validation reports
├── 05_screenshots/          # Bag validation & fixity test results
└── README.md                # Workflow overview & methodology

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3. Web Archiving & Born-Digital Community Records

Objective: Capture, preserve, and document publicly accessible born-digital materials documenting contemporary community history.

Context & Why It Matters: Increasingly, community histories exist across social media platforms, event websites, digital publications, and other online spaces vulnerable to disappearance. This workflow demonstrates the appraisal, capture, preservation, and validation of web-based community records using WARC files, metadata documentation, and replay verification.

Directory Architecture:

san-diego-lesbian-community-digital-records/
├── appraisal/              # Selection criteria & appraisal decisions
├── captures/               # Preserved born-digital community records
├── metadata/               # Item-level descriptive metadata
├── preservation/           # Checksums & preservation documentation
├── documentation/          # Capture workflows & replay validation logs
└── rights/                 # Rights statements & ethical considerations

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4. Digital Exhibits & Collections Management using Omeka Classic

Objective: Develop a digital archival exhibit and collections management workflow using Omeka Classic, applying metadata standards and local web development practices to organize, describe, and provide access to digital archival materials.

Context & Why It Matters: Digital exhibits play an increasingly important role in making archival materials accessible to public audiences. This project demonstrates the creation of a locally hosted Omeka Classic installation used to manage digital objects, apply Dublin Core metadata, organize collections, and build a public-facing exhibit prototype. This project served as an early prototype for the Southern California Lesbian Archives Project (SCLAP), exploring digital exhibit design, metadata application, and public access workflows before expanding into a larger Omeka S-based digital archive.

Directory Architecture:

omeka-walkthrough/
├── README.md               # Project overview & technical workflow
├── walkthrough-video/      # Screen recording demonstration
├── screenshots/            # Public exhibit & admin interface
└── documentation/          # Metadata and technical notes

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Featured Project: Southern California Lesbian Archives Project (SCLAP)

Objective: Design and develop a community-centered digital archive documenting Southern California lesbian histories through archival research, metadata design, controlled vocabularies, and digital collections infrastructure.

Context & Why It Matters: Community histories are often fragmented across archival repositories, personal collections, publications, and disappearing digital spaces. SCLAP explores how digital archives can support discovery, contextualization, and preservation of lesbian histories through ethical metadata practices and accessible public-facing tools.

Technical Approach: SCLAP uses Omeka S as a digital collections platform with Dublin Core metadata, structured Resource Templates, controlled vocabularies, and linked-data practices.

Workflow demonstrates:

• Designing metadata schemas and Omeka S Resource Templates for digital objects, people, organizations, publications, and historic community spaces
• Applying Dublin Core metadata standards for archival description
• Using Homosaurus v2 linked-data vocabulary terms alongside SCLAP-specific controlled vocabulary terms
• Documenting provenance, sources, rights information, and descriptive decisions
• Building relationships between people, organizations, places, and archival materials

Explore the SCLAP Repository on GitHub → Visit the SCLAP website→