DCMI Webinar: Metadata and Beyond: Understanding and Addressing the Representation of Chinese Students in University Archives with Radical Empathy
This webinar will present a research project that examines the representation of historical Chinese international students in university archives and the elements that can impact representation problems. Using radical empathy as a guiding principle, we explored how 124 Chinese students at the University of Illinois (enrolled from 1904 to 1920) were represented in the university’s archival materials and archives-supplied access tools (e.g., metadata records, research guides). We found that inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and inappropriateness (three “I”s) are the main categories of representation issues that can negatively impact discovery and user engagement, and we synthesized a “Three-I Framework” to illustrate the system of interplaying agents, structural conditions (e.g., Chinese students are predominantly record subjects, the necessity and complexity of Romanizing Chinese names), and documentation layers and processes that may shape the three “I”s in archival materials and archives-supplied access tools. The Three-I Framework provides a working foundation for understanding and identifying gaps and problems in metadata records that mediate access to archival materials about Chinese international students. However, the complex nature of the framework also reveals that enhancing metadata alone is not sufficient for fully addressing the representation problems and discoverability issues of Chinese students in archives. We advocate for a holistic and empathetic approach that goes beyond enriching metadata, encouraging reflections on subtle marginalization and systemic issues and a praxis of slow archives to develop thoughtful and creative remediation strategies.
This is a DCMI Webinar organized by the Dublin Core Education Committee and moderated by Education Committee co-chair Karen Wickett. For free registration use the registration code DCMI25.
Presenters
Ruohua Han
Ruohua Han is an Assistant Professor at the Morgridge College of Education, University of Denver (DU). She obtained her Ph.D. in Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests are in memory studies, personal archives and archiving, community archives, and cultural heritage. She uses human-centric, qualitative research methods to explore the diverse ways that people engage with personal archiving in their everyday lives and how cultural institutions can equitably represent and preserve the material traces of individual and familial life experiences. Her work has been published in Archival Science, Library Trends, Preservation, Digital Technology & Culture, and Records Management Journal and presented at the Annual Meetings of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), the iConference, and the Annual Meetings of the Society of American Archivists. At DU, she also teaches master-level classes on the topics of the organization of information, archives, and digital preservation.
Yingying Han
Yingying Han is a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research and teaching interests focus on critical archival studies, digital preservation, and community engagement with marginalized groups.
By integrating critical theories such as feminist ethics of care, her work examines how marginalized voices are silenced and misrepresented in archives and digital preservation infrastructures. She employs a community-based participatory approach to collaborate with marginalized communities, using community archives to build equitable, reciprocal, and trustworthy relationships. Through these partnerships, her research bridges community engagement with digital archives, empowering communities to document and curate their experiences and identities as counternarratives, transforming these stories into tools of agency. Additionally, her work also informs preservation practices, such as information organization systems, in memory institutions by incorporating grassroots perspectives and insights.
Her recent publications include articles in the Journal of Documentation, Archival Science, The Journal of Academic Librarianship, The International Journal of Information, Diversity, & Inclusion, and the Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), as well as the iConference.
Can't join a webinar at its scheduled time? Don't worry!
All webinar registrants will receive a link to the webinar recording after the event. All ASIS&T webinar recordings are also available for on-demand viewing from the Past Webinar Library on iConnect, the online community for ASIS&T members. If you need help accessing iConnect, contact ASIS&T Membership.