Ongoing Phd-projects at the Dept of ALM
On this page you can read more about the on-going projects by the departments Phd-students.
Ida Grönroos (contact information): Delicate Matters - Records of Social Vulnerability in Swedish Archives
In my research I want to examine how official records that document vulnerability are handled by the people responsible for managing them. How do professional archivists perceive and judge vulnerability, and how do they deal with the disclosure of sensitive information to people who request it?
I will study the perception of vulnerability amongst archivists handling disclosures of sensitive information in records of social services and psychiatric care. I will put light on the fact that the archivists are individuals and not only anonymous agents of bureaucracy, carrying out fixed procedures. On the contrary, they actively assess the relevance of information they may or may not disclose to people who request access to various documents. How exactly do they do this? And what are the consequences of them doing so (or not)? The research will address issues of dependency, vulnerability, dignity and privacy, as well as the politics and ethics of revelation.
My PhD project is part of the Engaging Vulnerability program, a decade-long interdisciplinary research program at Uppsala University financed with the support of the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet). http://www.engagingvulnerability.se/
The thesis (monograph) will be written in English.
Tutors: Kerstin Rydbeck, Reine Rydén and Mats Hyvönen.
Zanna Friberg (contact information):
Maps of archaeological curation
My PhD research examines the curation of archaeological legacy data across different repositories like museums, archives and libraries. Looking at a Swedish context, I map the knowledge organisation systems archaeological data are managed within and pay attention to traces of continuity and discontinuity in data description, both historically and inter-institutionally.
My PhD project is part of the research project CAPTURE. The CAPTURE project is concerned with paradata (data on the processes involved in production and (re)use of data) with a focus on archaeological and cultural heritage data. More information about CAPTURE can be found under Ongoing research projects at the Department of ALM.
The thesis (Monograph) will be written in English.
Tutors: Isto Huvila, Lisa Börjesson and Olle Sköld.
Christer Eld: The Library as a Historical Document: The Preserved Library of the Swedish National Institute for Race Biology
The dissertation project's point of departure is the idea of the library as a historical document that can tell us about the activities conducted by their patrons. Libraries are created for a reason. Various organisations shapes their libraries based on their different needs and activities, and this is especially true regarding knowledge producing institutions. Books and other documents are acquired based on their intellectual content, such as the subjects they treat. Therefore, libraries become a mirror or physical manifestation of the intellectual activities of the organisation in question.
From this notion, of the library as a knowledge reproducing institution that reflects the organisations activities, the preserved library collections and catalogues of the Swedish National Institute for Race Biology (Statens institut för rasbiologi) will be studied, a eugenic research centre which operated in Uppsala between 1922 and 1958.
The thesis (monograph) will be written in Swedish.
Tutors: Kerstin Rydbeck and Ulrika Kjellman.
Dydimus Zengenene Managing participatory ecologies memory modalities
I am working on a project which seeks to explore and understand virtual ecologies as constructed by participatory online communities and mediated by new media infrastructures. It seeks to investigate the resources, people and activities that constitute online memory from a network perspective. Using cases, the study seeks to understand the dynamics of how virtual ecologies emerge, evolve and sustain themselves. It will also seek to identify institutional points of interventions in supporting self-sustaining communities to ensure usefulness of resultant participatory memory constructions. The project employs multiple methodologies to inquire into virtual communities. Historical web data is analyzed to determine the nature and evolution of virtual ecologies as constructed and facilitated by participatory online communities. Social Network Analysis tools and methodologies will be applied to visualize and explain the nature of these ecologies especially the relationships which emerge from participatory activities. Documents will be analyzed to map existing communities and to help in determining frameworks of managing online communities in given cases. Interviews will be conducted to provide further insights into undocumented complexities in dealing with participatory communities. Wikipedia is the main case study in this research. The result is an article-based thesis which will explore the different aspects of understanding and managing online ecologies.
The thesis will be written in English.
Tutors: Isto Huvila and Olle Sköld.