Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

FROM THE FIELD TO THE NET: Cataloguing and digitising

cultural research material

Tiina Mahlamäki (tituma@utu.fi)

Department of Cultural Studies

Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

•Department of Cultural Studies: Archaeology, Ethnology, Folkloristic and Comparative Religion

•The TKU Archive: sound archive of folkloristic and comparative religion, 3rd largest tradition archive in Finland

•Material: interviews, photographs, slides, manuscripts etc.

•Projects: Saami folklore, oral history of Ingrians, Baltic-Finnic laments, ethnomedicine in Peruvian Amazon, oral epics in India, religious groups in Turku, etc.

Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

The Collcard Filing system• Medium for storing archive material

on computer• Based on fieldwork experiences• Can be filled in the Internet:

http://www.utu.fi/hum/uskontotiede/ collcard/collcard.htm (in Finnish)

• helps in the archiving process, uniforms the note-taking technique, helps in training new and inexperienced researchers

Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

The Saami Folklore Research Project

• The Village of Talvadas by the river of Teno in the Northern Finland

• 1965-• 1242 tapes, 442

photographs, 848 slides, manuscripts and maps

• the largest sound collection of Saami folklore

Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

Advantages of digitalisation• Saving the vanishing data• The using is not depending of the time

or the place• The using of the material is faster and

easier• Several researchers can use the

material at the same time• The original material is safe from

using and copying

Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

The digitising project• Started in 1999 (planning) and in the

autumn 2000 (scanning)• TripHighway programme• Two versions: one for the Internet (72

dpi) and one for the archive (300 dpi)• The project started with the digitising

of the material of the Saami folklore collection >Talvadas-database (restricted access)

Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

The Ethical Problem• The protection of the informantThe contract between the informant

and the collector Hiding the details that could lead to

the recognizing of the informant The contract between the archive and

the researcher who is going to use archive material

Osoite FIN-20014 TURUN YLIOPISTOPuhelin +358 - (0)2 - 333 51

Internet www.utu.fi

Questions still remaining• The copyright of the informant to

his/her own narrative• Small societies; the members recognise

themselves from little hints• Old material; reports with the actual

names of the informants have been already made; the informants might be dead so the permission is hard to get and the heirs could have disagreements