In 2019 the U-M Carceral State Project launched the Documenting Criminalization and Confinement (DCC) research initiative with major grant funding from the Humanities Collaboratory (Carceral State Project, 2021). The DCC initiative involves about ten projects and spans domains of art, history, culture, anthropology, literature, public health, and more. The initiative “... connects academic researchers–including faculty, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates–with impacted persons, advocacy groups, artists and writers, and other allies” (Carceral State Project, 2021). The overall archive seeks to “... historicize contemporary systems of criminalization and confinement, chronicle the voices of those most directly impacted, provide resources to public and academic audiences, inform policymakers and journalists, foster community partnerships, promote inclusive methodologies and abolitionist frameworks, and preserve records of the impact of racialized criminalization and mass incarceration for future generations” (Carceral State Project, 2021).

LSA Technology Services Digital Scholarship, in partnership with the U-M Library Digital Scholarship Service Team, helped support planning and implementation. The project initiated contact with U-M Library in 2019 and together with LSA Technology Services Digital Scholarship, a virtual support team was spun up to assist DCC throughout the project lifecycle. This included help with conceptualizing, working out data workflows and policies, and designing and developing websites and online collections. Along the way issues of accessibility, preservation, sustainability, and equitable labor practices were addressed.  

At the beginning, a lot of effort was put into making sure the metadata standards across all the involved projects were in alignment with the research goals of the initiative and compatible with each other. For some projects there was Geographic Information Systems (GIS) consulting for digital maps, while others used platforms like StoryMaps for media rich narratives. Some of the projects used WordPress, while others used Omeka S for digital collections. The entire DCC initiative was brought together under a WordPress site that acts as an umbrella for the entire initiative.  

For the Documenting Prison Education and Arts project, one of the constituent projects of the DCC initiative, LSA Technology Services helped resuscitate a defunct database, while U-M Library team members aided in data cleaning and preparation. The Omeka S digital collection platform was provided to host the database and digital materials. By March of 2021 the 25th Annual Exhibition was successfully launched.  

Nora Krinitsky (Interim Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project and Project Director of the Carceral State Project) described working with the virtual team:

LSA Technology Services has been integral in helping our team conceptualize what it means to do digital scholarship. We had grand ideas about creating a database and digital public-facing work when we began this project, but we really didn't know where to start or how to do it with a project of this scale. We really needed the tools and language we've learned from LSA Technology Services. With their help, we've devised clear plans about collecting data and metadata, created sustainable workflows and sustainability plans, and gained new insights into the research we've collected. Thinking about our research in the terms of data, metadata, and a database was very counterintuitive for me as a humanities scholar, but my colleagues at LSA Technology Services have been exceedingly helpful (and patient!). Our work together has produced new ways to understand the relationships among the very different kinds of research materials we've gathered and revealed new ways to present this material and make it available to the public.  

Are you thinking about making a digital project? Want to learn more about how to get started and what resources are available? You can review our services, or drop into our Zoom office hours for research support. 

References

Carceral State Project. “Carceral State Project – Documenting Criminalization and Confinement,” 2021. https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/dcc-project/.