Bethany Aylward
(she/her)
Information School
PhD researcher
Full contact details
Information School
Regent Court (IS)
211 Portobello
Sheffield
S1 4DP
- Profile
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I graduated with an MA in Librarianship from the University of Sheffield in 2018 and a BA in Russian and History from the School of Slavonic and East European Studies UCL in 2014. I am on the organising committee of the Sheffield Feminist Archive as well as a trustee of the Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies a library, archive and cultural heritage charity in London.
PhD project
Title: "Capturing social movements: Web archiving needs of activist collections in Yorkshire"
My research focuses on the intersection of the community archiving initiatives and social justice movements in digital environments. The interconnectedness of these movements' development, particularly since the advent of the digital age, has not been fully examined by archival literature.
This project will contribute to understanding the role activism plays in creating, sustaining and using independent archives in the twenty-first century. The use of digital platforms within protest culture highlights a tangible need for archives that interact with activism to consider web archiving strategies, if they are to continue preserving participation in significant causes of our time.
My field-work will investigate the activist-archival landscape in South Yorkshire; their current web archiving capabilities; and their hopes for the future in terms of capturing content and how it will be used.
Supervisors
- Research interests
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- Community archiving
- Information activism
- Digital advocacy
- Critical archive studies
- Liberatory research
- Grants
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I am the recipient of a three-year University Research Resource Council Scholarship awarded by the Information School, University of Sheffield
- Professional activities
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Member of Association of Internet Researchers.
Events and conference presentations
ENQUIRE Conference Nottingham 2021- presentation; Alternative Futures & Positive Protest Conference Manchester 2021 - paper presentation; Web Archiving Conference Luxembourg 2021- poster presentation *all online*