Call for Membership: Get Involved in the Community Archiving Workshop!

Ready to get involved?

Fill Out this Interest Form

Overview

The Community Archiving Workshop (CAW) seeks collaborative members to join our planning team and expand the CAW membership. CAW’s flagship activity is a one-day workshop designed to jumpstart audiovisual preservation providing basic training and hands-on experience inventorying community-held collections. Over the years CAW has expanded, developing more projects and resources, like the Training of Trainers (TOT), Digital Readiness, and Audiovisual Collections Care in Tribal Archives. 

The mission of CAW is to facilitate audiovisual preservation in community-held collections, build peer-to-peer learning as a foundation for long term preservation, promote community networking, develop free resources to scale and share widely, and maintain communication platforms for access to these resources. CAW members work together towards this mission by contributing their enthusiasm, ideas, experience, skills, and time. We seek to share skills, knowledge, and resources and to empower under-resourced, community-held collections through increased visibility and shared authority. With the support of dedicated members, CAW aspires to grow according to its mission and values of social justice. We hope you’ll get involved!

How to Participate

Below is a list of the various ways to participate, categorized by Organizational Role and Workshop Role. Organizational Roles are usually ongoing roles within the CAW organization, and require consistent participation. Workshop Roles are suggested roles for those who are involved in or organizing a specific workshop. Many of these roles may overlap. Members are expected to meet the time and work commitment for the role they wish to hold. (please see below for definitions of Membership Roles): 

Organizational Roles

AMIA Working Group Co-Chair | AMIA Working Group Member | General Member | Core Member

Workshop Roles

Workshop Team Leader | Workshop Team Member | Workshop Participant | TOT Trainer | TOT Trainee

For a clear list of expectations for each level of participation, please see below for Membership Roles.

Activities

  • Attend regular monthly meetings
  • Plan and participate in Community Archiving Workshops
  • Assist in project planning
  • Assist in grant writing and management
  • Represent CAW at conferences and regional meetings
  • Contribute to project documentation and website content
  • Assist in communications and social media

Preferred skills/experience

  • Interest in the fields of: public history, archival science, library science, and/or audiovisual preservation
  • Awareness and working knowledge of library and archives preservation principles
  • Experience with handling and preservation of archival materials, specifically audiovisual recordings
  • Experience with project planning and/ or community organizing
  • Ability to work creatively and collaboratively 
  • Comfortable with collaborative platforms, such as Google Drive
  • Social justice minded: a belief in amplifying the voices of communities who have been historically excluded
  • Commitment to the CAW vision: to share skills, knowledge, and resources to empower under-resourced, community-held collections to increase visibility and support shared authority.

Desired skills/experience

  • Comfortable with spreadsheets
  • Has participated in a Community Archiving Workshop

Changing Level of Participation

Members can change their level of participation at any time. CAW understands that changes in work and life can affect a person’s ability to participate. CAW’s objective is to be responsive, supportive, and empathetic to members who wish to change their level of participation, while ensuring that the group is able to meet its mission and goals.

Ready to get involved?

Complete this Interest Form and a CAW member will be in touch.

Any questions? Contact Us

Membership Roles

Participation in the Community Archiving Workshop can happen through different membership roles with varying levels of commitment. Community Archiving Workshop members meet year-round to develop and produce on-going projects, while the AMIA CAW Working Group is focused on organizing the workshop at AMIA’s annual conference and is a shorter-term commitment. Members can participate in either, or both, and are encouraged to find a role that best fits your interests and availability.

Community Archiving Workshop Membership

Members are involved in the development of the CAW model, nurturing community partnerships and network building, fundraising, and participation in public presentations.

General Member

(year-round, on average 1-4 hours a month)

Participates regularly throughout the year, with activities increasing as CAW events approach. CAW general members are expected to attend monthly meetings and contribute to some degree to the planning and/or operation of CAW projects. Expectations include:

  • Attend and share facilitation of monthly meetings consistently
  • Contribute ideas and collaborate on moving projects forward
  • Assist other members in project / committee tasks
  • Support opportunities for network building

Core Member

(year-round, on average 4-8 hours per month)

Highest level of involvement and responsibility with sustained activities and time commitments related to CAW operations and events. Can require attending multiple meetings per month, depending on workshops and other CAW projects. Can also involve any other roles related to CAW projects and committees. Expectations include:

  • Shared leadership on CAW projects and committees
  • Shared leadership on producing workshops (conferences and community-based)
  • Schedule & manage meetings (solicit and manage agendas items)
  • Manage deadlines (grant proposals and reports, newsletters, conference proposals, etc.)
  • Ensure that the projects and committees are on track with key milestones
  • Assist with grant writing and reporting
  • Contribute to online communication and publicity, including the website, newsletter and social media
  • Support outreach, including representing CAW in the public

AMIA Working Group 

The AMIA CAW Working Group is an arm of CAW that is focused only on organizing the workshop at AMIA’s annual conference. Membership in CAW can overlap with the working group and the working group reports back to the CAW group. Working group activities generally take place three to six months before the workshop date, at which time members take on specific workshop roles. 

Working Group Co-Chair

(one year commitment, on average 1-4 hours a month)

This role ensures the AMIA Working Group is active and has a presence at the AMIA conference and on the AMIA website. Expectations include:

  • Initiate and plan an annual meeting of the Working Group at AMIA
  • Initiate the planning of the AMIA CAW and TOT
  • Follow up with the AMIA workshop leaders and participants to offer support and encourage feedback
  • Report back to the CAW group on the AMIA CAW
  • Lead planning of the annual AMIA Community Archiving Workshop
  • Keep track of deadlines, e.g. AMIA Call for Proposals, newsletters, etc.
  • Communicate with AMIA staff / conference committee as needed
  • Participate in and communicate with Community Archiving Workshop membership
  • Initiate / schedule planning Working Group meetings
  • Create agendas and solicit agenda items for Working Group meetings
  • Ensure that Working Group is on track with key milestones in the planning timeline
  • Be aware / check in with Working Group members on progress 

Working Group Member

(one year commitment, on average 1-2 hours a month)

The responsibilities of this role revolve around the annual AMIA CAW and can overlap with workshop roles. It is expected that AMIA Working Group members will contribute to the planning and operation of the annual AMIA workshop. While this can be a year-round working group, the bulk of the time commitment is usually 3-6 months leading up to the workshop, with some post-workshop follow up needed as members wrap up deliverables with the partner organizations. Workshop planning is documented in the CAW Handbook, https://communityarchiving.org/handbook/. Expectations include:

  • Attend the Working Group meetings at the AMIA annual conference
  • Assist in the planning of the annual AMIA Community Archiving Workshop
  • Keep track of deadlines, e.g. AMIA Call for Proposals, newsletters, etc.
  • Solicit agenda items for Working Group meetings
  • Be aware / check in with Working Group members on progress

Workshop Roles

Community Archiving Workshops happen throughout the year. The following roles are suggested when organizing and running a workshop. Workshop activities generally take place three to six months before the workshop date, at which time team members take on specific workshop roles. 

Workshop Team Leader 

(3-6 months, on average 1-2 hours a month)

This role is responsible for organizing the workshop, developing the administrative set up of the workshop, ensuring the budget is met, ensuring the goals of the workshop are met, delegating tasks for workshop team members, and generally guiding and directing a workshop.Time commitments are required before, during and after the workshop event, with regular deliverables at each stage of planning. Most workshops require one to two Team Leaders. Expectations include:

  • Be the lead contact for the partner and site
  • Lead the team in delegating tasks and roles
  • Deal with  logistical issues that arise during the CAW
  • Keep track of the timeline and checklist
  • Schedule meetings 
  • Lead the group in collective decision making about the workshop

Workshop Team Member

(1-4 weeks before workshop)

This role begins when a workshop date nears, with the time commitment increasing a few weeks leading up to the day of the workshop. This role is connected with workshop events but may involve more time commitment before the event to prepare presentations or other workshop related activities. This role is applicable to both the yearly AMIA CAW event and any CAWs that are held apart from the yearly AMIA CAW event. Expectations include:

  • Support Workshop Team Leader
  • Attend planning sessions before and debrief sessions after workshop
  • Participate in a community archiving workshop as a presenter, table captain, and/or kit demonstrator

Workshop Participant

(1-3 days)

Could be a community member familiar with the community-held collections, or an archival professional, who shows up on the day(s) of the CAW to assist with inventory and assessment. Expectations include:

  • Participate in a community archiving workshop

TOT Trainer

(5-7 months, on average 1-4 hours a week)

A person generally enters this role after having been a Trainee and Workshop Participant. Involvement is heavy leading up to the CAW while training others in how CAWs are organized and operate. The time commitment is usually 3-6 months leading up to the workshop, with some post-CAW follow up as the trainees wrap up the CAW deliverables with the partner organization. Expectations include:

  • Lead Training of Trainers (TOT) community archiving workshop 
  • Update TOT curriculum and resources as needed
  • Host webinars and group mentoring sessions
  • Provide guidance to Trainees

TOT Trainee

(3-6 months, on average 1-4 hours a month)

This is a one-time role to prepare a CAW member to higher levels of involvement with the CAW group and/or with other workshop roles (e.g. Trainer, Lead Site Organizer). The time commitment is usually 3-6 months leading up to the workshop, with some post-CAW follow up as the trainees wrap up the CAW deliverables with the partner organization. Expectations include:

  • Actively participate in the training and the planning of the community archiving workshop
  • Attend webinars
  • Participate in 2-3 group mentoring sessions with trainers
  • Attend a meeting with the partner the day before the community archiving workshop
  • Lead and participate in the community archiving workshop
  • Attend a post-CAW session 
  • To meet our goal of expanding the CAW network, we sincerely hope you will use what you learn to organize your own CAW, with your new friends or others, somewhere, sometime