Digital indsamling som metode: Erfaringer fra undersøgelsen Lokaleliv.dk

Resumé

The method of digital collection: Experiences from Lokaleliv.dk

Collection and research are two central purposes for the Danish Folklore Archives at the Royal Library. Like many other archives in the Nordic countries, the archive is experimenting with digital collection via the internet. In 2009-2010, the Danish Folklore Archives carried out the internet based questionnaire Lokaleliv.dk (“Local lives in Denmark”) together with a number of Danish archives and museums. The purpose of the questionnaire was to gather information about voluntary activities taking place in different local communities in Denmark and to examine how local communities come into being. The questionnaire thus focused on leisure activities and social relations among people in Denmark. It consisted of 73 questions, with the last question including the option of writing a text about one’s activities in the local area.

While the questionnaire responses document a rich and varied life of local communities all over the country, it has turned out that it is difficult to analyze the collected material with regard to the questions initially posed when the project was launched. Based on the initial experiences and results from Lokaleliv.dk, the purpose of this article is to discuss some of the challenges of digital collection. It discusses conceptual and methodological issues related to the study, and it argues that one of the key challenges in working with the findings from Lokaleliv.dk is based on a discrepancy between the questions asked and the methods used.