CENSURERENDE KONTEKSTER: At finde en virtuel samlings værdi

Resumé

This article sets out to exploit the leeway

that is allowed, perhaps encouraged, by the

notion of collection. The article proposes that

collections are apprehended in relation to

the connections/relationships that underpin

them. One understands these connections

by invoking context but, due to the subject

matter of the article, this is also seen to be

problematic. The article focuses specifically

on research being conducted on a EU funded

Information Technology project. The aim

of this project is to develop web-based

tools to facilitate work in film archives. The

collection with which the article is concerned

is not, though, those held in the archives

but, rather, the collection of individuals,

institutions and resources that have been

drawn together to work on this project.

Against this background the article discusses

the nature of the work being conducted and

the problems that have been encountered in

realising the vision that drives the research

forward. In the conclusion the term virtual

collection is cast in another light, which looks

less to technology and more to the social and

material conditions under which collections

both acquire and communicate value.