Shift Design Inc

Historypin is a free-to-use digital platform and engagement methodology now serving the public for over a decade. Designed to share stories around local history in order to strengthen community, the platform has been utilized by over 4,000 cultural organizations around the world. With support from the filecoin foundation for the decentralized web, we are embarking on a research project to examine the ethics and technical requirements of decentralized storage with a focus on the needs of community-based archives.

Shift collective continues to support the archiving the black web (atbw) project on a three-and-a-half-year $2.5 million investment from the mellon foundation to develop warc school, a web archiving training program for archivists and memory workers at black collecting organizations; a research initiative that will attempt to map and define the black web; and create several opportunities to increase web archiving collections documenting the black experience. Archiving the black web is driven by an urgent call to action to establish a more equitable and accessible web archiving practice to effectively document the black experience online. In partnership with the college of wooster, spelman college archives, the auburn avenue research library on african american culture and history, and (continued on schedule o) the southern california library. In 2024, shift collective continued its work on a two-year research project with the council on library and information resources (clir) to retrospectively assess clir's recordings at risk program. Recordings at risk is a national regranting program funded by the mellon foundation and administered by clir to help preserve "rare and unique audio, audiovisual, and other time-based media of high scholarly value through digital reformatting," according to clir. Over the past year, shift collective has designed and administered a comprehensive survey to learn more about the experiences of those who have considered applying for, applied for, or received a recordings at risk (rar) grant. We have also conducted interviews with grant recipients and other applicants, the program's independent review panel, clir's staff, and other stakeholders to evaluate the program's impact on collecting organizations and the communities they serve. Our research aims to shed light on the persistent challenges faced by stewards of fragile and obsolete audiovisual media and help guide future endeavors by clir and others "committed to the safekeeping of rare and unique audiovisual materials." in 2025, shift collective will publish a public-facing report documenting our findings.