Virginia Tech Launches April 16 Archive

Coping with disasters like the shootings at Virginia Tech is difficult for many. In the aftermath of 9/11, some academics conducted research on the events. In my case, I looked at the use of wireless cell phones from all of the planes and crash sites, trying to draw some insights from this castrophe. It is therefore heartening to see people putting time and energy into an archive of materials related to the Virginia Tech shootings. The following is drawn from their press release. but see: http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/dutton/wp-admin/www.april16archive.org

BLACKSBURG, Va., April 30, 2007 – Virginia Tech’s Center for Digital Discourse and Culture (CDDC) is pleased to announce the launch of the April 16 Archive (www.april16archive.org). This new online archive assists artists, humanists, social scientists, and all other scholars who seek, today and in the future, to develop a better understanding of the violent events of April 16, 2007 at Virginia Tech. It is also available to the general public of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the United States of America, and the world at large as we come to terms with a local, national, and global event that will have ramifications for years to come. This archive works actively to deploy electronic media for the collection, interpretation, preservation, and display of stories and digital objects related to the tragedy of April 16, 2007 and its many effects as text, image, and sound. Developed in cooperation with George Mason University’s Center for History and New Media (CHNM), this project is receiving technical, curatorial and administrative support from Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff.