Conceptualizing emergent archival forms: A case study of the occupy wall street "archive"

In this paper, the author begins to conceptualize how online archival collections can be understood and evaluated. The author uses the Occupy Wall Street archives project as a case study for looking at this new form of archive, one constituted by multiple collecting institutions. Expanding the concept of interface as a tool for examining an archival collection that transcends typical physical demarcation, the author analyzes the links and navigation between different archival websites and institutions, and draws conclusions about the nature of these new types of archival collections. This paper provides a new approach for research into online archives, suggesting future avenues of inquiry, including future work on studying user behavior within online archives.