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理论支持发现
How Insights and Theories Interact
October 12th, 2024
As I mentioned in the last post, there were two key insights after the first intervention. I attempted to compare them with the theoretical system of participatory archiving which I referred to.
发现一 The first insight
“在城市文化的主题中，专家与非专家之间的界限变得模糊，因为城市所拥有的文化资产可能更具有动态性，隐藏在居民的想法和日常生活中。”
“In the theme of city culture, the boundaries between experts and non-experts are blurred because the cultural assets could be more dynamic and be hidden in residents’ thoughts and daily lives.”
这种情况可能存在，但并非绝对真理，因为这一假设可能受到档案权力民主化（Cook，2013）的影响。民主化的程度大致可以分为两类（Benoit & Eveleigh，2021）：第一类是调解性项目，包括专业的和机构介入的调解；第二类是少调解/非调解项目，由参与者和社区成员自主运行。其中“啊！看温州”项目属于第二类。
更具体地说，我在研究中更加关注传统档案中未被充分代表的群体。Benoit和Eveleigh以南亚裔美国人数字档案馆为例进一步解释了这种方法。该档案馆的成立是为了记录南亚裔美国人的经历，并特别创建于传统档案空间之外。在积极收集历史材料的同时，该档案馆还参与了“数字参与式微观历史项目”（Caswell，2014年），鼓励社区成员自己创建新记录。
当我决定放大公众的声音而不是权威的声音时，由于我的方法论背后的逻辑，温州市民所持有的共同遗产、爱好或其他共同利益也将被突出，而这些无法被传统意义上的文化领域专家所代表。
在第三单元中，我注意到一些人拒绝了我的邀请，因为他们觉得自己不具备谈论城市文化的能力。而对档案权利民主化的进一步解释可能在未来的干预中起到作用：它可能会通过强调人们的声音在这种非调解项目中的重要性，帮助人们打破刻板印象。
This might occur, but is not a definite truth, because this assumption is probably influenced by the democratization of archival power (Cook, 2013). There are two broad categories in regards to the extent of democratization (Benoit and Eveleigh, 2021): first are mediated projects, which include professional and institutional mediation; second are less-/non- mediated projects, which are run by participants and community members. ArchiWenzhou belongs to the second category.
To be more specific, I adopted the thematic approach that focuses on groups underrepresented in traditional archives. Benoit and Eveleigh used the example of the South Asian American Digital Archive to explain this approach further. The archive was founded to document South Asian Americans’ experiences and specifically created outside traditional archival spaces. While actively collecting historical materials, the archive also engages with ‘digital participatory microhistory projects’(Caswell, 2014) that encourage community members to create new records by themselves.
When I decide to magnify the voices of the public rather than the authority because of the rationale behind my methodology, the shared heritage, hobbies or other common interests of citizens in Wenzhou will also be highlighted and can not be represented by the experts in the field of culture in the traditional sense.
During unit 3, I noted that some people declined my invitation because they felt themselves not literate enough to talk about ‘city culture’. However, the further explanation of this insight might be useful in the future intervention. It will probably help people break their stereotype by highlighting the importance of their voices in such a non-mediated project.
发现二 The second insight
“为了鼓励人们的积极参与，将研究者自身置于相对被动的位置是个不错的方式，于此同时需要尽可能创造能触发人们分享意愿的氛围。”
“To motivate people’s active participation, it is good to place myself in a relatively passive position, while creating the atmosphere which triggers people’s willingness to share.”
在参与式档案的文献范畴中，没有直接相关的学术理论。然而，由于参与式档案通常被定义为“以社区为中心且自我定义”（Benoit & Eveleigh，2021），因此可以从社区参与和赋权主题中获得一些有用的参考。
南拉纳克郡议会开发的“参与之轮”（Wheel of Participation）“为一个开放和民主的规划系统提供了理论基础，该系统鼓励使用适当的参与技术来实现既定目标——无论是信息、咨询、参与还是赋权”（Davidson，1998）。这一框架已经有被应用于世界卫生组织（WHO）欧洲健康城市倡议之中（Dooris & Heritage，2011）。
There are no directly related academic theories under participatory archiving. However, since participatory archives are often defined as ‘community centered and self-defined’ (Benoit and Eveleigh, 2021), some useful references are possible to be obtained from the theme of community participation and empowerment.
The Wheel of Participation developed by South Lanarkshire Council ‘provides a theoretical underpinning for an open and democratic planning system that encourages the right participation techniques to achieve the identified objectives – be that information, consultation, participation and/or empowerment’ (Davidson, 1998). This framework has been applied in World Health Organization (WHO) European Healthy Cities initiative (Dooris and Heritage, 2011).
(参与之轮 The Wheel of Participation)
“参与之轮”建议根据不同的目标确定适当的社区参与水平，而不是提供任何针对完全赋权的社区的固定指令。
这让我意识到，实现赋权或积极参与的方式不能简单地概括为“被动”。我的项目目标可以通过一些具体的方法进一步明确和引导。虽然现在还不容易得出结论，但希望随着项目在剩余时间内的推进，这一点会更加清晰。
The wheel suggests the appropriate level of community involvement to achieve different objectives, rather than give any fixed instructions targeting at a completely empowered community in city planning.
It helps me realize that the way to achieve empowerment or active participation cannot be simply summarized as “being passive”. The target of my project could be further identified and guided by some concrete approaches. It is not easy to reach a conclusion right now, but hopefully it can be more clear as the project develops over the remaining time.
此外，我在这周四与我们的语言导师Roger讨论了研究问题。起初，Roger无法理解我使用“文化意义”而不是“文化历史”的原因，因为我采用了“档案”这一概念，通常与历史相关联。这帮助我发现了我尚未详细阐述使用档案作为工具的动机：我的关注点是当代而非历史，但档案记录历史的过程可以让人们重新思考现代社会中的重要事物。因此，更多关于当代与历史关系的研究将有助于支持论证以及项目的品牌塑造。
In addition, I discussed my research question with our language tutor Roger on Thursday. At first glance, Roger could not understand my use of “cultural significance” rather than “cultural history” because I adopted the method of archiving which usually refers to history. This helped me find the gap that I did not elaborate my motive of using archive as the tool: My focus is contemporary era but not history, but the process of archiving history could make people recollect things that matter in the modern society. Therefore, more research on the relationship between contemporary era and history will be useful to support the argumentation as well as the branding of the project.
参考文献 Bibliography
Benoit, I.E. and Eveleigh, A. (2021) Participatory archives: Theory and practice. London: Facet.
Caswell, M. (2014) ‘Seeing Yourself in History: community archives and the fight against symbolic annihilation’, The Public Historian , 36 (4), pp. 26– 37.
Cook, T. (2012) ‘Evidence, memory, identity, and community: Four shifting archival paradigms’, Archival Science, 13(2–3), pp. 95–120. doi:10.1007/s10502-012-9180-7.
Davidson, S. (1998) `Spinning the wheel of empowerment’, Planning, vol 1262, 3 April, pp14–15.
Dooris, M. and Heritage, Z. (2011) ‘Healthy Cities: Facilitating the active participation and empowerment of local people’, Journal of Urban Health, 90(S1), pp. 74–91. doi:10.1007/s11524-011-9623-0.