Announcement of 2016 fall sojourn dates Monday - Friday, September 12-16, 2016 And ICA Global Archives 2016 Spring Report In memory of Gordon Harper and Steve Harrington Introduction Work on organizing the rich legacy of work of the Ecumenical Institute, the Order:Ecumenical and Institute of Cultural Affairs, residing in the ICA Global Archives, has been in process for many years. This work has come to feel like an endless marathon and we have felt the need to recast the work. Those of us working on the task are in the process of looking toward the future; coming to terms with the limits of our capacity to continue the work; and creating ongoing processes to respond to requests for access to archival materials. As we engaged in deep conversations about the future of the global archives we decided to engage Bruce Williams to guide us in creating an action plan for the next 18 months. We will be mining the common memory of people familiar with historical documents to determine which of the 20,000 documents currently on file in the archives need to be added to the 2000 existing digital documents. The creation of an intern program will increase the core of people working on the archives and make it possible for archive work to continue. The creation of a dynamic archive website will create access to archive collections.We will build a research support system for documenting and distributing outcomes of current ICA initiatives. Robust operations will provide the underpinning for these efforts. There is a growing awareness among people of the need for radical, significant and structural change on planet Earth. Making available the historical residue of EI, O:E and ICA experiences around the world, the ICA Global Archives is a research treasure which has the capacity to empower and enable dialogue within current awakening movements. Digitization of Critical Documents Team Members: Beret Griffith*, Steve Ediger, Jean Long, Marge Philbrook, Wendell Refior There are 20,000 documents in the ICA Global Archives. Only 2,015 documents have been digitized. The Document Digitization Team will develop a plan to scan and digitize the most important documents within the FileMaker Pro database of 20,000 entries. We will begin by asking select colleagues to determine categories in the Category List with which they are familiar. They will be given a section from the FileMaker Pro database. They will select individual documents for scanning. To enable this process FileMaker Pro has been printed and put into notebooks to track the work. The system of pulling, scanning and re-filing materials will be refined. Criteria will be developed for determining document selection based on societal need. People will need to be trained in the scanning process. Jack Gilles and Frank Knutson tested the selection process and selected documents which are in line for scanning. Individual and ICA archive collections around the world will be catalogued. It will be necessary to gather collection information for each of the collections. The ICA Global Archives location in Chicago will maintain a list of all global digital resources. Finally, digitized documents will be analyzed and collection decisions made. Victory is the digitization of critical documents by the end of 2017 and a listing of EI/ICA archival material around the globe. Creating A Dynamic Website Team Members: Paul Noah*, Frank Knutson, Steve Ediger, Wendell Refior, Doug Druckenmiller The task is to design and implement over the next year and a half a website which appeals to multiple user groups i.e. religious groups, students, casual observers or the curious. The steps to doing this are: - Research existing websites that meet the needs of identified generic user groups. - Write user stories about how the sites are used. - Build a site map for our content. - Find a designer to build the website from the user criteria we have developed and is compatible with ICA objectives. - Figure the cost impact of maintaining the site into the future. - Develop and refine the content. - Hand the completed site over to ICA. Victory is a completed website. Research and Funding Strategies Team Members: Doug Druckenmiller*, Jack GiIles, Oliveann Slotta, Steve Ediger, Jim Wiegel The Funding strategy for the archives depends on reorienting our strategy from digitizing the archives to building a research support system for documenting and distributing the outcomes of current ICA initiatives. This allows us to build infrastructure for fundable projects that will as a matter of course provide the necessary mechanisms to collect, archive and disseminate project results. Major project grants are always required to provide a plan for this activity. As a first prototype and example of this an archival component for the Town Meeting Climate Change Action being undertaken by the ICA will be developed as the model for other types of research initiatives. Thus, the archives is a critical research component of ongoing programs. Once an archive component has been envisioned, it will be captured in a concept paper to be presented to an international conference as a first step in identifying funding targets for a research effort. Academic research networks will have a stake in the research effort and provide contacts and collaborative support. They will also identify, collaboratively frame, and network the funding targets. Once a prototype grant is developed and submitted, other specific grant applications can be written for at least 5 major programs. Victory is a funded and established research partnership. Archives Operations, Interns and Volunteers Team Members: Steve Ediger*, Wendell Refior, Tim Wegner, Douglas Druckenmiller, Sally Fenton Operationalize the intern program We identified two ways to increase human resources as the core of people working on the Global Archive by developing internships and creating alliances with interested project-based groups. Both of these can be accomplished with minimal expenditures on our part. We already have begun to develop connections to intern programs. In addition to providing pre-professional work on the archives, our collection will become known around the academic community and potentially attract graduate level students that want to use the collections as research material. Last semester, Dominican University provided two interns that have been working on the Town Meeting collection to provide material for the planned Town Meeting Climate Change Action project. An additional two interns signed up for this semester. Additional universities to contact include DePaul, UI-Chicago, UI-Urbana-Champaign and possibly others. One key concern is the cost of intern supervision. A strategy to minimize undergraduate intern supervision is to have graduate student interns take on an active management role as part of their internship.Then we can begin identifying projects, recruit interns and work the program each semester. After a few rounds, we will evaluate the program. Another method for increasing our work capacity will be to engage groups already working to further ICA projects. A number of groups are coalescing, including some folks working on the New Religious Mode and others working on Training Inc. In particular the Training Inc group has been meeting virtually for over a year, participated in the Fall 2015 Sojourn and plans on participating in the Fall 2016 Sojourn. We believe that by identifying and connecting with these groups and offering them the infrastructure of our archive tools they can develop their own work. In order to do this, we’ll start with Training, Inc., identify group members, develop a liaison function between them and the Archives Advisory Council, have them participate in the archive process for their materials, and evaluate the pilot. Victory is an operational intern program and working relationship with one project-oriented group. Archives Operations All objectives hinge on a well-thought out and defined set of standard operating procedures and a robust technology foundation. We need to update documentation for operational procedures and plan for sufficient technology capacity. Archival documents both physical and digital are distributed across the world and Internet requiring standardized operations in technology and process. We will document our technology infrastructure and create a capacity building plan to sustain future operations. We will inventory our operations and add missing elements and update them. This set of tasks would make a great project for a grad student. Currently, certain aspects of the technology are well-managed and coming into focus. For instance our work on the FileMaker Pro archives database has been enhanced with the ability for users to access the database from any Internet connection in the world through a hosting service that Archives Advisory Council members are currently funding. Beyond that we have bits and pieces stored all over the place, some in a website managed and paid for by Tim Wegner and other pieces on the ICA Server. Unfortunately, the ICA server is just about out of room and we are unable to replicate the digital documents stored elsewhere. We will create a plan outlining tasks necessary to address all aspects of the technology infrastructure. Victory is a completed Operations Manual and Technology Plan. Conclusion: A New Paradigm The Archives Team has documented its plan and commitments for bringing the ICA’s historical assets into an accessible, interactive research dynamic. We foresee new relationships with groups and individuals that will bring both opportunities and support for the ICA. New people have stepped forward to replace two giants of our team’s journey, namely Steve Harrington and Gordon Harper. We have given ourselves an 18 month window to bring the archives operations into a working virtual reality. We look forward to having continuing support of the ICA-USA as a vital resource for ICA programs, relationships, support and reputation. During the summer of 2016 the Archives Advisory Council will plan for the fall 2016 sojourn. You Are Invited to the ICA Global Archives Fall Sojourn - On Site & Virtual Monday - Friday, September 12-16, 2016 Contact Jean Long: Cell 720-633-5008 Email: jean.long512@gmail.com