2018 Volume 2 Issue 4 Pages 347-352
This article details the evolution of the Japan Disasters Digital Archive (JDA) at the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies (JDA). Since its inception in March 2011, JDA has pursued the innovation of a collaborative and participatory disaster digital archive. In discussing this concept, we offer perspectives on the role the JDA model might play in further developing disaster archives in Japan. In addition, we report on our past and ongoing outreach activities aimed at creating and cultivating user communities in and outside of Japan, and ways our unique participatory features encourage users to discover and use existing digital records of the disasters as well as to generate new value by adding materials and interpretations to the archive. We conclude with thoughts on the challenges of disaster archiving in Japan and hopes for the Japan Society of Digital Archive.
