Cinepedia Ethnographica: An Online Expert- and User-Generated Union Catalog for Ethnographic Film

FAIN: PW-253887-17

Documentary Educational Resources, Inc. (Watertown, MA 02472-1640)
Alice Apley (Project Director: July 2016 to March 2021)
Jennifer C. Cool (Co Project Director: March 2017 to March 2021)

Planning for the development of a centralized online catalog for ethnographic and folklore films from around the world.  The project would result in a metadata schema, workflow for enhancing catalog records, and a governance structure to maintain a digital resource that would serve a wide audience of researchers, film archivists, teachers, students, and members of the public.

This is a proposal to conduct planning and development for the creation of Cinepedia Ethnographica, an expert and user-generated online resource for new and historical ethnographic and folklore films. The principal activities of this grant period are intended to demonstrate the feasibility of creating an open access, union catalog of ethnographic film and to develop a comprehensive, strategic plan for implementation in the next stage of the project. These activities include the development of a metadata schema specific to ethnographic film; workflows for importing, creating, and enhancing catalog records; a partnership strategy to ensure sustainability; and a governance structure and editorial policies for expansion and enhancement. The outcomes of this work lay the foundation for building a collaborative, union catalog that makes ethnographic and folklore films discoverable, searchable, and sharable in new ways and by new publics.