Digital preservation of reproductive health resources: archiving the 8th

In 2018, Irish citizens voted to remove the controversial 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution, opening the way for legislation about the termination of pregnancy in Ireland. We will provide long-term preservation and access to the many at-risk archives generated by grass-roots women’s reproductive health movements during the campaign. 

There is no consensus on the best practice for archiving social media posts. It has also been argued that archival curation has been skewed towards the dominant culture. We will aim to collect material from the six collaborating organisations for long-term preservation in the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI). We will develop best practice for archiving social media and create a registry of at-risk reproductive health archives and support further additions to the DRI. We will research the ethics and legalities of archiving this material and provide training in archival best practice. We will also collect and preserve additional material on the topic from the public.