SOCIAL MEDIA AS A STORYTELLING

TOOL IN LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES:

BEST PRACTICES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Paper presented at the 7th annual Knowledge, Archives & Records Management Conference –

6 November 2014

Karen du Toit

Archivist

SABC Radio Archives

Twitter: @karentoittoit

‘PART OF THE ROLE OF CULTURAL

HERITAGE PROFESSIONALS IS TO BE

SAFE-KEEPERS OF THE STORIES OF

INDIVIDUALS. WHERE WE ONCE FOCUSED

ON THE LIVES OF THE WELL-KNOWN, WE

HAVE NOW KNOWN FOR A LONG TIME

THAT IT IS THE COLLECTIONS OF THE

"COMMON MAN" THAT REVEALS SOME OF

THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF OUR

SOCIETY.’

Melissa Mannon

HIGHLIGHTS

Introduction

SABC Media Libraries

Storytelling and social media

Five best practices for human rights storytelling in

social media

Basic Principles on the Role of Archivists in Support

of Human Rights

Libraries and archives using social media to

address best practices for human rights

Summary

Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

SABC MEDIA LIBRARIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Since 2009

Two volunteers

Website (Google Sites)

Blog (Google Blogger)

Twitter

Facebook

other

GO

OG

LE

SE

AR

CH

: “S

AB

CM

ED

IAL

IBR

AR

IES”

SABC Media

Libraries website

ranks 9/10 on

Google’s Page

Rank measurement

BL

OG

TH

EM

ES

SABC Media Libraries

SABC

archives

libraries

archivists

librarians

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUE?

YouTube: http://youtu.be/1avl4zOi1qU

SOCIAL MEDIA VS STORYTELLING

Purpose

Share beginning,

middle and end

Skin on the bones

Vulnerable

Own story

Embrace casual

Talking to friend

Brief

Use contractions

Light hearted

Punctuation and case

Break the grammar rules

Ask questions

Use pronouns

Storytelling (Cocoran) Social Media (McClary)

GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN

RIGHTS ENDORSED BY THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS

COUNCIL

FIVE BEST PRACTICES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

STORYTELLING IN SOCIAL MEDIA (POYNTON)

Explicit human rights strategy

Link human rights opportunities to your company’s

business

Include stakeholder views

Recognize challenges

Balance qualitative and quantitative reporting

SABC VISION, MISSION, VALUES

SABC Annual Report 2013

BASIC PRINCIPLES ON THE ROLE OF ARCHIVISTS

IN SUPPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

Draft (2014)

Awaiting comments: access@ica.org

Two sections applicable:

Section 2: Providing Access to Information in Archives

Section 5. Freedom of Expression and Association

ARCHIVISTS/LIBRARIANS USING SOCIAL MEDIA IN

SUPPORT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

1. Description to clarify human rights violations

2. Timely description

3. Archivists advocate and support the right of access to government records

4. All persons are entitled to call upon the assistance of an archivist to assist in establishing their rights.

5. Archivists ensure access to archives.

6. Promote programs to inform the public about their right of access to archives

7. Archivists, like other citizens, are entitled to freedom of expression, belief, association and assembly.

8. Archivists making disclosures of information showing human rights violations without threat of retaliation

SUMMARY

Libraries and archives telling our stories on social

media!

In support of human rights!

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Basic Principles on the Role of Archivists in Support of Human Rights. (Draft). Available from: http://www.ica.org/download.php?id=3388

Mannon, M. http://archivesinfo.blogspot.com/2014/09/from-obituaries-to-objects-examination.html

Poynton, C. http://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/blog-view/five-best-practices-in-human-rights-reporting

SABC. http://www.sabc.co.za/

SABC Annual Report 2013. http://www.sabc.co.za/

SABC Media Libraries blog. http://sabcmedialib.blogspot.com/

SABC Media Libraries website. https://sites.google.com/site/sabcmedialib/

United Nations Human Rights. (2012) Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Available from: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf

THANK YOU!