Digital archives and Ghanaian history: Potential and challenges

Abstract

The access to digitised archival material is changing the premises for doing historical research as it changes the relationship between archives and users and facilitates new ways to do historical research. While this article argues that digital archives present opportunities for researchers and students alike, the amazing rise of digital archives is not unproblematic. On the contrary, digitised material is both creating new and reviving old theoretical and methodological pitfalls with regard to how knowledge of the past is created. The use of digital archives is far from unambiguous, and sober assessments of challenges are as important as assessments of their potential.