Giving Life to Data: University—Community Partnerships in Addressing HIV and AIDS through Building Digital Archives

Abstract

The partnerships, especially university-community partnerships, that sustain globally networked learning environments often face challenges in mobilizing research to empower local communities to effect change. This article examines these challenges by describing a universitycommunity partnership involving researchers and graduate students in Canada and South Africa, working with a rural community in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa in order to develop a participatory digital archive of more than 3000 photographs and videos collected from various visual methodology research projects related to HIV and AIDS education. The main purpose of the digital archive was to place community members as active participants at the centre of data analysis, as opposed to recipients of findings, and to give voice to teachers, learners, health-care workers and parents in identifying the key issues and challenges affecting their lives in the context of HIV/AIDS and their impact on their communities. The article outlines the technical and conceptual issues in developing the partnership as well as the digital archive, such as developing a scanning protocol, producing a metadata schema, choosing the digital archive software and, most importantly, involving community members, in particular teachers, in the processes of coding the visual data and using the archive for HIV and AIDS education and community change.

Community-University Partnership to Enhance Wellbeing of Families: Factors That Sustain It

“…The roles and responsibilities of the partners are important in the university-community partnership with creating, producing and sharing knowledge and skills; both must be actively engaged and present in the process geared towards social change (De Lange, Mnisi, Mitchell and Park, 2010). Furthermore, the partnership should be one of mutual respect as the community 'allows' access for universities and not only act as gate keepers, but become mutual participants and engagers in the partnership focusing on improving the well-being of families and communities.…”