This document discusses using digital archives and source materials in education. It describes a new module on Irish drama that embeds archival collections from various institutions directly into class materials. Students analyze plays through facsimiles and digital archives, then discuss them in class. They also listen to related podcasts to reflect on how works have impacted society over time. The document outlines examples analyzing works through various archives and digital content, and advocates for responsive, student-led learning that links collections and encourages new pathways for discovery.

1. University
ofGalway.i
e
Sound and Vision and
Cyber Attacks –
Devising source-based
learning from digital
archive content.
Dr. Barry Houlihan
Archivist

2. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Embedding source-based pedagogy in the digital
classroom
Working across a number of disciplines: History, Drama,
Human Rights, Sociology.
Bridging the learning space from Reading Room to
personal classroom – combining manuscript and digital
collections for hybrid learning experience.

3. University
ofGalway.i
e
Broad timeline:
Developing new bespoke module
and stand-alone embedded
sessions through Summer 2021
Students returning to campus –
Late August 2021
Some Covid Restrictions in place
All students return - 28 Sept 2021
Cyber Attack – 30 Sept 2021

4. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e

5. The Role of Digital Archives and
Libraries in Society – President
Michael D. Higgins
“For universities and archives, digitisation
has opened up exciting possibilities,
enabling new ways of generating, curating,
and engaging with information.”

6. Some recent scholarship on
about literacies of digital
archive pedagogies.
6

7. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Discovering Collections, Linking Source Materials.
Manuscript Archives (and some digital collections) at
University of Galway and combined with digital archives
elsewhere:
NUI Maynooth
Trinity College Dublin
RTÉ Archives
British Library Online
NYPL Digital Collection

8. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Discovering Collections, Linking Source Materials.
Building in open online content that needed to be
located, checked, verified, and analysed.
Youtube / viral videos
Podcasts
News sources etc.

9. University
ofGalway.i
e
New bespoke module – DT2102 –
Irish Drama from Wilde to O’Casey.
MA cohort at the O’Donoghue Centre for Drama,
Theatre, and Performance.
Devised and delivered via the archive collections as
the primary class source material.

10. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Example: Oscar Wilde and the Irish Revival
Use of facsimile working pack of
Wilde material from the British
Library (and British Library
Online)
RTÉ Archives
Abbey Theatre Digital
Archive, Uni of Galway

11. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Teresa Deevy, Mary Rynne and Irish
Women Playwrights.

12. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Embedding podcasts and aural
archives as source material
Students set the published text
Discuss the plays/archival records
in class (Hour 1)
Listen to the podcast of the play in
class (hour 2)
Assignment: Reflect on the play’s
impact today: from text to voice.

13. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Panti Bliss and the Viral Video as
Source Material
2014 – A ‘Noble Call’ was performed at the Abbey each
night after the production of The Risen People
Singers, writers, artists, poets etc. gave a response to the
theme of the play.
Panti Bliss’ speech from the Abbey became a viral
sensation and a major rallying call for the Marriage
Equality Referendum of 2015.
Video is not within the Abbey Digital Archive
Exists only on Youtube ….. For now.

14. University
ofGalway.i
e
University
ofGalway.i
e
Freedom of Expression and Media Law –
The Kevin Boyle Human Rights Archive.

15. Facing our Hidden Histories.
Listening, Oral History, and the
Survivor-led Archive of the Tuam
Mother and Baby Home.
Open Access podcast, narrated by
Cillian Murphy, based on Survivor
Testimony.
15

16. Podcast as Digital Archive –
Creating the Record
Partnership with Galway International Arts Festival – A Digital record of
the Festival.
Leaf Work by John Gerard.
Galway, 2020 and Sydney 2021 – Podcast about the artistic response to
climate change, forming a new and responsive archive of the present.
16

17. University
ofGalway.i
e
Responding to a unforeseen learning environment.
Sourcing, evaluating, embedding new digital content into learning programmes.
Encouraging new and diverse learning pathways.
Embedding archive literacy within class time.
Set assessments that are student-led, reflective, and critical of information and the medium.
Linking our collections to external collections – discovering new learning pathways.
Support and share each other’s digital collections – we all benefit!

18. Thank you
Email: barry.houlihan@universityofgalway.ie
Image: Looking out from the Hardiman Library, University of Galway by
Chaosheng Zhang