Mass Observing the everyday
Speaker(s):
Bio: I am responsible for managing and developing the contemporary Mass Observation Project and its national panel of volunteer writers. I support partnership research projects across both phases of the Mass Observation Archive, generating new material, increasing its use among the academic and non-academic communities, and building it's profile for learning, teaching and research. I currently manage the 'Mass Observing COVID-19' Wellcome funded project. This involves a collection of over 10,000 documents being catalogued and made accessible through an online database resource. Teaching and supporting students in Higher Education across different disciplines, is a key part of my role, introducing them to archives and developing their research skills using this unique collection as a source of secondary data.
Abstract:
This session will introduce participants to Mass Observation (MO) narrative data and demonstrate a new database resource (funded by Wellcome) to search and generate material from its Mass Observing COVID-19 collection. MO specialises in material about everyday life in Britain. It contains papers generated by the original Mass Observation social research organisation (1937 to early 1950s), and newer material collected continuously since 1981. It is a source of national qualitative longitudinal data, rich in peoples thoughts, experiences and opinions of everyday life. This session will explore the use and challenges of this material for learning and research across disciplines. www.massobs.org.uk