The arqive: an open access digital repository of LGBTQ+ histories

Zachary Vernon, Cynthia Wang

Funding Area: Capacity building / Construcción de capacidad

Problem Statement: LGBTQ+ histories are under constant threat: establishments close, ephemera disappears, and keepers of memories are lost to violence, disease, and time. The arqive battles the erasure of queer histories by expanding how we preserve and experience those histories. Using emerging digital technologies and community engagement, we nurture seeds of memory into new growths that explore, challenge, and evolve understandings of our past. We seek to not only preserve history, but make it anew. As an interactive repository of geographically and temporally located LGBTQ+ events and stories around the world, The arqive presents user-generated narratives of LGBTQ+ history and provides ways for people to connect to the larger global community, as well as enact social justice activism through organizing and accessible storytelling while tacitly contributing to global solidarity through the sharing of stories, experiences, and places. These user-generated stories and narratives, pinned on a digital map, represent an archive of queer stories located across space and time. Stories can be anything from historical events (e.g.,: Stonewall), to personal happenings, to LGBTQ+-specific resources provided by local community organizations, increasing the visibility of LGBTQ+ experiences around the world, currently and historically, while also making these stories accessible to a wider public.

Proposed Activities: Proposed timeline: 1 year (Dec 31 2023–Dec 31 2024). The project requires a consistent and dedicated lead developer who can oversee the technical aspects of the project and provide guidance to teams of students at Cal State LA (our partner institution). This developer will need to be well-versed in the following technologies and development languages: React, React Native, Expo, Django, PostGres, Docker, Linux, JavaScript, Python, and Shell Scripting. Our proposal is to pay our current developer lead to handle some of the major needs detailed below, while using some of the funds to continue our work with the Cal State LA Computer Science Senior Design team who have been an integral part of the project over the past four years. January–August 2024 Our main priority during this time will be to standardize the project documentation to help us onboard future teams of students and developers and steadily grow the project with higher traffic and demand. This will require documenting the current API using OpenAPI standards, standardizing code usage (naming conventions and best practices), creating workflows for code review and submission, and the creation of a continuous integration workflow. The lead developer will supervise this task with input from our Computer Science faculty advisor and a team of CS Senior Design students. January–May, 2024 During the first part of this funding period, a dedicated team of students will tackle shoring up the functionality of the desktop website, specifically focusing on the ability to post multimedia stories (images, videos, links to other sources, etc.). Additionally, the team will work to improve query performance on the backend and streamline the performance of the site; reducing the amount of reloads and rebuilds the site does while in use. A test suite will be developed leveraging the documentation created to ensure functionality and security are maintained across these changes. June–December, 2024 The second half of the funding period will see further development of security features. This will require more knowledge and expertise in digital security best practices to ensure the safety and privacy of our users in areas where queer lives and livelihoods are at risk. Tackling this later on will provide ample time to research best practices and identify feasible and viable strategies.

Openness: First and foremost, The arqive is a free-to-use platform that anyone in the world with an internet connection can access. Stories and comments are visible to users without the need to register, allowing free access to all content on the platform without anything tying the user to the site (especially if they are using incognito browsing or a VPN). In order to post or leave a comment, users need only register with a working email account. As mentioned previously, users can choose to act within the site either publicly or anonymously, allowing for more privacy and security to those in areas that are unfriendly or unsafe for LGBTQ+ individuals. We are currently pursuing partnerships with other community partners like LGBTQ+ resource centers, health centers, and activist groups, as well as other queer mapping projects (like Queering the Map and QueerMaps.org) around the world. We also have existing relationships with scholars at other academic institutions, both locally and globally, giving us the opportunity to collaborate on research projects based on the content of this site. We have collaborated previously with archives that are social justice centered like the ONE Archives and LACA and will maintain these relationships while seeking additional opportunities in this area. In order to share the work, we have presented and continue to present the project at academic conferences around the world, as well as participate in local LGBTQ+ events (PRIDE events, resource fairs, etc.).

Challenges: The entirety of the project to date has been developed and designed by students (overseen by faculty) so, there will likely be core functionality and UI/UX issues encountered during the proposed activities. The platform consists of a web and mobile app utilizing multiple open source frameworks and requires diligence in maintaining as they keep pace with security threats and functionality issues. Due to the complexity and number of programs being utilized, our attempts at optimization and standardization may create new bugs and/or identify other areas of issue within the UI/UX that will require redesign and redevelopment. The documentation we have proposed in anticipation of this should help us to identify issues and avoid making the same mistake twice. Also, because the platform exists both in browser form and as a mobile app, there are sometimes inconsistencies in UI/UX between the two formats. Funding will help us find dedicated and knowledgeable developers who can help check and maintain the platform across its different devices.

Neglectedness: We have been fortunate enough to have received funding in 2022 from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in the form of their Digital Justice grant ($100,000). That funding helped us launch our initial mobile app and explore opportunities for gamification and Augmented Reality in the future. We have also had some support from internal grants at Cal State LA, and have applied to other external grants – especially at the local level from entities like the LA Public Library and LA County Museum of Art. As this project is entirely dependent on outside funding, we are constantly seeking opportunities to keep our platform free-to-use.

Success: Success will look like: Incoming students and developers are able to understand the project, begin work faster, and focus on building novel additions to the project. Less time spent troubleshooting issues (due to documentation). We can confidently share access to our API with other researchers/historians (After OpenAPI documentation and hardening our security). A responsive website that doesn’t break under heavy traffic load. A consistent user experience across devices. Alignment of digital security to best practices.

Total Budget: $25,000

Affiliations: California State University Los Angeles

LMIE Carveout: Cal State LA, from which The arqive currently operates, is bordered by four low-income, predominantly Latino communities: El Sereno, East Los Angeles, Lincoln Heights and Boyle Heights. The combined population of these four neighborhoods is approximately 284,000. In the largest of the four communities, East Los Angeles had the per capita income of $16,281 in 2018 (the last year data available), which is 50% of the national average per capita income of $32,621 for the same year (US Census Bureau, online accessed May, 2020). As much of The arqive directly involves Cal State LA students and local communities in our work, we actively engage and support LMIE communities through our work.

Team Skills: Cynthia is the Founder of The arqive. Her role is to oversee all aspects of The arqive project. She is responsible for managing the budget and personnel, and advises on research collaborations and content creation. She has a background in non-academic operations management and her research studies digital communications and social relations. Zachary is the co-Founder of The arqive. His role is to direct and oversee the creative and UX/UI design of the platform and promotional strategies/materials. He is an award-winning queer designer with a background in advertising, branding, and interactive design, with a focus on social good, community building, and engagement. John Hurley is the faculty supervisor for the Computer Science Senior Design Project team at Cal State LA. He has supervised the development of the website, mobile app, and privacy/security features from the beginning of the project. His knowledge of digital security and his guidance concerning the use of openAPI software has been integral to the project. Erik Blood is the current developer for The arqive and graduated from Cal State LA after spending his senior year working on the project. He maintains the website and acts as the technical advisor. As a previous student, he has direct experience and knowledge of the codebase—its possibilities and limitations. He is very comfortable with Linux and Full Stack Web Development, and is interested in the project personally as a queer person.

How Did You Hear About This Call: Word of mouth (e.g. conversations and emails from IOI staff, friends, colleagues, etc.) / Boca a boca (por ejemplo, conversaciones y correos electrónicos del personal del IOI, amigos, colegas, etc.)

Submission Number: 143