CoCreation series GLAM

The CoCreation project brings together artists and Wikipedia volunteers who will jointly dedicate a one-day workshop to the telephone directory holdings of the PTT Archive in Berne.

PTT Archive meets Wikipedia: Telephone directory stories from the past

Format

In a one-day workshop, the articipants will be given the opportunity to deal in detail with the (digitised) telephone directories and also with forms of communication, data storage and archiving and the handling of personal data.

Possible exhibition titles:

Hello, who's calling? Telephone directory stories from the PTT Archive
The telephone directory: communication stories from the PTT Archive

Background

The archive houses around 7,500 linear metres of archive and library documents on the history of Swiss Post, telegraphy and telephony (Swisscom). Some of the archive documents have been digitised and are publicly accessible via the archive's website. In particular, 635 telephone directories from all regions of Switzerland are available there and contain thousands of telephone numbers and contacts. The entries from the end of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century not only offer an insight into the communication landscape of Switzerland, but also tell family biographies and the stories of companies and businesses.

Questions and possible work field

How do we deal with this data?
What role did the telephone directory play back then and what does it tell us today?
To what extent is the telephone directory both a symbol of transparency and a risk to the protection of personal data?

Digitalization

In 2022, the production of the analogue telephone directory was discontinued and replaced by online search engines and platforms. This gives the archiving of the telephone directory a new meaning. What does it mean to still have a landline these days? What would happen if we called the numbers from the archived telephone directories? The project is an invitation to reflect on the changes in forms of communication and media and to integrate the materials in the archive into Wikipedia. The results will be presented at the PTT Archive.

Programme 7th of May 2025

11:00 Introduction and welcome by Heike Bazak + Sandra Becker
11:30 Review of the material + introduction to working with the material/the online platform of the PTT Archive // open exchange on possibilities with the material
12:30 Lunch break
13:30 Formation of teams of 2 (1 author, 1 artist) and focussing on specific sections of the archive/telephone directories:
Editing Wikipedia articles/creating new articles
Upload photo material to Wiki Commons
Developing the work pieces for the exhibition
15:00 Coffee break
15:15 Presentation of the results and preparation of the exhibition
16:00 End with decision on next steps

Github repository

https://github.com/DHBern/PTT_phonebook_data_tsv/tree/main/tsv

participation

Medea7 (talk) 18:29, 7 May 2025 (UTC)[reply]
Helga Broll
Salome Boy
Kunstwirkt
Yasa

results

Commons-Files

Commons category:GLAMCoCreationPTT-Archive