Radical Recordkeeping — Re-thinking Archival Appraisal

Animal activists use eyewitness evidence shared on digital infrastructure to expose animal cruelty. However, cloud platforms that host activist records can threaten their longevity and community control. This research explores the concept of "radical recordkeeping" to understand how activists disrupt established norms. This thesis examines how activists appraise, memorialise and archive their records online, focussing on a case study of Direct Action Everywhere (DxE), a grassroots animal liberation group based in the USA. The research proposes a Critical Functional Appraisal (CFA) framework, a community-centric appraisal tool to support activist-led decision-making and secured narratives over time. The research aims to transform inequitable archival structures and progress theory and practice for the participatory archives movement.