Contact DIVA
Contact the DIVA Team for information on our collections or adding your resources to DIVA:
Contact the iLearn Support Team for any site issues or bugs:
(415) 405-5555
What is DIVA?
- DIVA is an open digital archive of collections that serves as a platform for sharing and discovering campus and community resources, previously hidden in their non-digital forms, from faculty and community partners. Thousands of digital videos, audio, text, data, and other files are available on this platform for SF State students and faculty as well as the general public. DIVA also incorporates a customizable collections management system for organizing and cataloguing your resources and data.
What kinds of media are supported and represented in DIVA?
-DIVA can support audio, video, archival documents, and photographic/image collections. Should you have a three-dimensional collection, DIVA can coordinate with you to find an appropriate means for photo-documenting your collection for digital display.
DIVA primarily utilizes mp3s, mp4s, PDFs, and digital image files for online display and streaming.
What kinds of collections are hosted in DIVA?
-DIVA hosts a variety of collection types, including fine art resources, historical photos, audio and musical recordings, speeches, historic newspapers, videos, correspondence, documentaries and public news footage, museum collections, poetry readings and podcasts, and more. DIVA is designed to display all types of collections, and the team can work with you to find out how best to accommodate and present your resources.
How are collections displayed and organized?
-Collections are each given their own unique collection area and landing page, where they are able to discuss and contextualize their resources. Collection items can then be hosted within any number of sub-collections or exhibitions organized by any context the collection owner chooses. Popular organizational methods include chronological, geographical, acquisition, event, and thematically-based exhibitions.
The DIVA Team is currently developing a series of unique features for displaying and organizing collections and resources, including customizable landing pages and digital exhibitions.
How do I use DIVA?
- Student: Students and the general public can use DIVA to find items related to research or topical interests, explore new interests, or supplement their classroom learning experience. Students typically employ DIVA’s search and browse features to assist in their way-finding, and will soon be able to interact with collections through new features we are currently developing.
- Resource owner: Faculty, staff, or unit leads can use DIVA to share collections across the University and world! When engaging with the DIVA team, they can receive consultation and help in digitizing their resources and documenting materials. All collections data in DIVA is stored on University servers and is digitally preserved to ensure ongoing access and discovery.
- Instructors are able to utilize collections to supplement their teaching material and facilitate a more unique learning experience. The rich and diverse collections hosted in DIVA serve as great illustrations, research elements, and instructional materials that can be easily accessed and incorporated into curricular learning. DIVA collections can also be searched and linked to through an integration with iLearn, the campus Learning Management System.
How do I get my collection in DIVA?
-If you are interested in hosting your collection in DIVA, contact the DIVA Team at digitize@sfsu.edu. We will schedule a consultation to assess your collection’s physical condition, organization and resource needs, permissions and copyright status, and educational potential. Provided that the collection meets DIVA’s physical, organizational, copyright, and educational requirements, we will instruct you on moving forward.
What is the process of putting a collection up in DIVA?
-After a collection is approved to move into the DIVA workflow the DIVA team will work with you to digitize any analog material, organize your collection according to its intended display, and populate metadata in accordance with industry standards and best practices. Once the collection is properly digitized, organized, and has complete metadata, we will work with you to establish a collection area that properly introduces and contextualizes your resources. Finally, our team will ingest the collection into DIVA and it will be publicly available online.
What happens to my collection once it is in DIVA?
-Once a collection is live in DIVA it can be accessed and viewed by the public from any computer or mobile device. We will monitor its usage and organization and make any changes to its display that become necessary. Analytics allow us to track visits, views, and downloads of resources, representative of their use by the public.
Resource owners are able to continually iterate and expand upon both their collections and metadata through our new, customizable collections management system.
What kinds of collections is DIVA looking for?
-DIVA is open to collections of all kinds, provided that the resources within it have significant educational and/or cultural value to the general public. Collection owners must also have copyright ownership or have explicit permission to display resources from the rightsholder, or the resources must be in the public domain.