This documentation follows the Collections as Data Facets structure outlined by the Always Already Computational - Collections as Data project. It describes the people, services, practices, technologies and infrastructure used to create APPDigital and aims to assist others planning similar efforts.

1. Why Do It

From its beginnings on the artistic fringe during the Hispanic Civil Rights Movement to its current status as the oldest and most accomplished publisher of contemporary and recovered literature by US Latino authors, Arte Público Press and its imprint, Piñata Books, have become a showcase for Hispanic literary creativity, arts and culture.

Arte Público Press, Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage (Recovery) and US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH) at the University of Houston (UH) launched APPDigital in 2020 to provide digital access to texts. Built using the Manifold platform, APPDigital provides annotation tools, rich media and robust community dialogue, transforming scholarly publications into interactive digital works.

Learn more about Arte Público Press at: https://artepublicopress.com/

2. Making the Case

Amid the move toward online instruction, this platform offers a virtual option for content and assignments. APPDigital continues the missions of Arte Público Press, Recovery and USLDH to provide wider access to Hispanic/Latino literature; to recover, preserve, and make available the written legacy of US Latinos; and to support the development of US Latino digital scholarship. APPDigital hosts recovered archival texts with scholarly introductions, as well as scholarly essays about archival texts.

3. How You Did It

APPDigital was made possible with a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation and support from the Manifold Digital Services Pilot Program, as well as the work of staff, Graduate Research Fellows and interns. Manifold provided training workshops and technical support forums for implementation.

People

This is an ongoing project and different people are involved at different times.

Arte Público Press Staff

Gabriela Baeza Ventura, PhD, Director of Arte Público Press & Co-Director of USLDH
Carolina Villarroel, PhD, Brown Foundation Director of Research & Co-Director of USLDH
Lorena Gauthereau, PhD, Digital Programs Manager, USLDH
Ryan Houston, Arte Público Press Graphics Designer
Adelaida Mendoza, Arte Público Press Production Manager
Mikaela Selley, Archivist
Linda García Merchant, PhD, 2020-22 USLDH-Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow

Graduate Research Fellows (various years)

Roselia Bañuelos
Iván Brave
Gerardo Cárdenas
Andrea Cuevas
Chris Flakus
Yanina Hernández
Madeleine M. Maillet
Julio Molinete
Elías David Navarro
Perla Ortiz
Camilo Rodríguez
María Sánchez Carbajo
Alonzo B. Silavong
S. Shine Trabucco
Alaíde Ventura Medina

Interns (various years)

Jakelin González-Hurtado, Bank of America Summer Youth Program-SERJobs intern
Fernanda De Jesus Avalos Gudiño, Alexandra L. Rowan Memorial Foundation intern

Collections

This project includes materials housed in the following Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Program Archival Collections. For more information on Recovery Archives, visit https://artepublicopress.com/archives/

Equipment & Technologies

Google Drive
Konica Minolta ScanDIVA (Book & Large Format Scanner)
Manifold
NewOCR (for OCR process)

4. Share the Docs

USLDH employed its Best Practices during the elaboration of this work, which guide the handling of Latino archival material and marginalized archives. In partnership with New York University Libraries, Arte Público Press adapted preservation standards based on the Guidelines for Preserving New Forms of Scholarship for web-based publications. The guidelines consider the preservation of significant versions, digital content and annotations created by the text’s author or archives donors.

Collections as Data Facets structure outlined by the Always Already Computational - Collections as Data project. https://collectionsasdata.github.io/.

Baeza Ventura, Gabriela, Carolina Villarroel, Lorena Gauthereau and Linda García Merchant. "US Latino Digital Humanities Best Practices." Arte Público Press. Oct. 2021. https://artepublicopress.com/digital-humanities.

Greenberg, J., Hanson, K., & Verhoff, D. (2021). Guidelines for Preserving New Forms of Scholarship. NYU Libraries. https://doi.org/10.33682/221c-b2xj.

Manifold documentation: https://manifoldscholar.github.io/manifold-docusaurus/docs/

5. Understanding Use

APPDigital is geared toward researchers, educators, students and community members interested in learning about US Latino history and culture. Users can create free accounts on APPDigital, which gives them access to highlighting, annotating and sharing capabilities.

The texts available on APPDigital make an excellent addition to US Latino, Mexican American, Ethnic, and American studies, history, or literature courses. Educators can create a private reading group and share an automatically generated invitation code that students can use to create annotations visible only to the class. Students may interact with questions the educator pre-adds to the margins, annotate the text with their thoughts and questions in the margins and respond to their classmates’ annotations.

Researchers and community members interested in using the platform outside of the classroom may use public or private annotations and highlights as they read to keep track of their notes.

Tutorials are available on our Learn page: https://artepublicopress.manifoldapp.org/page/learn

6. Who Supports Use

The platform is supported by Arte Público Press. Manifold provides cloud-based hosting and technical support.

The archival texts were preserved by the Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Program at the University of Houston.

In partnership with New York University Libraries, Arte Público Press adapted preservation standards based on the Guidelines for Preserving New Forms of Scholarship for web-based publications.

7. Things People Should Know

APPDigital was made possible with a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation and support from the Manifold Digital Services Pilot Program, as well as the work of staff, Research Assistants and undergraduate interns. This project is a part of Arte Público Press/Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage's US Latino Digital Humanities Center (USLDH).

Tutorials are available on our Learn page: https://artepublicopress.manifoldapp.org/page/learn

8. What's Next

Arte Público Press will continue to make selected archival manuscripts from Recovering the US Hispanic Literary Heritage Program's archival collections available on APPDigital, as well as contemporary publications.