Demographic

Age: 58

Gender identity: Male         

Race: 2nd generation of Latin American migrant from his mother’s side, First Nation from his father’s side.

Indigenous: Yes.

Class: Middle class

Other identity (e.g. linguistic, religious): N/A

Education: Bachelor’s degree in Sociology

Language: English, French, Spanish, and Halq’eméylem.

Personal responsibilities: Married with 3 children; takes care of elderly parents and 2 uncles in the same neighborhood.

Location: From the Lower Mainland, has always lived in the Coast Salish territories, in Vancouver, Burnaby and New Westminster, BC.

Widgets: Tools & Platforms

• Collaborative Annotation – Annotator, Annotorius, Textus
• Crowdsourcing – PyBossa, Hive, Text Thresher
• Flagging Harmful Language – Description-Audit
• IIIF – Mirador

Brief Biography

Charles DeMarco is a half- 2nd migrant generation, half- First Nation man who lives in the Lower Mainland. He has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and has worked as a prep cook for 8 years for a fast-food restaurant chain, at several positions on Non-Profits, and now as a full time Unionist. He knows how to use hardware, but lacks in tech knowledge. He is learning how to do archival research and how archive hierarchy works.

Character description

Charles doesn’t mind asking for help, as he knows that through a healthy communication everyone can learn and that people have different learning needs and speed-curves. He is super calm as he knows that all his work, despite a bit slow, won’t be in vain.

Interest in archives & Life experience

Charles has always had ties with unions since his times as a Sociology undergraduate student. During that time and a bit after, he worked for a total of 8 years with customer service as a prep cook for a fast-food restaurant chain. After, he has worked for several Non-Profit Organizations in Metro-Vancouver, in diverse positions across diverse teams: marketing, production, sales, and HR. After a Sabbatical year in his 50s, he decided to change directions and work as a full-time Unionist for food and beverage workers in BC. Because of his plural professional background, his role in the Union is the one of a researcher and representative to understand how to conduct and bargain for demands. Only now, he is learning about archives and how to do archival research.

Why interested in archives: It is an integral part of his current profession.

Community affiliations: He is part of the Latin American migrant community in Vancouver, he is an active member of his First Nation community as well.

Represented in archives: Somewhat. He always sees parts of him in archives, but it is hard to find a direct representation of him on them. It is as if archives present fragments of his identity.

Professional affiliations: union member

Access needs and mobility: N/A

Motivations

Why: His work in essential for a better workplace environment and for the fight of the workers’ rights, for his community and all peoples in BC.

Frustrations

Barriers: Doesn’t know how to use archival research tools and doesn’t know where to look for. He needs to learn a lot in order to effectively do his work.

Info and Tech Access & Experience

Hardware: Despite a bit slow, Charles is skilled with desktops, laptops, and mobile devices.

Software: He is able to manage MacOS but prefers Windows and Android. He knows how to use MS Office package and navigates on the internet with ease. He uses social media rarely.

Network connectivity: He has reliable internet connection, at home and on his mobile device.

Experience with archival tools: None. He has heard of AtoM but doesn’t know what it is or how to use it.

Experience with archival frameworks: No experience.

Comfort with learning technology: He is slow when using technology and has some difficulty, but after some time he shows some proficiency. He learns tech well, but slowly.

Goals

What do they want to do: Do investigation on how Unions developed in BC and how they got conducted. What were the challenges and how can himself and workers learn from it.

What relationship do they want to the archives: A critical but positive interaction – learn from the archival research