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The Common Archive for Documents and

Material Concerning UFOs and Fringe Sciences
17.09.2016

In many countries, UFO research is carried out by private individuals or groups that document their activities,
collect and archive relevant material autonomously. UFO organizations and researchers in Germany also have
their own document collections and archives. In times of digitalization and disclosure of national UFO files in
more and more countries (overview from the end of 2009),
the amount of digitally available material on the
internet as well as in private collections keeps increasing. Thus, there is a growing demand
for enabling and
supporting UFO research by a suitable management of data, information, and knowledge. This applies to
discoverableness, searchability, consistency, conservation, protection and security of data, documents, and
material that is relevant for scientific issues regarding UFOs.

Throughout the world, several organizations and researchers devote time to tasks concerning archiving and
provisioning of UFO-related materials. In particular to be mentioned are the Archives for the Unexplained,
resident in Sweden, being the biggest independent foundation for archiving of material related to fringe science
phenomena, and being responsible for the preservation of numerous archives of well-known UFO researchers.
Established in Texas, USA, the non-profit Anomaly Archives keeps US-american research materials in their
library. A long list of further personal and institutional archives and collections can be viewed on the website of
http://german-ufo-research.org/en/blog/common-archive-2016-09-17[25/09/2016 08:14:31]

The Common Archive for Documents and Material Concerning UFOs and Fringe Sciences | German Cooperation Initiative UFO Research

the Anomaly Archives.

Special contributions towards digitalization, searchability and conservation of numerous publication and
materials have been made by Isaac Koi (UK) , Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos (Spain) , Mikhail Gershtein
(Russia), and Igor Kalytyuk (Ukraine).

Considering the amount, multilingualism, and the requirements to conservation of UFO-related materials, a
worldwide central archive does not seem sufficient, neither do independent collections without reference to one
another. Researchers with scientific problems related to existing material pose the question: Where can I find
the information
that I need? For this reason, the German-speaking UFO organizations in the German
Cooperation Initiative UFO Research work together to establish a Common Archive for Documents and
Material Concerning UFOs and Fringe Sciences.

Logo of the Common Archive for Documents and Material Concerning UFOs and Fringe Sciences

Its aim is a safe long-term archiving of materials related to UFOs and fringe sciences. These materials include
national and international publications, questionnaires, case files, investigation reports, correspondences,
newspaper articles, magazines, books, documents, photos, audio and video recordings, etc.

Digital versions of paper-based materials and of analog photos, video

and audio recordings are created, and
digital material will be saved as
printouts. The archive prioritizes material in German, to secure publications
and private archives from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and to include files and documents of the UFO
organizations
from the cooperation initiative. Concerning international material, a cooperation with other
archives from around the world is planned, for example, in the form of an international exchange of
publications.

http://german-ufo-research.org/en/blog/common-archive-2016-09-17[25/09/2016 08:14:31]

The Common Archive for Documents and Material Concerning UFOs and Fringe Sciences | German Cooperation Initiative UFO Research

Folder Structure of the Digital Archive

Material which includes personal data is subject to the German privacy law. Therefore, historical case files will
be archived in anonymized form, unless the persons concerned have agreed to a publication of their names, or
have gone to the public themselves.

In order to achieve a transparent and sustainable archiving, the development of standardized methods of
storage and metadata creation is planned, which can be published themselves later. Here again, international
cooperation would be necessary.

Links
Website of the Common Archive for Documents and Material Concerning UFOs and Fringe Sciences:
http://www.uap-archive.org/
Facebook Page of the Common Archive: https://www.facebook.com/Archiv-fr-Fachverffentl-zuungewhnlichen-Himmelsphnomenen-GreWi-482989621742727/

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The Common Archive for Documents and Material Concerning UFOs and Fringe Sciences | German Cooperation Initiative UFO Research

http://german-ufo-research.org/en/blog/common-archive-2016-09-17[25/09/2016 08:14:31]