How to use DigitalVaults.org

The Digital Vault offers users a way to visually navigate some (1205 right now to be exact) of the US National Archives

There are 3 features to aid and organize archive viewing:

• Collect

• Backtrack

• Search

Navigation

The point of the Digital Vault is to explore some of the national archives visually. Upon navigating to the site (www.digitalvaults.org), the user will be primped to choose a starting record. After selecting that, related records will float around the selected record. Select on from there. Happy viewing!

The Collect Feature

This feature allows users to drag archives into a storage place for later review. Strangely enough, collections can not be saved or shared.

Simply drag and drop articles into the storage area under the “Collect” tab.

The Backtrack Feature

This feature allows users to backtrack through previously viewed achieves. Since all are connected in some way, users might need a way to consult their view history.

Simply click the “Backtrack” tab to review viewing history.

The Search Feature

This feature allows users to search for articles according to keyword or tag. Sadly, the keyword “cat” returned 0 archives regarding history cats.

To use this feature, simply click the “Search” tab and search by keyword or tags. Results will appear in the storage area of the “Search” tab.

Site Extras

The site does offer some extras:

• Pathways – a sort of quiz game

• Create a Poster

• Create a Video

Although these features are cool, they are novel at best. The Create a Poster is a completely half-baked feature whereas the Pathways allows you to create a quiz of sorts that can be saved and shared via e-mail.