How can we find visual sources as part of historical research?

This lecture was an introduction to visual archives, the different visual material one can find, how to use and navigate them, and how to increase and optimise search results. Conceptualised as capacity building for design students, this lecture was presented as a crash course guide on conducting archival research and an overview of relevant digital collections and specialised archives/libraries in Cairo. The lecture concluded with an overview of Patterns of Cairo (www.patternsofcairo.com) and how it stands apart from other visual archives as a one-stop holistic platform that offers visuals, information, narratives and vector files.
This talk, with student attendees from different design specialisations, is part of an ongoing collaboration with the German International University – GIU Conceptual Design course by Marie Akoury.
The Patterns of Cairo Project is implemented by Megawra, and initiated by the Embassy of the Netherlands in Egypt as part of its commitment to the digitisation and democratisation of knowledge. See less