Abstract
Although some archives have begun to embrace Web 2.0 technologies in their outreach activities to facilitate greater access to their collections, many archives continue to promote traditional hierarchical methods of access. This article posits that archives should develop a more radical approach to user engagement. To begin to conceptualize this new approach, the authors introduce Deleuze and Guattari's concept of the rhizome, an open, nonhierarchical, and acentric system, as opposed to the arborescent model that currently informs and structures the way archivists arrange, describe, and provide access to their archival materials. They then describe recent collaborative projects and techniques that encourage a reworking of the traditional arborescent model and make new rhizomatic connections into the archives, including social media crowdsourcing projects, gamification techniques, GIS interactives, mobile applications, and remixed archival photographs. The concluding section discusses the implications of supporting these types of initiatives and the need for professional guidelines for dealing with the ethical issues that may arise with a more radical approach to user engagement.
