The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is delighted to announce that the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA) have ingested two new collections into the Repository – expanding on their collections with COVID and Participation Cases in Latin America 2020-2024 and DANCING: Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths.
The IQDA continue to grow their digital collections in the Repository with thirty-six collections ingested to date. Their newest collection, COVID and Participation Cases in Latin America 2020-2024 is a dataset created between Maynooth University and Dublin City University specifically for a research report published in the Journal of Deliberative Democracy. The report contains data on democratic innovations implemented in Latin America to address challenges arising from the COVID-19 pandemic between 2020 and 2024.
This study employs data from the LATINNO Project and the Participedia Database, both of which document democratic innovations in Latin America. The research specifically focuses on democratic innovations implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic, analysing 125 cases across 18 Latin American countries. The dataset primarily examines e-democracy initiatives, including digital participatory platforms, e-voting systems, online consultations, and civic engagement tools. The study methodology combines quantitative and qualitative approaches. Quantitative analysis was used to assess the frequency and types of initiatives, while computer-assisted text analysis helped uncover key themes and trends. Qualitative analysis provided insights into the implementation and impact of democratic innovations.
To verify and track democratic innovations over time, the Wayback Machine was employed for archived web pages and Whois confirmed website availability. These sources were complemented with social media posts, government documents, and data cleaning processes to ensure accuracy.
The purpose of DANCING: Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths was to investigate the protection of the right of persons with disabilities to take part in cultural life including the recognition of disability identities, such as Deaf culture, as an essential aspect of enhancing cultural diversity in the European Union (EU) legal order.
Access to cultural venues such as theatres, cinemas and museums was probed, as well as accessible formats with which to enjoy cultural materials, books, films and music. The project also explored the right of people with disabilities to participate in cultural life as both amateur and professional artists.
Overall, this study explored how people with disabilities participate in cultural life and how this involvement affects cultural diversity. It examined the barriers faced, support needed, and the role the European Union can play in improving accessibility.
These newly-deposited items – now preserved for long-term access – compliment the existing items already published online including ReCreating Europe: Access to Information and Communications Technology by minority groups and persons with disabilities and RESCuE: Patterns of Resilience during Socioeconomic Crises among Households in Europe- Ireland. You can explore these and many more collections in the DRI Repository. You can also keep up with all of DRI’s new collections by signing up to our newsletter.
