• A headshot of Greg Bak smiling in front of a colorful wall
  • Associate Professor

    Faculty of Arts
    Department of History
    247 St. John's College
    92 Dysart Road
    University of Manitoba
    Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2

    Phone: 204-272-1578
    greg.bak@umanitoba.ca

Currently accepting graduate students - yes

  • Master's
  • PhD
  • Postdoctoral Researchers

Teaching

  • HIST 1270 - Play: Interactive Computing from the 1940s to the 1990s
  • HIST 3110 - Contested Heritage
  • HIST 4000 - Archives and Society
  • HIST 7372 - History of Archiving and Archival Records
  • HIST 7382 - Archiving in the Digital Age

Biography

I specialize in archival studies and digital histories, with a particular focus on archival decolonization and the history and current practice of digital archives. I teach archival studies through the Archival Studies stream of the Joint Master's Program in History. Additionally, I teach archival studies, heritage studies and digital history at the undergraduate level. Prior to 2011 I was a senior digital archivist with Library and Archives Canada.

While at Library and Archives Canada, I was part of the team that sought to build a Trustworthy Digital Repository (TDR). My role on the team was to develop a core set of archival metadata.I have described this work in two articles. Upon arrival at the University of Manitoba I was brought onto the team that wrote the successful bid to steward the archives and research centre to continue the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. This Centre is now located on campus and is known as the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. This work inspired several articles, including “Four Views on Archival Decolonization Inspired by the TRC’s Calls to Action,”  “Counterweight: Helen Samuels, Archival Decolonization and Social License," and “A Nation is Ill-Served by a History which is Not Genuine.”

Education

  • PhD (History), Dalhousie University, 2001
  • MLIS (Library and Information Studies), Dalhousie University, 2000
  • MA (History), University of Toronto, 1993
  • BA (History), University of Toronto, 1991

Research

Research interests

  • Archival decolonization
  • Digital archives (current practice and history)
  • Histories of digital culture(s)
  • Archives and public memory

Research summary

Archives are part of the memory infrastructure of contemporary society. In my teaching and research I foreground the personal and community impacts and uses of archives, especially digital archives. My teaching and research focus on the two major issues confronting archivists at the moment: archival decolonization and digital archiving.

Research affiliations/groups

  • Digitization and the Future of Archives, Aalborg University, Denmark

Selected publications

Outreach

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