Showing papers in "Archival Science in 2015"

Self-determination and archival autonomy: advocating activism

Abstract: This paper explores the role of archival activism in supporting social movements linked to human rights and social justice agendas. Taking a records continuum perspective, it presents an Australian case study relating to the Stolen Generations, Former Child Migrants, Forgotten Australians and Forced Adoption communities to illustrate imperatives for advocacy and activism in support of the “archival autonomy” of communities. Framed by critical theory, the study identifies and analyses systemic problems in meeting the recordkeeping and archival identity, memory, accountability, redress and recovery needs of these key communities. The devastating impact of both finding and not finding relevant information is highlighted, along with how systemic and structural difficulties in seeking access to vital evidence can be re-traumatising. Using reflexivity and the Movement Action Plan as an analytical tool, the case study reflects on the activist role archival research and development projects can potentially play, using the Who Am I? and Trust and Technology Projects as exemplars. The paper explores how an extended suite of rights in records, stretching beyond discovery and access to appraisal, description and disclosure, and linked to records continuum concepts of co-creation and multiple provenance, and the emergent concept of the participatory archive, might support community self-determination in the context of human rights and social justice agendas, with particular reference to the rights of the child. Additionally, the paper explores a new concept of archival autonomy and its relationship to community self-determination. Archival autonomy is tentatively defined as the ability for individuals and communities to participate in societal memory, with their own voice, and to become participatory agents in recordkeeping and archiving for identity, memory and accountability purposes. The achievement of archival autonomy is identified as a grand societal challenge, with the need for archival activism to become an integral part of social movements on a local and global scale. The paper concludes with a proposed National Summit on the Archive and the Rights of the Child, envisaged as a vehicle for archival advocacy and activism leading to transformative action to address social justice and human rights agendas in Australia.

How has your science data grown? Digital curation and the human factor: a critical literature review

Abstract: Focusing on North America and the United Kingdom, this critical literature review underscores the ways in which sharing, accessing, and reusing science data allow researchers and other stakeholders to address new imperatives in scientific research. Science data stakeholders should harness the principles and practices of digital curation, an overarching concept that encompasses data curation and that centers on adding value to digital data assets. This review first probes data sharing, access, and reuse in specific intellectual and institutional contexts. Next, it examines the ways in which science data sharing, access, and reuse benefits scholarship, primarily by encouraging new research questions and by allowing the reproduction of previous findings. Third, it addresses the infrastructure of science data curation, particularly the roles of cyberinfrastructure, research communities, collaboration, planning, policy, and standards and best practices. Fourth, it turns to the role of institutions—archives, research libraries, institutional repositories, and centers—in curating science data. Archival principles such as provenance, selection and appraisal, authenticity, metadata, risk management, and trust play a pivotal role in digital curation. Finally, it delineates avenues for further research such as sustainability, costing, planning and policy, training and education, researcher practices, and raising awareness.

Digital transformations and the archival nature of surrogates

Abstract: Large-scale digitization is generating extraordinary collections of visual and textual surrogates, potentially endowed with transcendent long-term cultural and research values. Understanding the nature of digital surrogacy is a substantial intellectual opportunity for archival science and the digital humanities, because of the increasing independence of surrogate collections from their archival sources. The paper presents an argument that one of the most significant requirements for the long-term access to collections of digital surrogates is to treat digital surrogates as archival records that embody traces of their fluid lifecycles and therefore are worthy of management and preservation as archives. It advances a theory of the archival nature of surrogacy founded on longstanding notions of archival quality, the traces of their source and the conditions of their creation, and the functional “work of the archive.” The paper presents evidence supporting a “secondary provenance” derived from re-digitization, re-ingestion of multiple versions, and de facto replacement of the original sources. The design of the underlying research that motivates the paper and summary findings are reported separately. The research has been supported generously by the US Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Archival description and linked data: a preliminary study of opportunities and implementation challenges

Abstract: This paper presents the results of a study to investigate how archives can connect their collections to related data sources through the use of Semantic Web technologies, specifically Linked Data Questions explored included (a) What types of data currently available in archival surrogates such as Encoded Archival Description (EAD) finding aids and Machine-Readable Cataloging (MARC) records may be useful if converted to Linked Data? (b) For those potentially useful data points identified in archival surrogates, how might one align data structures found in those surrogates to the data structures of other relevant internal or external information sources? (c) What features of current standards and data structures present impediments or challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve interoperability among disparate data sources? To answer these questions, the researcher identified metadata elements of potential use as Linked Data in archival surrogates, as well as metadata element sets and vocabularies of data sets that could serve as pathways to relevant external data sources Data sets chosen for the study included DBpedia and schemaorg; metadata element sets examined included Friend of a Friend (FOAF), GeoNames, and Linking Open Description of Events (LODE) The researcher then aligned tags found in the EAD encoding standard to related classes and properties found in these Linked Data sources and metadata element sets To investigate the third question about impediments to incorporating Linked Data in archival descriptions, the researcher analyzed the locations and frequencies at which controlled and uncontrolled access points (personal and family name, corporate name, geographic name, and genre/form entities) appeared in a sample of MARC and EAD archival descriptive records by using a combination of hand counts and the natural language processing (NLP) tool, OpenCalais The results of the location and frequency analysis, combined with the results of the alignment process, helped the researcher identify several critical challenges currently impeding interoperability among archival information systems and relevant Linked Data sources, including differences in granularity between archival and other data source vocabularies, and inadequacies of current encoding standards to support semantic tagging of potential access points embedded in free text areas of archival surrogates

Activating the archive: Rethinking the role of traditional archives for local activist projects

Abstract: This article explores the way archival material has the potential to become a core component of activism, through an evaluation of an AHRC-funded collaborative research project on the histories and futures of local food in Liverpool. “Memories of Mr Seel’s Garden: exploring past and future food systems in Liverpool” is a collaboration between four academics, two arts/heritage professionals and three community groups, around the theme of local food. The community groups were brought together by their mutual interest in exploring how historical work might contribute to the developing local food movement. The project aimed to undertake research into the history of local food systems, using three different methods: archival research, map research and oral history, in order to develop deeper understanding of food systems, both historically and geographically and to explore what this understanding might contribute to future community activism. The project examined whether undertaking the research changed participants’ awareness of the value of historical research (including the value of different methods); their understandings of the local environment and local food issues, or provided new perspectives on the possibility of future change and their role within it. In short, could historical research assist local activism? The article will describe the methods used and the research findings, which suggest that even “traditional” archival materials, neither created nor selected for activist purposes, have the potential to be valuable resources for activist projects, both for challenging simplistic activist narratives about the past and for empowering members of activist communities to develop new narratives for change and communicate these to wider society.

Interference Archive: a free space for social movement culture

Abstract: This paper discusses activist archives within the context of community archives and the practices of archiving activism. Interference Archive (IA), a volunteer-run independent archive in Brooklyn, New York, is presented as one example of an activist archive. We explain the manner in which IA functions as a transmovement and prefigurative “free space” under Francis Poletta’s typology of movement spaces. Through this explanation, we illustrate how the structures of free spaces can help us understand the way activist archives forge connections between communities and the ways that they create new networks of solidarity through the archival process.

“Humanizing an inevitability political craft”: Introduction to the special issue on archiving activism and activist archiving

Abstract: The archivist, even more than the historian and the political scientist, tends to be scrupulous about his neutrality, and to see his job as a technical job, free from the nasty world of political interest: a job of collecting, sorting, preserving, making available, the records of the society. But I will stick by what I have said about other scholars, and argue that the archivist, in subtle ways, tends to perpetuate the political and economic status quo simply by going about his ordinary business. His supposed neutrality is, in other words, a fake. If so, the rebellion of the archivist against his normal role is not, as so many scholars fear, the politicizing of a neutral craft, but the humanizing of an inevitably political craft (Zinn 1977).

Destruction/reconstruction: preservation of archaeological and zoological research data

Abstract: Archaeology and zoology are fields in which data collection and analysis involve destruction. In this study, we examine the results of 49 interviews with archaeologists and zoologists, focusing on researchers’ discussions of internal or disciplinary norms and external factors affecting their attitudes and actions concerning preservation. We identified two categories of disciplinary practices: data collection and data management/recordkeeping as key to shaping attitudes and activities about preservation. Likewise, we found three external factors: funding, legal requirements, and the status of museums and repositories, influencing attitudes toward preservation. We found that while archaeologists and zoologists are uniquely positioned to appreciate the value of data preservation, because data collection in both disciplines involves destruction, they are sceptical about whether preservation is possible and that these attitudes are influenced by both internal and external factors.

Visual analytics, cognition and archival arrangement and description: studying archivists’ cognitive tasks to leverage visual thinking for a sustainable archival future

Abstract: This paper explores the possibility of using visual analysis to support archival functions. It first reviews the current state of experimentation with the use of interactive visual interfaces in the archival domain, noting several gaps including the absence of formal studies of cognitive and perceptual tasks. The paper then reports on preliminary results from a cognitive task analysis of archival arrangement and description, providing a broad brush description of archival analysis during arrangement and description as an example of archival sense-making. It then suggests some possible leverage points where visual analytics technology might be applied to support archival arrangement and description and concludes by reflecting on some theoretical and practical aspects of visualization technologies.

Treading the ground of contested memory: archivists and the human rights movement in Chile

Abstract: This article proposes a new definition of social justice that is based in liberation theology. It questions the relationship between archival practice and social justice and asks how (and whether) social justice can (or should be) a transformative force in the archival profession. These theoretical questions are examined through a case study of human rights archives. The author travelled to Chile in December 2011 to interview archivists and human rights activists and visit human rights archives, museums, and memorials. The article identifies three archival processes by which archivists in Chile engage in social justice activism: the act of documenting human rights violations that dictator Augusto Pinochet perpetrated during his rule from 1973 to 1990; by continually acquiring new documents that bear witness to these violations; and by providing, indeed encouraging and promoting, access to these materials. The article argues that the way that human rights archivists carry out these archival processes allows the community to participate in building both the archives and the memory of the dictatorship. It concludes by stating that this connection between the archives and the community is one of the primary ways in which social justice can be integrated into the archival profession.

How cells became records: standardization and infrastructure in tissue culture

Abstract: This article follows the history of tissue culture through its standardization as a technology, instrument, and ubiquitous object of reference for scientists working with cells It identifies how human cells are established as cell lines and become records As information infrastructure, cell lines have consequences for key archival concepts that rely on narratives of origin, bodies, and recorded information The article contributes to a theory of the record by looking at cells in functional contexts of tissue culture, from the establishment of reference lines to the identification of cross-culture contamination, to their storage and dissemination It puts forth a theory of the biorecord by examining acts of formalization in the standardization of scientific recordkeeping in biotechnology The paper speaks to archival studies of scientific recordkeeping and argues for an expansion of research that examines nonprototypical records in functional contexts of creation, use, and processes of standardization

A web-based community-building archives project: a case study of Kids in Birmingham 1963

Abstract: Recent archival literature on social justice emphasizes activism—the importance of documenting social activism and activists, and activists’ use of archives for promoting social justice. Left out of these discussions is the role archives can play in helping to capture the experiences of bystanders—passive participants—during times of tumultuous social change. Recording those stories provides a more nuanced view of times of great change in society and helps people place their own experiences in historic context. Civil rights activists and their opponents’ racist violence in 20th century at Birmingham, Alabama, in the USA, have been well documented. The experiences of passive participants have not been entered into the historic record. This case study examines a web-based hybrid heritage project that provides a forum for people raised in Birmingham to share their experiences in the watershed year, 1963. Kids in Birmingham 1963 (referred to as Kids) contain curated first-person accounts and educational tools. The project acts as a clearinghouse, proactively marketing its content and making its contributors available for direct interviews with the media, educators, and students. The Kids project has created a new community that could not have existed 50 years ago because of segregation. Contributors and users find benefits in opportunities to inspire younger generations to join the cause for social justice. The authors propose using the techniques employed in this project and its sister project, Desegregation of Virginia Education, to develop a model that can enable communities to create a rich historical record and make it widely available through mass media, social media, and educational outlets.

An XML schema for enhancing the semantic interoperability of archival description

Abstract: The archival community is presently addressing questions of semantic interoperability, which have been raised by linked open data and the Semantic Web. Current discussions on revisions to encoded archival description (EAD), for instance, are moving from document-based to more database-like element sets to facilitate greater interoperability. But to realise fully the potential benefits offered by such developments, further steps are needed. This article outlines a new experimental schema, which allows collection descriptions to be encoded in a more interoperable manner. Devised for the Collaborative European Digital Archive Architecture Project, it complements the descriptive elements of a collection-level record with more semantically precise metadata components. The schema was devised to form the core of a ‘digital ecosystem’, a rapidly changing research environment of which archival descriptions form a core part. The advantages of semantic interoperability and the data requirements to achieve it are discussed before a detailed description of the schema itself. The article then suggests some initial ways in which it could be employed to enhance access to collection descriptions, its compatibility with the Semantic Web and standards such as ISAD(G), and how it may be used in conjunction with EAD. The schema has yet to be evaluated in detail in working environments, and so is offered as a heuristic proof-of-concept for community discussion.

Digital curation and quality standards for memory institutions: PREFORMA research project

Abstract: Memory institutions are facing increasing transfers of electronic documents and other media content for long-term preservation. Preservation models are often inspired by standards, such as the Open Archival Information System reference model, where transfers and preservation are built on information packages containing both data and metadata. Data are normally stored in specific file formats for documents, images, sound, video, etc., that are produced by software from different vendors. Even if the transferred files are in standard formats, the implementation of standards cannot be guaranteed and results may be different depending on the software used. The software implementing standards for the production of the electronic files are not controlled either by the institutions that produce them or by the memory institutions. Conformance tests of transfers are done, but their results cannot be further processed by the memory institution autonomously, unless it contacts the same provider of the conformance test again. This poses problems in curation and preservation. Data objects meant for preservation, passing through an uncontrolled generative process, can jeopardise the whole preservation exercise. The overall intention of PREFORMA project (PREservation FORMAts for culture information/e-archives) is to research critical factors in the quality of standard implementation in order to establish a long-term sustainable ecosystem around a range of practical tools, together with a variety of stakeholder groups. The tools should be innovative and provide a reference implementation of the most common file format standards for the assessment of the collections to be archived and for the correction of the digital archive. PREFORMA will target a wide digital curation and preservation community, by providing specifications and feedback to developers, standard bodies and memory institutions.

Towards mixed methods digital curation: facing specific adaptation in the artistic domain

Abstract: In this paper, we propose an epistemological framework based on mixed methods research to support specific adaptation of digital preservation models (such as the Open Archival Information System) in relation to digital curation models (such as the Digital Curation Centre curation lifecycle). Specifically, in the artistic domain, this framework is targeting production processes involving work-specific digital technologies, where the goal is to preserve the ways of re-performing the works rather than the preservation of a recording of the performance. This framework is based on four previous studies and their ontological and epistemological assumptions. The paper builds on these studies to elaborate a model for mixed methods digital curation, which accounts for multiple views of the relation between information and representation, and presents the impact on both digital curation research and practice.

The ever changing face of digital curation: introduction to the special issue on digital curation

Abstract: According to Yakel (2007), ‘‘Digital Curation is the active involvement of information professionals in the management, including the preservation, of digital data for future use’’ (p 335) The call for papers for this special issue stated, ‘‘digital curation involves the selection, maintenance, dissemination, preservation and adding value to digital assets Examples of these activities include the development of repositories for digital resources, the creation and/or selection of digital assets; creation and management of metadata; file format identification and management, and provision for dissemination and access to digital assets’’ In creating a special issue, the guest editors posited that digital curation has much relevance to the archival community Digital curation is a multidisciplinary field, drawing upon the domain knowledge of many disciplines including archival, information, library, and computer science though communication among these disciplines continues to present challenges The relationship between archival science and digital curation is a bidirectional continuum: on one hand, digital curation employs archival principles and concepts, such as authenticity and integrity, and requires the preservation of an object’s context as well as its content and structure; on the other hand, digital curation has the potential to challenge and expand the boundaries of archival science Curation of trusted objects is a complicated activity; not only is the complexity of digital objects increasing, but also the contexts of use in which these objects need to be captured, preserved, and re-created continue to evolve The types of digital assets

Digital preservation of knowledge in the public sector: a pre-ingest tool

Abstract: This paper describes the need for coordinating pre-ingest activities in digital preservation of archival records. As a result of the wide use of electronic records management systems (ERMS) in agencies, the focus is on several issues relating to the interaction of the agency’s ERMS and public repositories. This paper indicates the importance of using digital recordkeeping metadata to meet more precisely and at the same time semi-automatically the criteria set by memory institutions. The paper provides an overview of one prospective solution and describes the Estonian National Archives’ universal archiving module (UAM). A case study reports the use of the UAM in preserving the digital records of the Estonian Minister for Population and Ethnic Affairs. In this project, the preparation and transfer of archival records was divided into ten phases, starting from the description of the archival creator and ending with controlled transfer. The case study raises questions about how much recordkeeping metadata can be used in archival description and how the interaction of the agency’s ERMS and ingest by the archives could be more automated. The main issues (e.g. classification, metadata elements variations, mapping, and computer files conversions) encountered during that project are discussed. Findings show that the Open Archival Information System functional model’s ingest part should be reconceptualised to take into account preparatory work. Adding detailed metadata about the structure, context and relationships in the right place at the right time could get one step closer to digital codified knowledge archiving by creating synergies with various other digital repositories.

Context-based aggregation of archival data: the role of authority records in the semantic landscape

Abstract: The formal release of Encoded Archival Context for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families (EAC-CPF) in 2010 added the need to deal with an additional standard to encode context and authority records. But the possibilities of EAC-CPF go beyond the control of authority records and access points, and this standard constitutes a relevant milestone in the definition of a complex archival information system made up of interconnected, cross-linked records. Based on eXtensible Markup Language, EAC-CPF makes possible the design of semantically rich browsing experiences that give access to distributed description of records and to the detailed data of the persons, corporate bodies, or families that created them. This paper presents a collaboration framework for archival information systems that exploits the relationships built between finding aids and shared context and authority records encoded in EAC-CPF. The proposed architecture is built on top of a set of software components that interact using open information retrieval, content aggregation, and semantic data standards. On top of this architecture, different user-oriented solutions can be built to browse and explore the contents of the aggregated collections. One of these applications is a navigational aid or topic map that serves as a semantically enriched access layer and ensures the location of the records held by different archives. The proposed architecture can be applied to solve different information access challenges that require a single point of access to distributed data. It can be deployed or mapped to existing technical architectures to improve the interaction of users with a set of networked repositories.

Energy efficiency approaches in archives and library buildings in China

Abstract: This article focuses on the recent development of energy efficiency strategies in Chinese archives and library buildings. Since architectural design and construction have a significant impact on interior temperature and humidity, many approaches have been used to meet temperature and humidity standards and to increase energy efficiency. These approaches include, but are not limited to, the use of thermal insulation and heat preservation composite materials, and the strategic design of doors and windows. This article describes the application of energy-efficient techniques including exterior wall thermal insulation systems, energy efficiency doors and windows, the double-pane windows technique, house thermal insulation and heat preservation techniques, solar energy systems, as well as air-conditioning systems with ground or water source heat pumps. This article also discusses comprehensive ways to increase energy efficiency in archives and library buildings, such as ventilation, greenhouse techniques, and the utilization of the surrounding environment.

Event-based archival information organization

Abstract: Event-based information organization methods from other communities provide insights for rethinking archival information organization and redesigning archival description metadata. Differences between event and function are analyzed, and the possibility of using events as a kind of provenance to organize and describe archival information is discussed. Two approaches to redesigning archival description metadata are discussed: making the current narrative descriptions of archives management events more structured and replacing encoded archival description with a metadata framework based on recordkeeping and archives management events in records life cycle.