User perspective and user studies have received noticeably little practical attention in archives and archival science. The purpose of this article is to address the issues of communication and user participation in archival contexts. Two action research projects-based digital archives are discussed. The insights gained during the research and development work are used to formulate a new approach to a participatory archive. In spite of the historical nature of the archives discussed, the suggested ways of interacting with an archive are not specific to historical records. The fundamental characteristics of the proposed approach are decentralised curation, radical user orientation, and contextualisation of both records and the entire archival process.

/pdf/participatory-archive-towards-decentralised-curation-radical-ukudpusb4e.pdf

Participatory archive: towards decentralised curation, radical user orientation, and broader contextualisation of records management

This article discusses the findings of a cross-sectional study conducted between 2004 and 2005 to determine the extent to which archival institutions within the East and Southern Africa Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA) region managed public records and archives. It is important that public records and archives are managed efficiently and effectively because the information they contain is the cornerstone of holding government accountable and fostering good governance. Data for the research were obtained through interviews, content analysis of documents and self-administered questionnaires that were mailed to the 13 member states that comprised ESARBICA. The study revealed that national archives within ESARBICA had limited resources for records management functions. Secondly, records management processes were neither governed by standards nor guided by a professional code of ethics. Thirdly, records management staff were not adequately trained. Fourthly, electronic record...

The management of public records and archives in the member countries of ESARBICA

Historians and archivists approach the documentary past differently, as they consider, respectively, the ‘archive’ (singular) and ‘archives’ (plural). The former focuses on issues of power, memory, and identity centred upon the initial inscription of a document (or series of documents). The latter concentrates on the subsequent history of documents over time, including the many interventions by archivists (and others) that transform (and change) that original archive into archives. Despite making good common cause in lobbying over public policy, and initially sharing values based on objective, scientific history, the two professions have drifted apart in recent decades. This essay explores the reasons for this divergence by analyzing the history of the two professions and highlighting resulting misconceptions that blind both to deeper nuances of the multiple contexts surrounding records that may enhance their understanding and use. It concludes that archives are not unproblematic storehouses of records awaiting the historian, but active sites of agency and power. Until recently, it has been in the interests of both professions to deny (or at least not interrogate) the subjectivity of archives. Both professions could benefit significantly, therefore, from a renewed partnership centred upon the history of the record to produce better history.
 Resume: 
	Historiens et archivistes considerent differemment les documents herites du passe. Les premiers s’interessent a l’archive (au singulier), les seconds aux archives (au pluriel). Dans le premier cas, l’attention tend a se concentrer sur les questions de pouvoir, de memoire et d’identite au moment de la production initiale du document ou du groupe de documents. Dans le second cas, l’interet se focalise sur l’histoire du document a travers le temps, notamment les multiples interventions par lesquelles les archivistes (entre autres) ont transforme l’archive originale en archives. Bien qu’elles fassent volontiers cause commune face aux pouvoirs publics et qu’elles aient partage a l’origine une meme foi en l’histoire objective et scientifique, les deux disciplines se sont eloignees l’une de l’autre ces dernieres decennies. Cet article examine les causes de cette divergence. Il soutient que des defauts de perspective lies a leur histoire respective empechent l’une et l’autre discipline d’apprecier dans toutes leurs nuances les multiples contextes du document d’archive et d’utiliser ce dernier a son plein potentiel. Il conclut que les archives ne sont pas tant des depots documentaires neutres et transparents en attente de leur historien que des lieux de pouvoir et d’action. Jusqu’a recemment, les historiens comme les archivistes avaient interet a nier (ou, du moins, a ne pas mettre en cause) la subjectivite des archives. Les deux disciplines pourraient a nouveau collaborer avec profit a une histoire de l’archive qui servirait de base a une meilleure production historiographique.

The Archive(s) Is a Foreign Country: Historians, Archivists, and the Changing Archival Landscape

Archivists are converting physical collections to digital formats and displaying surrogates of these primary sources on their websites. Simultaneously, the Web is moving toward a shared environment that embraces collective intelligence and participation, which is often called Web 2.0. This paper investigates the extent to which Web 2.0 features have been integrated into archival digitization projects. Although the use of Web 2.0 features has not yet been widely discussed in the professional archival literature, this exploratory study of college and university repository websites in the United States suggests that archival professionals are embracing Web 2.0 to promote their digital content and redefine relationships with their patrons.

/pdf/embracing-web-2-0-archives-and-the-newest-generation-of-web-17s228lxij.pdf

Embracing Web 2.0: Archives and the Newest Generation of Web Applications

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate how archivists, records managers and scholarly literature in the field(s) analyse how participationnis discussed in the context of arch ...

/pdf/the-unbearable-lightness-of-participating-revisiting-the-4ky0yt5rzb.pdf

The unbearable lightness of participating? Revisiting the discourses of “participation” in archival literature

Current archival practice in the United States grew out of the early experiences of the National Archives. These experiences, based upon the principles and practices of generations of European archivists, resulted in the related concepts of "record group" and "archival hierarchies." This article argues that the record group concept leads to practices that fail to provide adequate access to archival holdings; it should be replaced by an archival model based upon authority control.An authority control-based system focuses upon record-generating entities; it consists of descriptions of the histories and functions of organizations and of the administrative relationships between them. The authority control system is an intellectual construct, susceptible to emendation as institutions evolve, as functions change, and as administrative structures are altered. The authority control system is a dynamic system that places each record-creating agency into an administrative hierarchy while also maintaining a record o...

/pdf/authority-control-an-alternative-to-the-record-group-concept-20i1q1jjnc.pdf

Authority Control: An Alternative to the Record Group Concept

Archivists today are caught between an expanding volume of records and a growing public expectation that every page in every document is online and indexed. With so many records and so few resources to provide on-demand access to them, the problem seems intractable. More money alone is not the answer; larger appropriations or donations cannot solve this problem. Instead, archivists must fundamentally shift the way they think about their roles and develop alternative means and methods for doing archival work.This paper introduces the concept of commons-based peer-production as a means of turning collections inside out. It encourages archival institutions to reinvent themselves, and, in collaboration with other archives and with other types of organizations, to organize archival work in concert with a curious and interested public.

/pdf/archives-of-the-people-by-the-people-for-the-people-26swgo7jrf.pdf

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Authority Control: An Alternative to the Record Group Concept

Archives of the People, by the People, for the People