%0 Book %D 2017 %T Archives in liquid times %A Frans Smit %A Arnoud Glaudemans %A Rienk Jonker %X
Archives are a reflection and a result of what happens in society. This means that they also (re)present society’s changes and dynamics. Today, archives are undergoing fundamental changes in every aspect that one might think of. Digitisation and globalisation are turning our world upside down and reshape it. The same applies for archives, the archival profession and archival science. Therefore, in the entitling of this book, we decided to follow the metaphor of sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (2006), who characterized contemporary society as being in liquid" times. By this he meant that present-day (western) society is in such a state of dynamics that it is difficult to get a grip on life. All foundations are shaking. In our opinion, Bauman has a case in stating that it is the main feature of the period we are now witnessing and are living in. That is why you are now reading a book that has the title: "Archives in Liquid Times".
This book is inspired by several motivations and convictions. First, the editors are convinced that discussions and debates about archives in the digital age should become part of the broader discourse on information quality. This discourse should take place on several levels, for example on fundamental, conceptual and ethical issues. Our observation is that this integration is hardly happening. Archives and the archival community are in danger of being marginalised and ‘doomed’, when - and because of - losing connection to debates about for example the ethics of the internet and the development of data science. On the other hand, archival science’s rich and detailed knowledge of the nature and function of records is hardly considered in fields like information science or philosophy. Building bridges between communities dealing with information quality is not a mere luxury - it is a necessity.
Our conviction is that paradigms and concepts that formed the basis of recordkeeping in the analogue world have lost their central place. Attempts to create a new paradigm or a new overall concept on archives in the digital information society have not yet been convincing. This reflects our liquid times, which the archival profession is also going through. The recent, extensive publication by Monash University tries to cover as much as possible research developments in the "Archival Multiverse" (Gilliland, McKemmish, Lau, 2016). In our view this multiverse itself is subject to radical changes regarding its own context, its subject matter, and its relevance to society.
Maybe we are all in the new landscape that Alessandro Baricco (2006) has described in his socio-cultural critique "I barbari". In his account we are witnessing a mix in which all former boundaries between for example high and low culture and between fields of research fall apart. Most importantly he argues that present-day society is not interested in "Why?" questions anymore, but only in "How?" questions. His Barbarians surf their network all the time trying to find correlations without wondering about a reason or explanation of their environment. This network is essentially very liquid.
Several years ago, the editors of this volume concluded that, as professionals and experienced practitioners, they were getting a little lost. In their daily work, they could not derive enough grip and guidance from their own archival silo of concepts and methods anymore. They were also curious if these might be found elsewhere. Therefore, they decided to try to open their doors and look for new answers. They decided to make this journey in the unknown by trying to connect to the information philosophy of Luciano Floridi. The next step was decided upon during a lengthy discussion over some excellent Belgian beers at the ICA-congress in Brussels in 2013: we should produce a book on Information Philosophy and Archives. Our efforts have resulted in this publication. We hope it will be beneficial to academics, students, professionals and everyone else who is interested in disciplines like information philosophy, archival science, library science and data science. Its main emphasis however, still lies on the function and relevance of archives, and on how to keep and curate a necessary quality and accessibility of information - in between all other information professions in this digital age.
%I Stichting Archiefpublicaties %C Den Haag %P 326 %8 12/2017 %@ 9789071251450 %G EN %U https://oapen.org/search?identifier=641001 %M 10155 %R http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/139889