Provenance in the Archives: The Challenge of the Digital Environment

Another basic concept in archival theory: provenance is the subject of this essay. Provenance in the archival domain has moved from a simplistic one-to-one relationship to a multi-dimensional approach. It is now being understood as a network of relationships between objects, agents and functions. Any lack of control over provenance determines some uncertainty which in turn affects trust in digital objects, so we will have to develop new ways to approach and ascertain digital provenance.