Testing our truths: Delineating the parameters of the authentic archival electronic record

American Archivist

Volumn 65, Issue 2, 2002, Pages 196-215

  Gilliland Swetland, Anne J ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 10044232092     PISSN: 03609081     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.17723/aarc.65.2.f036wp74710g1483     Document Type: Article

References (23)

1. Garton Ash, Timothy. The File: A Personal History (London: Vintage Books, 1998), 110.
2. The research outcomes of the InterPARES Preservation Task Force indicate that, because of the inevitable reliance on migration at some level in all current and experimental preservation methods and on reproduction for display and dissemination purposes, it is inappropriate to talk in terms of originals of electronic records. As formalized in the Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System (OAIS) and implicit in the work of the San Diego Supercomputer Center's Persistent Archives technology where data collections are managed as derived data products, it will be possible to generate many types of copies and derivatives based on manipulation of specified digital components of electronic records. See the InterPARES Preservation Task Force Report, available at (December 4, 2002);
3. Reagan Moore et al. "Collection-based Persistent Digital Archives-Parts 1 & 2," D-Lib Magazine (March/April 2000), available at (December 4, 2002)
4. and several papers on the OAIS Reference Model, available at (December 4, 2002).
5. For further detail on InterPARES 1, see the InterPARES Project website at (December 4, 2002)
6. and the US-InterPARES website at (December 4, 2002).
7. The term "elements" is used differently in diplomatics to the way in which it is used in information systems design. In developing the initial research questions and the Template for Analysis, the Task Force used the diplomatic term "elements" to refer to both general and specific characteristics of a record that may be found in its documentary form, in annotations, or in one or more of its various contexts. As the research progressed, however, the Task Force found it necessary to narrow the scope of the concept. In the Requirements for Authenticity, therefore, the term "record elements" refers specifically to the intrinsic and extrinsic elements of a record's documentary form as these are identified in the Template for Analysis. Such redefinition is illustrative of how diplomatics continues to evolve in response to the changing nature of the record. For a more complete discussion of the development of the Template for Analysis, see Heather MacNeil, "Providing Grounds for Trust: Developing Conceptual Requirements for the Long-Term Preservation of Authentic Electronic Records," Archivaria 50 (Fall 2000): 52-78.
8. See David Bearman and Peter Sigmond, "Explorations of Form of Material Authority Files by Dutch Archivists," American Archivist 50 (Spring 1987): 249-53;
9. Peter J. Sigmond, "Form, Function and Archival Value," Archivaria 33 (Winter 1991-92): 141-47;
10. Paola Carucci, Il Documento Contemporaneo (Rome: La Nuova Italia Scientifica, 1987);
11. and Luciana Duranti, Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old Science (Lanham, Md. and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1998).
12. For an overview of the findings of the UBC Project see Luciana Duranti and Heather MacNeil, "The Protection of the Integrity of Electronic Records: An Overview of the UBC-MAS Research Project," Archivaria 42 (Fall 1996): 46-67.
13. The Template for Analysis is available on the InterPARES 1 website, (December 4, 2002).
14. For a discussion of the embeddedness of electronic records within these contexts, see Anne J. Gilliland-Swetland and Philip B. Eppard, "Preserving the Authenticity of Contingent Digital Objects: The InterPARES Project," D-Lib Magazine 6 ( July/August 2000). Available at (December 4, 2002).
15. Barney G. Glaser and Anselm L. Strauss, The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research (Chicago: Aldine Atherton, 1967), 6-7, 46.
16. Steven J. Taylor and Robert Bogden, Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods: The Search for Meanings, 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley, 1984), 126.
17. Copies of all instruments used are available on the InterPARES website at (December 4, 2002).
18. Kenneth C. Laudon and Jane P. Laudon, Management Information Systems: New Approaches to Organization and Technology (Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1996).
19. See Duranti, Diplomatics: New Uses for an Old Science, 67-69.
20. Taken from Laudon and Laudon, Management Information Systems: New Approaches to Organization and Technology.
21. National Archives of Australia, Designing and Implementing Recordkeeping Systems: Manual for Commonwealth Agencies. Available at http://www.naa.gov.au/ recordkeeping/dirks/dirksman/dirks.html> (December 4, 2002).
22. For a full discussion of the analysis, see Ciaran Trace, "Applying Content Analysis to Case Study Data: A Preliminary Report," June 2001. Available at (December 4, 2002).
23. These are contained in Appendix 2, "Requirements for Assessing and Maintaining the Authenticity of Electronic Records," of the final report of the InterPARES Project. (December 4, 2002).