Without the Data the Tools are Useless; Without the Software, the Data is Unmanageable

Without the Data the Tools are Useless; Without the Software, the Data is Unmanageable

Web archiving

In this article, Michael Moss archivist and professor of Library and Information Science at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, decries the user-centered philosophy of Web 2.0 and believes the emphases on “collective intelligence” and “lightweight user interfaces” challenge the integrity of records and are responsible for critical losses of data and the current global financial crisis. He believes data is being compromised by such Web 2.0 technologies as anonymous tagging and blogs, and advocates a return to traditional archival principles, including “authenticity, integrity, and trust.”

Moss cites historic cases in which archives were used to defend the public’s right to know in opposition to executive power. From England’s Civil War in the 1660s to illegal arms contracting between the Syrian government and BAE System (a London-based global company marketing defense, aerospace, and security service), Moss defends the archive’s objectivity and commitment to preserving the authenticity and integrity of its records. Without traditional archival values and methods, information exposing injustices would be lost.

Moss is not recommending a return to manual forms of record keeping whereby several levels of staff would check and cross-reference each other’s work. He does propose, however, a coordinated effort among IT managers, record keepers, and archivists, to control the classification and dissemination of data through greater focus on content. Moreover, by encouraging archivists to embrace their “fiduciary responsibilities” (serving public institutions with practiced objectivity and authority), the public is protected from lax accounting or illegal actions perpetuated by unrestricted, open-access digital commerce.

This essay explores the relationship between the curation of information in the digital environment by archivists and records managers and the technologies that support it. The author argues that this will require a sharing of responsibility within a framework of trust. He maintains that a consequence of the financial crisis, in which technology has played a large contributing part, is that there will be a greater emphasis on transparency of electronic processes and not just inputs and outputs. In these developments, he draws a distinction between records management operating within an institutional framework of risk, and the archive, particularly in the public sector, curating the records that will allow the executive to be brought to account. He concludes that such a restatement in a period of severe financial restraint will without doubt impact on the current ‘access’ agenda.

Moss, Michael

Journal of the Society of Archivists

April 2010

Polk, Victoria

Society of Archivists

Journal Article

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00379811003658443#.VTYrxc4bAmI

Moss, Michael. “Without the Data, the Tools are Useless; Without the Software, the Data is Unmanageable.” Journal of the Society of Archivists 31 (April 2010): 1-14.

Moss cautions archivists against uncritically integrating Web 2.0 technologies into archival practices. Social networking applications, such as blogs and wikis alter the principles of authority, privacy, and trust between the archive and the record, and the between the archivist and the public. Traditional practices, including formal documentation and file plans for ingested materials, are just as critical, if not more so, in the digital archive.