Appraisal in the Digital World
Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei and DELOS NoE Conference
- Appraisal in the Digital World
Accademia Nazionale Dei Lincei (Rome, Italy)
15 - 16 November 2007
Appraisal was born as an archival function in the mid-1940s out of necessity. The overwhelming amount of records produced during the II World War required drastic decisions on what to keep for permanent preservation and what to destroy and archival writers even redefined the concept of archives on the basis of appraisal. In the beginning, traditional archival schools resisted the notion of archival appraisal as one undermining the impartiality of archives, justifying such an endeavour only when carried out by the records creator for its purposes. Over the following decades, however, appreciation of the benefits of planned selection and disposition of records carried out throughout their life-cycle became increasingly common.
In the last two decades of the 20th century, the discussion on appraisal occupied the largest space in archival literature, overshadowing traditional core topics of archival science, such as description. Appraisal was defined as "the fine art of destruction," the art of shaping the cultural heritage of the future, documentation strategy, and even a scientific endeavour. In fact, by the end of the century, it was regarded not only as what defines an archives, but what defines the archival profession and even, paradoxically, what will allow the archives of the future to exist at all.
The latter development was determined by the increasing use of digital technology to create records. Although the original motivation for conducting appraisal at all - the lack of space and resources for keeping everything - appeared to be no longer relevant in the digital world (at least as it regards storage costs), most commentators now agree that if the records to be kept permanently were not identified at the moment of creation, technological fragility and obsolescence would make all records inaccessible and, with them, the archives of the future.
Thus, towards the end of the first decade of the 21st century, appraisal is alive and well, not just as an archival function, but as a function vital to the existence of records, regardless of when, where, and by whom it is carried out. Has this new motivation for appraisal changed its nature? Has it enhanced its influence on societal memory and affairs? Has it affected its methodology? Or has it just impacted its locus and time, and the responsibilities for it?