I would argue that archivists are embracing the digital revolution - and
in general using language that other disciplines can engage with.

Pat





On 17/02/2014 12:27, "Kat Petersen" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>"dusty storage rooms". I hope not.
>
>http://dustyarchivekittendeaths.tumblr.com/
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lawrence Serewicz
>Sent: 17 February 2014 12:23
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Archives for the Future Conference: Full Programme
>
>Dear All,
>I would attend the conference if I had the time. We are in an amazingly
>rich and expectant age of archives. We are on the cusp of a digital
>revolution that will transform archives and the way they are used,
>understood, and exploited (I do not mean that pejoratively or
>negatively).  So many other fields have be changed dramatically, and for
>the better, by the advent of the technological revolutions we experience
>every day.
>
>About 20 years ago, I was in an economics class and someone was
>discussing where to make money on the stock market and someone mentioned
>a start up company that was harvesting landfill sites. Yes, landfill
>sites. Someone had found a way to harvest the material left in a landfill
>site for profit. This is the old adage that one man's waste is another's
>treasure. No, this is not a sideswipe at Archives being trash. Far from
>it. I see these as gold mines, diamond mines, something so valuable
>because it is literally irreplaceable and one of the a kind.
>
>In the past, a doughty explorer may have gone deep into the archives to
>find the most valuable and exotic material because the cost of access, in
>time and interest, was so high. The highest value, what was currently
>popular or of interest to the powerful, was desired. Now, with technology
>we are on the cusp of opening up these diamond mines to everyone.  Will
>this be a veritable goldrush? No. I am not that enthusiastic. :) (I am
>sitting down typing this rather than running to get my pickaxe and gold
>pan.)
>
>Instead, it is that each record office and archive will be available and
>open to the public in ways that will literally make these resources so
>important. For the first time, the general public, rather the intrepid
>explorer or scholar will find access and can search the past. The
>collective memory of an area, a country, a people can be examined to
>understand the present and hold the future to account. I am passionate
>about the possibility of social justice this offers. I am passionate
>about the possibility that this offers to the young who are often bereft
>of this knowledge.  I am passionate about this new age.
>
>We are lucky to be on the brink of this great epoch in archives. We can
>shape it and we can ride its wave. Or we can ignore it and let the tide
>ebb away so that we remain spectators to the great changes. Will the
>future path be easy? No. Will there be setbacks? Yes. Will it turn out
>the way we want? That is uncertain. What is certain and what we can
>expect is that the change is upon us and we can determine the response to
>it.
>
>Let us rejoice that we have this opportunity and know that despite the
>time we toil in the dim and dusty storage rooms, we make a brighter
>future possible and future generations can look back on and see our
>contribution because the way we preserved the past shaped our future.
>
>Best,
>
>Lawrence
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
>[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lynne Moore
>Sent: 17 February 2014 11:46
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Archives for the Future Conference: Full Programme
>
>I would like to suggest, rather more importantly, that its not just about
>how people interact with archives, 'elsehwere', but that the implicit
>theoretical standpoints visible here, in fact, underpin everything that
>we do every day. These issues are seminal to the practice and process of
>archives, but so often dismissed as irrelevant or peripheral it would
>appear...
>Thanks for an excellent response Rachel.
>Lynne
>
>On 2/17/14, Caroline Williams <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Hi Rachel
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks for the gentle nudge. I agree there's nothing to be lost - and
>> potentially much to be gained - from being open to what's going on
>> elsewhere about 'our' stuff!
>>
>>
>>
>> Caroline
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Archivists, conservators and records managers.
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rachel Hardiman
>> Sent: 17 February 2014 06:56
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: Archives for the Future Conference: Full Programme
>>
>>
>>
>> I hesitated a great deal before joining this thread, as I do not wish
>> to come across as po-faced and humourless in response to what are
>> probably only light-hearted and throw-away remarks. But in the end, I
>> felt it worth the risk as I think the comments encapsulate, no matter
>> how jokingly, a persistent strand of insularity in some of our
>> professional attitudes.
>>
>>
>>
>> I didn't think that the conference programme was particularly
>> 'pseudish' - just couched in a jargon different from our own. In fact,
>> it looked rather interesting. We often, and quite rightly, stress the
>> importance of user or community engagement, outreach, and a whole host
>> of other pluralizing desirables, yet when others actually do engage
>> with records and archives, or ideas about them - in academia, in high
>> or popular culture, in everyday use by various internal and public
>> 'stakeholders' - they not infrequently evoke a defensive or dismissive
>> reaction when such engagement does not conform to our perspectives.
>> This is not to say that our perspectives are not central and
>> essential; but we are not dealing with Records and ArchivesT, we are
>> dealing with powerful and resonant artefacts and structures of
>> individual, social, and cultural remembering, forgetting,
>> accountability, and sense-making. We should have a curiosity about the
>> endlessly inventive ways in which these are being used and repurposed
>> for both good and ill beyond our own walls; this conference, which is
>> free to attend, offers an opportunity to do just that. Maybe the
>> papers and presentations will be irrelevant navel-gazing, maybe they
>> will be thought-provoking or entertaining. Either way, if I were still
>> living in London, I'd certainly be tempted to go and hear what was on
>> offer.
>>
>>
>>
>> Here endeth today's po-faced and homourless intervention ...
>>
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Rachel Hardiman
>>
>>
>>
>> linkedin.com/pub/rachel-hardiman/22/915/45b
>> <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rachel-hardiman/22/915/45b>
>>
>> twitter.com/Paradoxographer
>>
>> uva.academia.edu/RachelHardiman
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Feb 16, 2014 at 4:45 PM, Mckenzie, Sue
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Glad it wasn't just me.....
>>
>> Sent from my iPad
>>
>>
>> On 14 Feb 2014, at 15:14, "Brian Carpenter"
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> Indeed.  I am certainly interested enough to send the programme to
>> Private Eye for inclusion in Pseuds' Corner.
>>
>>
>>
>> Brian Carpenter
>>
>>
>>
>> From: Shepherd, Elizabeth [mailto:[log in to unmask]
>> <mailto:e.shepherd@UCL..AC.UK> ]
>> Sent: 14 February 2014 14:33
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: FW: Archives for the Future Conference: Full Programme
>>
>>
>>
>> Apologies for cross posting.
>>
>>
>>
>> Colleagues might be interested in this conference.
>>
>>
>>
>> Elizabeth Shepherd
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
>> --
>>
>> Contact the list owner for assistance at
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>> For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during
>> a
>> holiday) see the list website at
>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
>> -----------------------
>> Text inserted by Panda IS 2014:
>>
>> This message has NOT been classified as spam. If it is unsolicited
>> mail (spam), click on the following link to reclassify it: It is spam!
>> <http://localhost:6083/Panda?ID=pav_6113&SPAM=true&path=C:\Windows\sys
>> tem32\
>> config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Panda%20Security\Panda%20Internet%2
>> 0Secur
>> ity%202014\AntiSpam>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ------
>> -----------------------
>>
>>
>> Contact the list owner for assistance at
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during
>> a
>> holiday) see the list website at
>> https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
>>
>
>Contact the list owner for assistance at
>[log in to unmask]
>
>For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a
>holiday) see the list website at
>https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
>
>________________________________
>
>
>Help protect our environment by only printing this email if absolutely
>necessary. The information it contains and any files transmitted with it
>are confidential and are only intended for the person or organisation to
>whom it is addressed. It may be unlawful for you to use, share or copy
>the information, if you are not authorised to do so. If you receive this
>email by mistake, please inform the person who sent it at the above
>address and then delete the email from your system. Durham County Council
>takes reasonable precautions to ensure that its emails are virus free.
>However, we do not accept responsibility for any losses incurred as a
>result of viruses we might transmit and recommend that you should use
>your own virus checking procedures.
>
>Contact the list owner for assistance at
>[log in to unmask]
>
>For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a
>holiday) see the list website at
>https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra
>
>Contact the list owner for assistance at
>[log in to unmask]
>
>For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a
>holiday) see the list website at
>https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra


The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish Charity, No: SC015096

Contact the list owner for assistance at [log in to unmask]

For information about joining, leaving and suspending mail (eg during a holiday) see the list website at
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=archives-nra