3.6 Digital Archives Identification and Administration
3.6.1 Digital archiving practices
3.6.1.2 Acquisition: selection and appraisal of archives
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generated though social media by the Botswana government emphasized the significance of proper management of such records to ward off privacy, security and trust issues. The present study acts as a follow-up to such related studies by benchmarking on progress made in digital archiving practices which included creation.
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administration of justice, and; the right to access official records (Klett 2018:88).
Additionally, Note (2020:28) suggests that appraisal criteria for digital records should constitute checking for administrative, evidential, fiscal, informational, intrinsic and legal values. Other value criteria to be used include aesthetic, associational and exhibition values (Note 2020:28).
Harvey and Thompson (2010:316) and Note (2020:27) identify two forms of appraisal namely technical appraisal and intellectual appraisal. The authors expound that technical appraisal evaluates the format of an object and the technical capability to maintain it (the ability of the archive to be used in future), while intellectual appraisal evaluates the digital object’s content in terms of intrinsic value and provenance (authenticity and reliability of the archive). Harvey and Thompson (2010:317) point out that technical and intellectual appraisal are inextricably tied to the collection policy of an archive, but are of the view that technical appraisal is more important to the maintenance of digital archives. However, the researcher’s view is that both criteria are equally important to the archival collection and should be given equal treatment as they both have an impact on access and use of digital archives.
In the traditional context, Jenkinson and Schellenberg envisaged a micro-appraisal approach based upon a bottom-up methodology in 1937 as reported by Shepherd and Yeo, 2003:149-150. In this approach, records are appraised based on their values by using either a file by file or folio by folio method. The approach advocated for the view that:
Authenticity of records derives in part from their interrelationships and that any artificial selection adversely… [affects]…their impartiality as evidence…the record is [therefore] seen as unique in its context and equal value” (Shepherd and Yeo, 2003:149-150).
However, this approach was found to apply to small organizations that were operating in a manual environment. This led to the advancement of a modern approach to appraisal known as macro-appraisal approach, developed by Terry Cook in the 1990s was more suited to the digital environment and large organizations because records were analysed based on organizational purposes, systems, structures and functions (Shepherd and Yeo, 2003:151).
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In digital environments, appraisal is not a one-off process occurring once at the pre- ingest stage of records lifecycle; rather it is an ongoing process taking place when circumstances require (Harvey and Thompson 2010:317). This brings up the concept of re-appraisal, defined as the process of identifying materials that no longer merit inclusion in an archive and that are candidates for de-accessioning (Society of American Archivists’ Dictionary of Archives Terminology 2020b). The circumstances that could trigger re-appraisal of digital archives in universities include:
i. Technology watch - This is the process of monitoring for signs that media, format or rendering applications will become obsolescent - These alerts when identified become triggers for some form of preservation interventions.
ii. Change in designated community - This happens when the archival context changes, for example when a university drops a course.
iii. Change in legislation - The introduction of new laws and regulations that impact upon digital records will merit re-appraisal (Harvey and Thompson 2010:316-7).
The question of impartiality during appraisal processes is a bone of contention in archival repositories and institutions and is recognized by Craig (2015:17) as a key theme in appraisal. Dan (2013) in Garaba (2018:146) brings to light the bias of university Archives in Australia where priority was placed on collecting materials of famous personalities in comparison to the lesser-known individuals. Such cases add weight to Ngoepe and Nkwe’s (2018:17) concerns as to who has the responsibility of making appraisal decisions: the archivist, the creator or both? Ghosh (2011:15) interjects that objective selection and appraisal of digital records for permanent preservation as archives necessitates adherence to the principles of archival management which comprise provenance and respect des fonds (original order). The principle of provenance means that records created by a particular family, individual or organization must not be combined with materials created separately by another organization (Ghosh 2011:16). This implies that both the archivist and the creator must collaborate to reach mutually acceptable appraisal decisions.
To undertake appraisal of digital records successfully, Cushing (2010:308) advises that archivists should adopt strategies of documentation and functional analysis developed by Helen Samuels in 1992, to guide the acquisition process. These methods
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support the notion of laying down a plan or strategy for collection development which involves selecting materials on the basis of a designed method that prioritizes a specific topic, event or field. A functional analysis approach is then used to select and acquire archival records for the Archives. Netshakhuma (2020:2051) avers that the appraisal methodologies applied in universities comprise the functional analysis (macro-appraisal) and value-based approach. Nevertheless, there is no single accepted method for appraising records, neither is there an interoperable and common set of taxonomy or definitions for performing appraisal (Cushing 2010:309).
The acquisition of digital assets for archival repositories gives rise to pertinent issues, most importantly the volume of the records to be acquired (Johnson, Ranade and Thomas 2014:227). Archivists are experiencing difficulties deciding on how to select and appraise materials for admission into their repositories as a result of the increased volume of records arising from advances in technology. Scholars have observed that archivists have challenges in selecting appropriate appraisal methods (Klett 2018;
Eastwood 2017; Klareld 2015b). Commenting on the challenges of appraisal in the modern day, Johnson, Ranade and Thomas (2014:226) mused: “in the digital world, we create and keep more, and we cannot select as finely”. This brings to attention the issue of records accumulation singled out by Cushing (2010:308) as one of the overarching aims of appraisal. Cushing (2010:308) explains that in the manual environment, the keeping of paper records was limited by space provisions, which impacted on the quantity of records to be selected during appraisal. Today however, the problems arising from collection accumulation have extended into the digital environment, albeit with a contrasting implication on space, not so much the lack of it, but rather the availability of a lot of digital storage space. The inference is that with so much space available, archivists must be cautious in making value decisions during appraisal to avoid a scenario where there is ‘digital clutter’ in their collections.
Clearly, appraisal remains a challenge bedeviling archivists in most African countries today with regards to the appropriate processes, approaches and methods that should be used (Netshakhuma 2020; Ngoepe and Nkwe 2017; Adu and Ngulube 2016;
Garaba 2013; Asogwa 2013; Cox 2011). For example, Cox (2011:8-21) opines that appraisal is a core activity for archival repositories in the emerging digital era, and suggests that archivists need to re-focus on the arising appraisal implications by
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becoming more technically proficient, enhancing other knowledge and skill areas and re-thinking appraisal as a continuous rather than a one-time process. Additionally, Garaba (2013:261) highlights five models on appraisal methodology from the literature (black box, sampling, the Schellenbergian model, re-appraisal and macro- appraisal models) which scholars criticized for being unaccountable, labor-intensive and ineffective. Further, Garaba (2013:261) proposed adoption of the hybridization as a sixth model which integrates appraisal and preservation practices, thereby taking advantage of new technologies to address space and storage concerns. The present study holds that another possible solution to the problems of appraisal is for archival repositories to develop appraisal policies that indicate the records that merit permanent preservation and those that should be destroyed at the lapse of specified retention periods (ICA 2013).