„The Third Order of Order“

Relational Archival Description and Indexing as a Chance for

Defragmenting Contexts and Collections

Karsten Kühnel

„In the third order of order, knowledge doesn’t have a shape. There are just too many […] ways to make sense of our world.”

(David Weinberger, Everything is Miscellaneous, 83)

Questions

1. Does the today model of fixed archival tectonicsmirror the historic reality?

2. What purpose can meet the digitisation of archival material in the context of making descriptive information accessible?

3. What should be the object(s) of archival descriptionand which standards should be used?

4. What is „relational archival description“ and whatdoes it to the users?

Classic fixed tectonics

Multiple meanings

„The meaning of a record, or of any other culturalartefact is twofold: the meaning of the record and themeaning for someone or for an occasion. The record isfull of meanings, some may be read in the record, orinferred from the intertextuality that connects it toother documents, others have to be deduced from thecontext of archives‘ creation and use.“

(Eric Ketelaar: Archives and Archivists without Borders, 2010, published 2012)

Contextualisation

Place for describung (de- and re-)contextualisations in classic finding aids (Findbüchern):

custodial history (Bestandsgeschichte)

[Quelle: http://eadiva.com/custodhist/]

Answer 1

The today common system of fixed tectonicspresents reality of contexts very limited.

Images / Aggregations

Answer 2

Digitisation in the today paradigmaticallychanging culture of describing and using enablesstructures and relationships of archives andarchival material to be visualised which could bemade visible hardly before.

ICA Metadata Model

Place Event

EAD

EAC

Matching indexed datatogether

Unique data from C/M 1 files Unique data from T/D files

Type of Entity: Person

Authorized Form of Name: Albaglis, Ilia

Parallel Form of Name: Albaglis, Ilias

Dates of Existence (Date of Birth): 1912-05-15

History: Nationality Greek

Places: Smyrna (Birth)

Names of Related Corporate Bodies, Personsand Families: CC Auschwitz

Category of Relationship: Associative

Description of Relationship: Prisoner No. 182440

Dates of Relationship: 1944-04-11 (entry)

Names of Related Corporate Bodies, Personsand Families: CC Sachsenhausen

Category of Relationship: Associative

Description of Relationship: Prisoner

Dates of Relationship: 1945-01-18 (entry)

[…]

Type of Entity: Person

Authorized Form of Name: Albaglis, Elia

Parallel Form of Name: Albaglis, Ilias

Dates of Existence (Date of Birth): 1912-05-15

History: Religion Jewish, Nationality Greek and/or Stateless, Sex Male

Places: Smirne (Birth), Feldafing (Place of applying for IRO assistance)

Names of Related Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families: DP Camp Feldafing

Category of Relationship: Associative

Description of Relationship: Applicant for IRO Assistance

Dates of Relationship: 1948-08-30

[…]

Datenquelle: ITS, Bad Arolsen

CDOC CRM Metaschema

Quelle: Marlies Orlensky: Semantic interoperability in Europeana.An examination of CIDOC CRM in digital cultural heritage documentation. In: TCDL Bulletin, Vol. 6/2, Fall 2010 (http://www.ieee-tcdl.org/Bulletin/v6n2/Olensky/olensky.html)

CIDOC/CRM as Mediator

Quelle: Lourdi, Papatheodorou, Dörr: Semantic Integration of Collection Description. In: D-Lib Magazine, July/August 2009 (Volume 15 Number 7/8): http://www.dlib.org/dlib/july09/papatheodorou/07papatheodorou.html

Actually working portals

Archives Portal Europe Europeana

www.archivesportaleurope.net www.europeana.eu

Answer 3

Archival Description should ad minimum regardarchives, creators and other important agents. The description profiles should be oriented on the EAD and EAC standards.

Answer 4

Relational description is based on a system ofcorresponding relationships between objects to bedescribed. It can be realised by authority files, facetclassifications or by implementing object-orientedconceptual reference models (CRM).

Relational description doesn‘t need fixed classificationsor hierarchies. Finding aids can be generated on demand by the users themselves according to selectedrelevant kinds of relationships.

User-generated collections

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