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The Concepts
of Reliability, Accuracy and Authenticity
Research
Questions
- What does record reliability mean in the context of artistic, scientific
and government activities? To what extent can the electronic records
created in the course of each type of activity be considered reliable
and why? What requirements on their form and controls on their
creation would make us presume that they are reliable?
- What does record accuracy mean in the context of each activity? To
what extent can the electronic records created in the course of
each type of activity be considered accurate and why? What controls
on their creation would make us presume that these records are
accurate?
- What does authenticity mean in the context of each activity? To what
extent is the definition of record authenticity adopted by InterPARES
1 relevant to the records resulting from each type of activity
and from the use of increasingly complex digital technology?
- On what basis can the records created in the course of each activity
be presumed authentic? How, in the absence of such presumption,
can their authenticity be verified?
- How is the authenticity of these records affected by their transmission
across space and time? What controls on the process of transmission
would ensure that these records will continue to be recognized
as authentic?
- Are the conceptual requirements for reliability and authenticity developed by the UBC-MAS project
and InterPARES 1 for administrative and legal records generated within databases
and document management systems applicable to the records studied by InterPARES
2?
- Do the participants in electronic transactions have shared access
to reliable and accurate information about the terms and effects
of the transactions? What would constitute reliable and accurate
records of transactions in current electronic service delivery
initiatives?
- What would be the consequence of issuing guidelines for record creation
on the nature of the records of each activity?
- How can cultural differences, freedom of expression, freedom of inquiry,
and right to privacy be reflected in those guidelines?
- What technological and intellectual tools would assist creators to
generate records that can be authentically preserved over time?
- What legal or moral obligations exist regarding the creation, use and
preservation of the records under investigation?
Methodologies
The Domain 2 Task Force began by testing the applicability of the archival concepts of reliability,
accuracy and authenticity as defined above to the records studied by this
Project. The working groups within Domain 2 researched the literature of
each discipline and drew on the case study research to form an understanding
of the significance of the terms reliability, accuracy and authenticity in
each focus area. From this understanding, a theory of ideal record-making
and recordkeeping processes in the context of each activity was devised that
took into consideration the diverse cultural and disciplinary environments
in which the records under investigation were created, maintained and preserved.
On the basis of this theory, selected processes (either hypothetical or drawn
from case studies) were constituted as test cases to: (1) study
records and record-making and recordkeeping in situ, (2) observe the effects of hardware
and software evolution on the records, and (3) establish a set of records on
which to test the guidelines for creation, maintenance and use. High-level
activity models were developed to reflect commonalities and variations
in record-making and recordkeeping processes across disciplines. Guidelines for
records creators were drafted, tested, made available to all Project researchers for
review and comments and then issued.
Outcomes
The outcomes of the research conducted in Domain 2 were: scholarly papers
discussing the meanings of the concepts in question in each discipline,
comparing and reconciling them; scholarly papers presenting a theory
of reliable record-making and recordkeeping in each activity and contextualizing
it; and guidelines for records creators outlining methods for the
reliable production and maintenance of records that can be authentically
preserved. (These Guidelines have since been translated into French, Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese.)
Documents
Public project documents
for Domain 2 are located here.
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