Managing “the shapeless mass” in the digital age

Abstract

In his 1927 “Archeion” article, On issues of modern Polish archival science (Z zagadnień nowożytnej archiwistyki polskiej), the renowned Polish archivist Kazimierz Konarski wrote of the challenge of managing the “shapeless mass” of modern archives in the 20th century. In this presentation, Canadian archival consultant and independent scholar Laura Millar examines the records and archives management challenge of the 21st century: managing the “shapeless mass” of electronic records inundating governments and organizations in the digital age. The “flood” of physical and textual documentation that Dr. K. Konarski faced a century ago has become a torrent of invisible, omnipresent, elusive electronic records – photographs, audio recordings, databases, AI-generated data, and more – stored in countless computer hard drives, cloud storage systems, and personal digital devices. How can the archivist manage digital sources that are both ephemeral and eternal at the same time? To ensure society has the documentary evidence it needs, L. Millar argues that archivists must our shift attention away from the care of static, “old” archives and focus more directly on the work of capturing and recording the present. The digital age may transform our methods, but our mission remains the same: to help society capture, protect, and make available for use essential sources of documentary proof.