ABSTRACT This paper investigates how archival protection and recovery can be strengthened in the face of natural disasters, based on the case of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, in 2024. The main objective is to propose a model of coordination and collaboration to improve the safety and recovery of archives in natural disasters. The analysis of the dataset from the Public Archives of Rio Grande do Sul (APERS) and the Integrated Disaster Information System (S2iD) revealed inconsistencies in disaster monitoring policies, particularly regarding data collection requirements. While municipal governments are mandated to report to the S2iD platform, APERS does not have similar data collection obligations, as the S2iD primarily supports resource allocation. The coordination model proposed includes standardized procedures, system integration, mandatory reporting of archival damage, training, use of technology, and continuous monitoring. We argue that efficient archival protection and recovery from natural disasters requires a coordinated approach with standardized procedures, integrated systems, mandatory reporting, and advanced technologies. Future strategies should prioritize integrating standardized models, improved data collection, emerging technologies, such as AI, and enhanced training programmes for archival professionals.

ABSTRACT This study examines how community organizations in Bangladesh, a country among the most climate-vulnerable globally, are adapting their recordkeeping practices in response to escalating impacts of climate change. While community organizations play a critical role in supporting grassroots climate action, limited research has explored how climate change affects their internal operations, particularly recordkeeping. Most existing literature focuses on formal institutions in the Global North, overlooking the unique challenges faced by low-resource organizations in the Global South. Using qualitative thematic analysis, based on data from focus groups with 16 community organizations and interviews with 23 stakeholders across four disaster-prone regions in Bangladesh, the study investigates climate-related disruptions and emerging adaptive recordkeeping practices. Findings reveal that events like floods and cyclones lead to record losses, infrastructure damage, and administrative discontinuity. In response, organizations are adopting informal but practical strategies such as decentralized storage, partial digitization, and community-based support networks. The study proposes an Adaptive Recordkeeping Framework tailored to the needs of grassroots community organizations in low-resource, high-risk environments. While rooted in the Bangladeshi context, the findings have broader relevance for other climate-exposed regions around the globe where community organizations face similar recordkeeping challenges amidst increasing climate risks.

ABSTRACT This study explores the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven technologies to improve the accessibility and usability of historical audio archives through the integration of Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. A dataset of 14 historical and oral history recordings, sourced from the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institution, was used to evaluate three ASR models: Whisper larger-v3, OWSM v3.1, and MMS-1b-all. Comparative analysis based on Word Error Rate (WER) revealed that Whisper larger-v3 consistently achieved the lowest error rates, while the open-source OWSM v3.1 demonstrated competitive performance, positioning it as a viable transparent alternative. The multilingual MMS-1b-all exhibited higher WERs, highlighting the trade-off between language coverage and domain-specific optimization. Downstream Named Entity Recognition (NER) and automated text summarization were conducted on the transcribed outputs, with human evaluations confirming high levels of informativeness, fluency, and faithfulness. This integrated approach underscores the potential of AI technologies to automate metadata generation, enhance the accessibility of archival content, and support more efficient archival workflows. Furthermore, the study addresses ethical considerations and proposes strategies for future integration of AI-generated metadata into existing cataloguing systems, offering valuable insights for archivists and information professionals engaged in digital preservation and heritage management.

ABSTRACT How can archives and universities work together to build research skills and confidence among the public? This article examines one model based on a collaboration between The London Archives and the London School of Economics. The project used public involvement in an academic project to scaffold participants’ acquisition of research skills and independence, focusing on learning through research. This exploited the open-ended process of enquiry that characterizes much historical research as a mechanism to foster creative research work by novice historians. It did so within a framework that ensured their contributions had wider value. The project also developed an effective way to engage directly with potentially challenging material, exploring strategies for managing trauma-informed archival practice.

ABSTRACT Ensuring the secure processing of patient health records – maintained across various healthcare organizations throughout a patient’s lifetime – is a growing challenge, especially given the increasing volume of data and the rise in cyber-attacks targeting healthcare systems. These records contain critical information such as diagnoses and medications, which must be protected as they are shared across interconnected clinical systems. This paper aims to design and implement a secure, decentralized system for managing Electronic Health Records (EHRs) using blockchain technology and smart contracts. The objective is to improve the privacy, integrity, and accessibility of medical data while enabling patients to control access to their records. The proposed system was developed using a private blockchain integrated with a cloud database and was evaluated through functional testing, system architecture modelling, and algorithmic simulations. Key components include smart contracts for access management, cryptographic hashing for data integrity, and role-based access control for ensuring appropriate data permissions. The results demonstrate that the system achieves the desired levels of security, transparency, and traceability, while maintaining scalability and usability in real-world healthcare settings. This study confirms the practical feasibility of blockchain-based EHR systems and their potential to transform healthcare data management.

ABSTRACT Between 1958 and 1961, as Ruanda-Urundi approached independence, the Belgian State deported 283 Métis children to Belgium where they were placed in orphanages or with foster families. Most of these illegitimate children of Black women and white colonial men would never see their birth mothers again, believing the ‘official’ narrative that their mothers had abandoned them. This article focuses on the mothers’ stories uncovered in visits to Belgium’s ‘Africa Archives’ in Brussels. Previously inaccessible for over 40 years, the files consulted debunk the notion that the mothers wilfully gave up their children. Instead, they expose the racial discrimination and prejudices to which the mothers were subjected by Belgian colonial officials determined to segregate the children from their African families and subsequently remove them to Belgium indefinitely. Using Miranda Fricker’s concepts of ‘testimonial injustice’ and ‘hermeneutical injustice’ as a theoretical framework, we examine the marginalization, coercion, and manipulation of the mothers in terms of epistemic violence facilitated by the colonial racial hierarchy. Additionally we suggest that, despite recent improvements pertaining to accessing Belgium’s colonial archives, the continued difficulties in accessing the files for the mothers and their families residing in Africa points to a perpetuation of colonial injustice.