Records, Hyperobjects and Authenticity Overview In this essay I argue that authenticity will remain an essential qualification of records in a digital environment. Authentication, is, and will stay, dependent on the interaction between three entities: the authenticator, the authenticated and the informed. This interaction however, will undergo fundamental changes. The reason for this is that the nature of records has changed dramatically in a digital environment. They have become so vast and so distributed that we might view them as part of a Hyperobject, along the line of reasoning of the ecological philosopher Timothy Morton. From that new perspective I will explore the concept of the Hyperobject to grasp this nature. I will also examine how authentication of a hyperobject might work. The essay will conclude with some general observations on what is new and what is not; and on ethical challenges considering the authentication of this hyperobject. In the essay a lot of topics, questions and deliberate choices are addressed. Therefore, it can only depict a snapshot of a line of reasoning that should be elaborated.1 Authenticity: a word of ominous import Writing about authenticity is a hazardous enterprise. There are moral philosophers who try to convince us that we are currently "living in an Age of Authenticity" (Taylor, 2007, p. 514). The word has penetrated deeply into popular culture. Creating the "sensation of authenticity" is a billion-dollar business and one of the fundaments of consumer economics (Gilmore and Pine II, 2007). In the western world authenticity is often considered as a natural characteristic of human beings by many people. When a person is authentic, he is close to his true nature. On the internet you can find an enormous amount of authenticity tests for one's personality. There is a nice paradox in assessing a person's authenticity. The more authentic you want to be, the less your authenticity will be experienced as such by others. Your authenticity tends to withdraw and disappear when you are too conscious of it. Authenticity "disappears when you talk about it" (Weijts, 2016, p. 61). Ankersmit relates a feeling of authenticity to an experience of something being imperfect. What is perfect will never affect us. (Ankersmit, 1993, p. 24). frans smit 1 I would like to express my gratitude to Geert-Jan van Bussel, Arnoud Glaudemans and Martijn van Otterlo for their comments on earlier versions. 249

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Jaarboeken Stichting Archiefpublicaties | 2017 | | pagina 126