Who approves algivists? Depending on the impact of algivists on the daily life
of people, we may need regulations concerning their use, similar to regulations
concerning autonomous cars. In analogy with medicine, we may need to think
about formal approval procedures, as a kind of "FDA approval for algivists"
(Tutt, 2017) where algivists first need to be tested in laboratories before they
can work in archives.
(6) Conclusions
In this essay I have done several things. First, I have described a plausible, yet still
fictive, future of algivists as algorithmic archivists. Second, I have given the reader an
extensive view on the new field of ethics of algorithms which is concerned with the
societal impact of intelligent algorithms. Third, I have introduced how ethical
thinking has been formalized in archival practices using codes of ethics. Fourth, and
most importantly, I have sketched how human codes of ethics could be employed to
build algorithmic algivists that will obey our human ethical values, thereby moving
from the intended archivist to the intentional algivist. Future research on AI, ethics
and archives will bring us the advances algivists promise, but hopefully also gives us
tools to maintain high moral standards when incorporating these agents into our
lives. At least two sets of questions remain for archivists to answer and for others to
study. The first is how the new role of trainer or coach will have an impact on the
profession. Instead of appraising documents, they will now "appraise" the behavior
of the algivist. How many trainers are needed at some point? How will they become a
certified trainer? And will algivists stay a separate profession, or will they merge with
other information service machines? The second set of questions is about the long
time future. When archival practices will be changed drastically with the
introduction of algivists, ethical codes may need to be updated to reflect new social
norms between humans and machines. Who decides when that time comes, and
who decides what is to be changed? Maybe employing algivists also requires us to
rethink ethical concepts over time (see Steinert, 2014 about meta-ethics). Time will
tell.
archives in liquid times
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