It is not just about political governance anymore. We are past that stage of human
history. It went as far as it could: it is modernity. Thinking that the State is going to
fix all our digital problems it is not being in touch with the twenty-first century. The
governance of the digital will have to involve all stakeholders.
The massive liquidity has to be counterbalanced by some anchoring. This reminds me
of the logo of Aldus Manutius, the most famous Italian publisher and one of the
founders of the modern book era. He had a logo with the anchor and a dolphin and
the motto 'Festina Lente' which means 'Go fast, slowly'. This logo, I think, stands for
a good balance for information society. The dolphin represents liquidity, the anchor
represents the necessary grounding. Because it is not just about liquidity of the
digital, it is also about grounding the governance of the digital. We need a
counterbalance to the excessive liquidity of our society. I think it would be a great
motto and icon for the society we want to develop.
archives in liquid times
Literature
Floridi, L. (2002). Sextus Empiricus - The Recovery and Transmission of Pyrrhonism. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Floridi, L. (2014). The Fourth Revolution - How the Infosphere is Reshaping Human Reality.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Glaudemans, Arnoud, Rienk Jonker and Frans Smit (2015). The right people and the right
forces need to get together, Interview with Prof. Luciano Floridi, Archievenblad, L-F, 01/2015.
Retrieved from http://www.youblisher.
com/p/1048348-Archievenblad-uitgave-van-de-Koninklijke-Vereniging-van-Archivarissen-in-
Nederland/
Lanier, Jaron (2013). Who owns the future? London: Allen Lane.
Yeo, G. (2008). Concepts of Record(2), Prototypes and boundary objects. The American
Archivist, 71, 118-143.
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