for records in a digital environment. Instead of a positivist approach, MacNeil
(2016) proposed that diplomatics as an analytical method should be based on a
more interpretivist approach. This also means a shift in the way the word
authenticity is used. It does not reflect an "objective truth" but "an understanding
that reflects fairly the various perspectives of participants in that setting" (p. 755).
Even though innovative processes of authentication are implemented, and whatever
positivist or interpretivist background is used, the idea behind them remains that
the authenticator is an external informational agent that validates the record and
makes the judgement of authenticity.
External judgement of weak authenticity
The second interpretation of authenticity as a property of records is of referential
nature. Weak authenticity is concerned with the question whether records are a
sound representation of the history of for example a person, a city, an organisation
or a country. This interpretation is often linked with political issues. The
authenticator controls the creation, the appraisal, the disposal and the distribution
of records. The authenticator therefore controls the sources, the evidence, upon
which historical research is based.
In the past decades weak authenticity, and the power of the authenticator, have
become an important subject of research. As McKemmish and Gilliland (2016) have
written: "The greater diversity and the expanding research front reflect in part the
impact of the so-called 'archival turn' first evident in postmodern and postcolonial
discourses in disciplines like anthropology, literature and history. It has encouraged
researchers in archival science to contemplate the societal implications and effects
of archives and recordkeeping. Critical theory provides a framework for
theorizing about both the role of the Archive in social conditions and forces such as
colonialism, oppression, marginalization and abuse of human rights, and the part
that it might play in postcolonial, post-trauma and post-conflict societies.
Increasingly the Archive is being explored as a contested, political space, a societal
concept associated with the promotion of asymmetrical power, grand narratives,
nationalism, surveillance, and the omission, diminution or silencing of alternate
narratives Interdisciplinary areas such as race and ethnicity, gender and ion,
and Indigenous and studies, are also addressing the role of the Archive (p. 86)
An example of an authenticator is the archival institute that selects and manages
records of a city. Every institute will have its appraisal policy, and a lot of them will
try to collect data and records from every part of society. In this case the archivist is
the gatekeeper, classifying records as fit for purpose.
The issues can be highly political as is clear from the citation above. The
authenticator can deliberately contribute to inequality, for example when property
rights of indigenous communities in Africa and in Northern America are not
recorded in a way that the ruling class view as reliable and thus authentic
(Faulkhead and Thorpe, 2016). Records can also contribute to inequality when for
example abuses of power by for example military invaders or domestic oppressors
are not recorded and captured.8
Another, less politically loaded, example is the use of records for city marketing. The
historical museum of the city where I live, creates a very positive view of the history
of the city (with keywords like tolerant, entrepreneurial and creative) and shows
records and artefacts to illustrate this. For this purpose, it is quite inconvenient that
the museum contains a lot of records and artefacts about events that the city cannot
be proud of, like the city's contribution to slave trade until the nineteenth century.
This is dealt with in one short sentence at the end of the statement about the "DNA
of Amsterdam". Records are put in the context of city branding,9 or to put it less
mildly: in the context of outright propaganda and distortion of historical truth for
financial benefits.
However, the notion that for this kind of authentication you need sources that have
proved to be reliable and genuine, remains an important matter. Weak authenticity
needs records with strong authenticity.
Internal judgement of weak authenticity
This is a postmodernist, constructivist subject. The link with strong authenticity is
practically absent. This kind of authentication only contributes to what the
authenticator wants to see confirmed in authenticating himself. If it looks or
sounds like a record, and if contributes to the identity the authenticator wishes for
himself, it is OK. If the authenticator gets a feeling of his own authenticity by using
the record, it is fine. Authenticity, when authorized from the inside, does not need
authentication from the outside. Anything that strengthens the idea that one comes
closer to himself, will do.
This is the realm of consumerist behaviour as described by Gilmore and Pine (2007).
It is a postmodernist realm where values like truth, reliability and proof are always
"subjective" and are always dependant on "metanarratives". This is also the realm of
contemporary discussions about fake news, filter bubbles and possibilities of
manipulating digital texts, photos, videos and animations. It is therefore a highly
relevant subject that needs further exploration.
Internal judgement of strong authenticity
The three ways of authentication that are described above radically differ from each
other. The first is traditionally linked to diplomatics. The second poses questions to
the function of records in society. The third is concerned with weak authenticity
when strong authenticity is irrelevant. All these types of authentication have been
researched.
The fourth possibility is that of the record claiming, accepting or rejecting its own
strong authenticity. These records are part of an environment that does not allow for
an outside authenticator, because they are part of a hyperobject that is too vast to
control by any individual or group, machine or network.
Digital records might beyond the control we were used to in the analog
environment. Laws, regulations and standards will only partially help. Getting a grip
on a hyperobject is a self-contradictory goal. Therefore, the only realistic
authentication process of digital records might be internal. The octopus should be
archives in liquid times
8 See for example the work of witness.org, accessed 29-09-2017
260
frans smit records, hyperobjects and authenticity
9 See http://hart.amsterdammuseum.nl/nl/page/3 5365/amsterdam-dna-tijdlijn, accessed 03-06-2017
261
