geert-jan van bussel the theoretical framework for the 'archive-as-is'
an organization oriented view on archives - part ii
An overview of the conceptual background of the theoretical framework will follow
this introduction. After that I will elaborate on the assumptions on which the
theoretical framework is based, followed with a graphical model of the framework.
The next part will be an in-depth discussion of all components of the framework.
This part of the article will be concluded with several concluding remarks, remarks
about further research, and an acknowledgement section.
2. Conceptual background of the theoretical framework
I have developed the theoretical framework of the 'Archive-as-Is' primarily as an
organizational theory on archives. As such, the focus of the framework is on the
organizations (and/or persons) that create, process, manage, and preserve
information objects, records and archives in their business processes and activities.
The background of the theoretical framework presented here is directly influenced
by archival science, but also by concepts, theories, and ideas from organization and
information sciences, such as:
1. The sensemaking theories of Karl Weick (1979, 1995) and Brenda Dervin
(2003), that guide research about the way people make sense of information
objects and the way organizations address either uncertain or ambiguous
situations. For sensemaking, records and archives are of crucial importance,
because of their contextual nature;
2. Relevance theories (Saracevic, 2007ab), which argue that what causes
information to be used, stored, kept, and preserved is its relevance to the user
or the organization that generates or collects that information. Relevance is
extremely important when attributing value to records and should be part of
appraisal processes;
3. The situation theory (Barwise and Perry, 1983; Devlin, 1994), an information
theoretic mathematical ontology developed to support situation semantics.
Situations support (or fail to support) items of information. The theory is
applicable to the analysis of information flows and information architecture,
cooperative action, and ICT-design (Israel and Perry, 1991; Devlin and
Rosenberg, 2008). Situations can be associated with transactions in business
processes and can be used to analyze records and the context(s) surrounding
them;
4. Andrew Pettigrew's (1979, 1990) ideas of the relationship between context and
organizational development, in which reconstructing past contexts, processes,
and decisions to discover patterns, underlying mechanisms and triggers, is
extremely important when formulating strategies, but also for accountability,
governance and compliance;
5. The knowledge chain model of Clyde Holsapple (Holsapple and Singh, 2001),
which offers a framework for knowledge translation within organizations
to realize organizational objectives. It can be applied to records and archives
because of its process-oriented nature;
6. The activity theory as used by Bonnie Nardi (Nardi and O'Day, 1999; Kaptelinin
and Nardi, 2012), which offers valuable ideas about behaviour and technology.
Nardi (1996, p. 13) states that activity theory 'sees people and things as
fundamentally different. People are not reduced to 'nodes' or 'agents' in a
system; 'information processing' is not seen as something to be modelled in the
same way for people and machines'. Nardi's theory has been important for my
interpretation of EIM and organizational behaviour.
The philosophical tradition that underlies this new framework is pragmatism, in
which 'truth' is traced by its 'respective practical consequences' (James, 1907, p. 45).
Thought is not meant to describe or mirror reality (James, 1909, chapter 1). Theories
should have practical application (James 1907, p. 216) and are instruments in prob
lem solving, which is exactly the kind of logic useful in continuously changing
organizations. The ethics of pragmatism is practical: ethical theory without practice
is 'intolerably academic'. It should be judged by practical use (Dewey and Tufts,
1908, p. v). Patricia Shields (1998, p. 197) called pragmatism 'the philosophy of
common sense'. Charles Peirce's general concept of 'continuum' has been extremely
important for my understanding of information management, for 'every general
concept is, in reference to its individuals, strictly a continuum' (Hartshorne and
Weiss, 1933, p. IV, 642). Just as with the concepts of other pragmatist philosophers,
Peirce's continuum is not bound by spacetime. Pragmatism is, by definition, an
approach based on spacetime realities (as is recognized by Upward, 2017). Peirce's
highly complex concept of 'continuum' would have been a sound philosophical
foundation for the Records Continuum theory, but it was not recognized as such.
Peirce's ideas about 'continuum' were revitalized in late twentieth century
mathematics (Zalamea, 2003).
3. Assumptions
The framework of the 'Archive-as-Is' is based on several assumptions. These
assumptions are:
1. In the theoretical framework of the 'Archive-as-Is', the information
management function is a continuum. It does not make a distinction between
records management and archives management (commonly made in archival
practices). The Information management function (and its expression: EIM)
needs to guarantee content, context, and structure of records and archives
over time, even if these records or archives cease to be used in business, even if
there are different organizations/organizational units or persons responsible
for (parts of) the information management function, even as (parts of) an
archive are no longer retained and irreparably destroyed, and even if there are
multiple legitimate successors of the organization or persons that created the
archive, including archival repositories (archival institutions). This (pragmatic)
continuum is not bound by spacetime.
2. Records pass through a (non-linear) lifecycle. They are created and will, in
the end, be irreparably destroyed ('die') or indefinitely preserved ('live') in
the organizational archive, continuously managed in EIM processes and
archives in liquid times
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