original order: lost in cyberspace? kenneth thibodeau national archives center for advanced systems...

Original Order: Lost In Cyberspace?

Kenneth ThibodeauNational Archives

Center for Advanced Systems and Technology

SAA Research Forum 2010

Traditional View of “Original Order”

2Based on collocation within a file unit

Observations

• Original order expresses links among records that result from their creation and use.

• Arrangement of records in filing system is a method of preserving original order. – Arrangement is a solution that becomes a requirement only ex

post facto

• Placing records in filing categories only expresses a subset of the links among records

• Cyberspace offers possibilities for capturing and preserving more of the relationships among records, activities, and actors.

3

Identify Research Need

Call for Proposals

Assign Proposal

Review Budget

Peer Review

Review Protection of Subjects

Assess Responsive-ness

Decide on Award

4

Schematic of Business Process

Application Form

Institutional Assurance

Council Book

Processing of Grant Application for Biomedical Research

Notification

5

Records Created in Process

Application Form

Application

Review of Scientific Merit

Review of Protection of Research Subjects

Financial Review

Institutional Assurance

Reviews of Other Applications

Award Decision

Notification

Research Plan

Program Announcement

Council Book

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Original Order: Case File

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Archival Links

Application Form

Application

Review of Scientific Merit

Review of Protection of Research Subjects

Financial Review

Institutional Assurance

Reviews of Other Applications

Award Decision

Notification

Research Plan

Program Announcement

Council Book

Award Decision

Council Book

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Additional Archival Links

Planning Research

Next Research

Plan

$

$

Research Plan

Automated Possibilities for Capturing & Displaying Links

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History Flow Document Developmenthttp://www.research.ibm.com/visual/projects/history_flow/index.htm

Possibilities for Capturing & Displaying Links:

Content Creation

Possibilities for Capturing & Displaying Links:

Content

Concept Maphttp://snacda.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/unsupervised-semantic-mapping/

Possibilities for Capturing & Displaying Links:

Communications

12Enron email graph

http://hci.stanford.edu/jheer/projects/enron/

Possibilities for Capturing & Displaying Links:

Communications

13Enron email graph

Possibilities for Capturing & Displaying Links:

Interaction

Collaboration Map

Possible Principle: Primacy of the Archival Bond

• Preserve as much of the archival bond as possible, including links based on– Processes in which records are produced or acquired– Activities in which they are subsequently used– The actors who produce, acquire, or use them– Information flow, including across organizatinal

boundaries– Their content, including aggregate content, themes,

and changes over time– As well as their placement in filing systems

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