Building ignorance by disseminating “evidence”: an agnotological look into the digital archives of the Islamic Republic of Iran

IF 1.4 Q2 INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE

ARCHIVAL SCIENCE Pub Date : 2024-09-02 DOI:10.1007/s10502-024-09447-9

Natalia Pashkeeva

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In democratic contexts, the discussion of digital technology in the field of archival heritage highlights its potential benefits for expanding access to archives to the wider public. It also focuses on the legal, moral, and ethical issues raised by copyright or privacy concerns. Using the digital archives of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) as a case study, this article thoroughly analyses another facet of digital technology, namely its role in building and perpetuating ignorance about the past through the mass digitization of archives in authoritarian contexts. The analysis scrutinizes digitally processed archives that are accessible as carefully curated data—some digitized and some born digital—through a network of open access web-resources developed by several institutions in the IRI. The article briefly considers the broader context of access restrictions to archives and information, and of the intentional and institutionalized opacity of this field in the IRI. These digitally processed archives are evaluated through the lens of archival science theory. Several macro- and micro-aspects of the kind of knowledge that scholars can produce from these digitally processed historical sources are considered.

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通过传播 "证据 "建立无知：对伊朗伊斯兰共和国数字档案的注释学研究

在民主背景下，对档案遗产领域数字技术的讨论强调了数字技术对扩大公众利用档案的潜在好处。它还关注版权或隐私所引发的法律、道德和伦理问题。本文以伊朗伊斯兰共和国（IRI）的数字档案为案例，深入分析了数字技术的另一个方面，即在专制背景下，通过档案的大规模数字化，数字技术在建立和延续对过去的无知方面所起的作用。分析仔细研究了经过数字化处理的档案，这些档案可以通过国际档案理事会的几个机构开发的开放式网络资源网络，以精心策划的数据形式获取--其中一些已经数字化，另一些则是天生的数字化数据。文章简要分析了档案和信息访问限制的大背景，以及伊斯兰共和国在这一领域有意和制度化的不透明。文章从档案科学理论的角度对这些经过数字化处理的档案进行了评估。文章从宏观和微观两个方面探讨了学者可以从这些经过数字化处理的历史资料中获得什么样的知识。

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来源期刊

ARCHIVAL SCIENCE INFORMATION SCIENCE & LIBRARY SCIENCE-

CiteScore

2.70

自引率

18.20%

发文量

期刊介绍： Archival Science promotes the development of archival science as an autonomous scientific discipline. The journal covers all aspects of archival science theory, methodology, and practice. Moreover, it investigates different cultural approaches to creation, management and provision of access to archives, records, and data. It also seeks to promote the exchange and comparison of concepts, views and attitudes related to recordkeeping issues around the world.Archival Science''s approach is integrated, interdisciplinary, and intercultural. Its scope encompasses the entire field of recorded process-related information, analyzed in terms of form, structure, and context. To meet its objectives, the journal draws from scientific disciplines that deal with the function of records and the way they are created, preserved, and retrieved; the context in which information is generated, managed, and used; and the social and cultural environment of records creation at different times and places.Covers all aspects of archival science theory, methodology, and practiceInvestigates different cultural approaches to creation, management and provision of access to archives, records, and dataPromotes the exchange and comparison of concepts, views, and attitudes related to recordkeeping issues around the worldAddresses the entire field of recorded process-related information, analyzed in terms of form, structure, and context