waardering

The appraisal process must include detailed examination of the records, which remain the ultimate manifestation of functions and activities.

Helen Morgan, How do I appraise thee? Let me count the ways: the archival imperative and the construct of appraisal. Australian Science Archives Project

... ... The bad thing about records management is that almost everybody thinks they can un-derstand it. The problem is that since suddenly (in evolutionary terms) some deviant went and built the printing press. After that, almost no-body had control. There was only success in archiving some paper documents for reasons unknown. Since we’re digitized and we’re switching batteries in our laptop computers while streaking through the sky in shiny metal objects in which soft drinks and peanuts are served, nobody knows how to handle the huge amount of digital and digitized documents.

Where to start is the problem, because nothing begins when it begins and nothing’s over when it’s over, and everything needs a preface: a preface, a postscript, a chart of simultaneous events. History is a construct, she tells her students. Any point of entry is possible and all choices are arbitrary.

Citaat aangetroffen in:

the mutation in technology changes not simply the archiving process, but what is archivable - that is, the content of what has to be archived is changed by the technology.

We define ourselves by what we choose to remember and to forget.

The key point behind appraisal is that not everything can be kept forever. There are not sufficient resources to support such an approach, either in the storage and preservation of the records or in the resources required to make the records accessible either now or over time. This means at its most fundamental, appraisal is a risk management process based on known facts and reasonable expectations.

‘Elke overmaat aan informatie produceert stilte’

The mutability of the past is the central tenet of Ingsoc. Past events, it is argued, have no objective existence, but survive only in written records and in human memories. The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the Party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the Party chooses to make it.

Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past