History and Electronic Artefacts - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198236336 ISBN 13: 9780198236337

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1998

Synopsis

We are now entering a world of electronic communications where an increasing amount of contemporary information is created and retained only in electronic form. How will such unstable flows of information be preserved for future historians? Will the future have a past? Will the history of our
contemporary world be lost to our descendants?

History and Electronic Artefacts is the first publication to examine the implications of this revolution for historical research. Historians are used to handling paper and parchment record in archives. These are actual pieces of correspondence which passed between historical actors. They are also
relatively stable artefacts which can be preserved easily. Two factors introduced by the electronic revolution threaten the existence of paper archives: the dissociation between information content and the media by which it is transmitted ruptures the solidity of the archival object. The ability to
store electronic information anywhere and access it remotely via networks could make the central paper archive redundant.

Experts from the fields of information management and technology, data archiving, library science, as well as historians, consider the issues raised in depth. The authors also place a unique emphasis on European developments.

About this title

About the Author

Edward Higgs is a Research Fellow at the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, and a Lecturer at the University of Exeter.

Review

`Higgs provides an excellent discussion of how British government archival staff work.'
Newton E. Key, World History, 71.

`several of these essays succinctly illuminate a critial problem.'
Newton E. Key, World History, 71.

`a collection of interesting articles that discuss the implications of digital objects for historical research ... This book is a valuable resource for students and practitioners interested in electronic artefacts ... the book is uniformly well written and most of the articles provide
interesting insights into the management and use of electronic records. The opinions of the different professions, and European countries is, at times, engrossing and uniformly informative ... the book is certainly worth reading and many of the articles are first rate ... a valuable contribution to
the literature on electronic records and the use of these resources in the study of our society.'
Wendy M. Duff, Information Processing and Management

`several of these essays succinctly illuminate a critial problem.'
Newton E. Key, World History, 71.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0198236336
• ISBN 13: 9780198236337
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 364
• Editor: Higgs Edward