Vårt elektroniska samhälle och kulturarvet

Abstract

This article deals with the new situation that has its basis in our present society's use of digital data in our communication and information. The fast changes and lack of longevity in our society have posed immense problems for the preservation of records that are necessary to give a reliable picture of the society.

Functional requirements for digital records have been expressed, such as uniqueness, complete structure, context and content, intelligibility, authenticity and accessibility, being possible to be retained, audited and controlled and possible to migrate. To deal with these requirements and preservation problems, the archivists have to be involved in the creative process from the start. Co-operation with systems designers, informatics professionals etc is vital if we are going to have a chance to hand over information about our society to coming generations.

Much work has been going on and is going on, but so far there is no solution for transferring digital data and digital databases to unknown techniques in the future. We lack standards in some essential areas. However, it is evident that much attention is paid to the problems. It is also clear that the silent group of archivists will have to play a louder part in society to make it understood that if the archival IT-problems are not solved, we are fooling around with our cultural heritage.