Andrew Prescott – författare

Materiality looms large in the world of archives, whether in storage, conservation, shape or materials of the records. Increasingly records are created digitally on a hitherto unimagined scale. How do born-digital records transform our understanding of the materiality of the archive? How do digital techniques provide new insights into the materiality of older archives? Archival Materialities in a Digital Age contains a series of authoritative studies by archivists and researchers who are grappling with these issues on a daily basis. The research presented in Archival Materialities in a Digital Age shows how these challenges are causing a reconsideration of archival theories and precepts while at the same time offering a huge range of opportunities to investigate archives in new and innovative ways.

Chapter 23 is published open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license and is free to read or download from Oxford Academic.Archives have never been more complex, expansive, or ubiquitous. Gargantuan in scale and conception yet never sufficient or complete, the archive is on the one hand a space for empowerment and expression and on the other an instrument of constraint and repression. The way in which the archive is structured, made available, and developed plays a central role in how societies define their values and ethics. Archives: Power, Truth, and Fiction is a wide-ranging and innovative volume which highlights the vibrancy and urgency of the field by bringing together contributors from many different disciplines and backgrounds, including archivists, historians, literary scholars, digital researchers, and creative practitioners.The archive of the twenty-first century is a fluid and multi-vocal space that challenges at every point the hegemonic and positivistic assumptions which shaped traditional ideas of the archive. The massive growth of digital archives further complicates the picture. Archives: Power, Truth, and Fiction is designed to help the reader draw threads through the rapidly changing and shifting multiverse of archives. The interdisciplinary and international contributors use a wide range of examples, from the Middle Ages to the Windrush scandal, to unsettle preconceptions, encourage debate, and draw out issues generated by the perpetual motion of the archive.

Michael Moss on Archives brings together selected outputs from an internationally renowned archival scholar, who explored the theory and practice of archives and records management.Comprising a selection of 11 of Moss’ most significant archival writings, the book demonstrates the development of his thinking in archival theory and practice over the past 20 years. Michael Moss was a towering figure in modern archival writing and was able to push the boundaries of the discipline, notably with his analysis of how modern governments create records and his speculations about the future of the archive in the digital world. Bringing together in one place Moss’ most significant writings, alongside a comprehensive bibliography, this book documents a significant contribution to British and international archival theory and practice. Each essay is preceded by a critical introduction, written by a leading archival scholar, assessing the piece and setting it in a wider archival or historical context, while an overall introduction by the editors provides biographical information and describes the development of Michael’s archival thinking.Michael Moss on Archives will be of interest to scholars and students engaged in the study of archival science, library and information science, history, digital humanities, and media studies. It should also be of interest to professionals who work in archives and records management.

Michael Moss on Archives brings together selected outputs from an internationally renowned archival scholar, who explored the theory and practice of archives and records management.Comprising a selection of 11 of Moss’ most significant archival writings, the book demonstrates the development of his thinking in archival theory and practice over the past 20 years. Michael Moss was a towering figure in modern archival writing and was able to push the boundaries of the discipline, notably with his analysis of how modern governments create records and his speculations about the future of the archive in the digital world. Bringing together in one place Moss’ most significant writings, alongside a comprehensive bibliography, this book documents a significant contribution to British and international archival theory and practice. Each essay is preceded by a critical introduction, written by a leading archival scholar, assessing the piece and setting it in a wider archival or historical context, while an overall introduction by the editors provides biographical information and describes the development of Michael’s archival thinking.Michael Moss on Archives will be of interest to scholars and students engaged in the study of archival science, library and information science, history, digital humanities, and media studies. It should also be of interest to professionals who work in archives and records management.

This innovative book examines the changing relationship between communities, citizens and the notion of the archive. Archives have traditionally been understood as repositories of knowledge and experience, remote from the ordinary people who fund and populate them, however digital resources have led to a growing plurality of archives and the practices associated with collecting and curating. This book uses a broad range of case studies which place communities at the heart of this exciting development, to illustrate how their experiences are central to our understanding of this new terrain which challenges traditional histories and the control of knowledge and power.