A number of recent research projects in a variety of community contexts have identified the need for specific rights in, and to, records to be explicitly addressed in international and national policy, legal systems, and recordkeeping design as an integral component of tackling the complex social justice issues facing today's society. A diverse range of communities are advocating and campaigning for a suite of rights in and to records.
This workshop seeks to bring together interested parties to discuss:
If you are interested in being part of this workshop then please:
Many, if not all, modern information systems are de facto recordkeeping systems even if not designed as such. Records emerge from these systems as instruments for identity, memory, accountability, and justice; evolve in meaning and importance over generational time-scales; and manifest in unexpected ways. Meanwhile, technological advances of the ‘big data’ society mean that political and economic informational power is (re)consolidating at the centre, with divisive societal implications. Too often systems designed for an uncritical and generalised ‘happy centre’ fail those on the margins, in all of their individualised complexity. For example: international refugees; those that have been adversely affected by out-of-home Care or other abuses in childhood; itinerant and migrant workers; Indigenous communities; people with disabilities; the list goes on. In each of these instances, information and recordkeeping systems are emerging to be a root cause or exacerbating force of disenfranchisement from predictability, security, material wellbeing, and/or psychological welfare. This is because the interests of those who create those recordkeeping systems and hold the information are legally and organizationally privileged over those who are other participants in the creation of the record/information or are those to whom the record/information pertains. This project seeks to address needs and assert rights of the latter with regard to recordkeeping systems and the records/information they generate or contain.
Key Questions
While individual projects have tackled aspects of this Grand Archival Challenge, this Workshop will be the first step in collectively working towards addressing it. It is hoped that participants, through reflection on their own experiences, work in practice or academia; and in government, organisational, or community settings, will contribute to a rich and nuanced understanding of the elements that are needed in order to address both the immediate, and long-term needs of people who, at some stage of their lives, may find themselves balanced precariously at the fringes of our systems, and the role the proposed Network might play in addressing them through research and advocacy.