Why a world gone digital needs archival theory more than ever before?
Why a world gone digital needs archival theory more than ever before?

Summary/Abstract: The paper is a transcript of a lecture delivered on 12 October 2022 at the University of Warsaw by Professor Luciana Duranti, researcher and lecturer in archival science and diplomatics at the School of Information of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. The lecture was part of a series of open lectures organised by the national archives, entitled ‘Konarski Lectures’, focusing on contemporary archival science. The author is a specialist in the fields of archival science, diplomatics and electronic records, and Principal Investigator and director of the InterPARES Project (www.interpares.org and www.interparestrustai.org). The lecture addressed the most important challenges facing archival science in the age of digital transformation. In answering the central question regarding the need to develop archival theory in a digital world, the author highlighted the essential research areas that require new theoretical developments. These include ensuring reliability, accuracy and authenticity, that is, trustworthiness, of electronic records, in particular assessing the suitability of electronic signature technology and blockchain architecture for these purposes, and the application of AI to generating, managing and sharing electronic records. The latter is a key problem area of the international interdisciplinary archival research project InterPARES Trust AI, which aims to design, develop and use artificial intelligence to ensure the availability and use of trustworthy electronic records of public entities. The problem of ensuring the authenticity (i.e. the identity and integrity) and the accessibility of digital records stored in the cloud, particularly in the commercial cloud, was also addressed.

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