The changing world of archives:
new themes

A number of themes corresponding to the main changes in the world of archives are developed here:


Electronic archiving

National organisation

The interministerial mission of technical support for the development of information and communication technologies in administration (MTIC) became ATICA ('Agence pour les technologies de l'information et de la communication dans l'administration' or Agency for information and communication technologies in administration) in 2001.
It is now going to be replaced by the ADAE ('Agence pour le développement de l'administration électronique' or Agency for the development of electronic administration). This creation follows the report by Pierre de la Coste on 'L'Hyper-République - Bâtir l'administration en réseau autour du citoyen' (The Hyper-Republic ? Building networked administration around the citizen) submitted on 10 January 2003 to Henri Plagnol, Secretary of State for State Reform.

Reference document

A 'Guide de l'archivage électronique sécurisé' (Guide to secure electronic archiving) from September 1999 was on-lined at the time.
This guide had been developed by a working group chaired by Michel Lesourd, from the 'Conseil Supérieur de l'Ordre des Experts-Comptables' ('Superior Council of the Order of Chartered Accountants) and supported by CS-OEC (chartered accountants), CNCC (Statutory auditors), EDIFICAS (CS-OEC and IT services companies), IALTA, CNHJ (bailiffs), CSN (notaries), CNG (Commercial court clerks) APROGED, AFAI (computer audit) and CIGREF ('club informatique des grandes entreprises françaises' or IT club for major French companies).
It is a reference document, indicating the various methodological and technical aspects to be taken into account when designing electronic archiving systems, in line with the law on electronic signature and with the aim of guaranteeing the long-term storage of data.

Since 2001, a 'Guide de conservation des informations et des documents numériques pour les téléprocédures, les intranets et les sites internet' ('Guide for the storage of digital information and documents for teleprocedures, intranets and web sites') has been on-lined.

Also see the European Commission site on the theme of 'Electronic information: @access and storage ? better practices and solutions'

Legal aspects

An article published in 01 Informatique on 22 May 2003, highlighted the fact that in the field of electronic document archiving, the legal framework is still more than blurred in France:
'This uncertainty is in part due to Afnor standard NZ 42013, in force since 1999. This defines technical specifications aimed at storing and preserving the integrity of electronic documents. In particular, it imposes a non-rewritable medium. And, if we are to believe the current interpretations, only Worm disks meet these kind of requirements (...). However, these are expensive (18 ? per Go) and, in addition, application of the standard does not guarantee companies a probative element in the event of dispute.'

Bibliography:

  • a study by a CERN archivist on the storage of electronic data with a bibliography and some interesting feedback
  • in Archimag June 2001, No. 145 , two very interesting articles were published:
    - ''web: pour que la mémoire ne flanche pas'' ('web: so that memory does not fail') by Mehdi Gharsallah (2 pages)
    - 'mémoires d'outre web' ('memories from across the web') by Olivier Roumieux (1 page 1/2)
  • an article published in Monde Informatique on 5 October 2001 , p. 24:
    'Des normes pour encadrer l'archivage' ('standards for guiding archiving') by Christophe Gauthier
  • in Monde Interactif, an article relates how the Americans have archived as many web sites as possible concerning the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001.
  • 'L'information scientifique et technique et l'outil Internet' ('Scientific and technical information and the Internet tool' in Le Micro Bulletin Thématique, April 1999, publised by éd. CNRS: reflection on the harmonisation of formats p. 226 & s.
  • an article published in 01 informatique on 22 May 2003 'l'archivage électronique face au vide juridique' ('electronic marketing in the face of a legal vacuum')

Web archiving

A great deal of information can be found on the subject on http://www.archive.org/, defined as follows: 'The Internet Archive is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artefacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, and the general public.'
Includes an entire article on electronic archives of the US elections in 2000 .

Similarly, a major article was published in the journal, 'Pour la Science' , on Internet archives (No. 235 May 1997, by Brewster KAHLE). This article was followed by a number of reflections on the subject (information passed on by Mrs. GILBERT of the AAF?s circulation list)

The ERPANET site, which is a European Commission project, presents its mission statement and its projects:
- to establish an expandable European consortium , which will make viable and visible information, best practice and skills development in the area of digital preservation of cultural heritage and scientific objects;
- to bring together memory organisations (museums, libraries and archives), ICT and software industry, research institutions, government organisations (including local ones), entertainment and creative industries, and commercial sectors (including for example pharmaceuticals, petro-chemical, and financial).
The dominant feature of ERPANET will be the provision of a virtual clearinghouse and knowledge-base on state-of-the-art developments in digital preservation and the transfer of that expertise among individuals and institutions.

Records management

Records Management (RM) is the term used to describe the 'field of organisation and management aimed at the efficient and systematic control of the creation, retrieval, storage, use and final fate of documents, including methods for fixing and preserving evidence and information related to the form of documents'
It is governed by an international standard, ISO 15-489. This standard was published in October 2001, replacing the 1996 Australian standard from which it originates.

XML language

Government departments and XML: ADAE web site

Electronic images

Cornell University (Ithaca, New York) has on-lined the French version of its document entitled: Digital Imaging Tutorial.
This deals with the problems of conversion, quality control, metadata, technical infrastructure (digitization chain, image creation, file management), digital preservation, etc.

Communication of administrative documents

The Commission d'Accès aux documents administratifs (Committee of Access to administrative documents or CADA) groups together all the texts and provisions for which CADA is liable to intervene in the event of difficulties obtaining communication of a document.