Rethinking archival appraisal. From traditional approaches to digital challenges

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34096/ics.i54.17893

Keywords:

Archival appraisal, Digital data, Artificial intelligence

Abstract

Archival appraisal has traditionally focused on records generated in analog format, but today it faces a paradigm shift due to the massive production of data in digital environments. This study analyzes academic publications between 2020 and 2024 that describe methodologies and/or experiences focused on differentiating or integrating the appraisal of records and data, with the aim of managing information efficiently. Based on documentary research and content analysis, eleven relevant publications from journals which specialize in archival science and information science were selected. Among the findings there are three main themes: the adoption of post-custodial models to manage large volumes of information; the automation of this process through artificial intelligence; and the evolution of traditional criteria toward new dimensions such as reliability, exploitability, and representativeness. Although emerging technologies can be allies for archival appraisal, judgment remains with humans who make sure the historical and social relevance of the information is preserved. In summary, archival appraisal is a dynamic and interdisciplinary process that can be assisted by technology, where the archivist plays a crucial role in the sustainability of information governance in the digital age.

ARK CAICYT: https://id.caicyt.gov.ar/ark:/s18511740/qnkdhq3an

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bell, Mark, Jenny Bunn y Balint Csollei. 2024. Explorar el potencial de la inteligencia artificial como asistente en la valoración: Crónica de una experimentación. En Tábula. Vol. 27, 169-185. <https://doi.org/10.51598/tab.1016>

Booms, Hans. 1987. Society and the formation of a documentary heritage: Issues in the appraisal of archival sources. En Archivaria. Vol. 24, 69–107. <https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/11415/12357> [Consulta: 29 octubre 2025].

Cook, Terry. 2005. Macroappraisal in Theory and Practice: Origins, Characteristics, and Implementation in Canada, 1950–2000. En Archival Science. Vol. 5, 101–161. <https://doi.org/10.1007/s10502-005-9010-2>

Cook, Terry. 2006. Remembering the future: Appraisal of records and the role of archives in constructing social memory. En Archives, Documentation, and Institutions of Social Memory: Essays from the Sawyer Seminar: 169–181. <https://yalearchivalreadinggroup.pbworks.com/f/wk9_cook_remembering.pdf> [Consulta: 29 octubre 2025].

Couture, Carol. 2003. La función valoración en la archivística contemporánea: una sinergia entre varias consideraciones complementarias. En Tabula. Vol. 6, 23–49.

Desai, Meera A., Irene V. Pasquetto, Abigail Z. Jacobs y Dallas Card. 2024. An archival perspective on pretraining data. En Patterns. Vol. 5, no. 4: 100966. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2024.100966>

Doig, James. 2024. Post-custodialism, distributed custody, and big data. En Archives & Manuscripts. Vol. 52, no. 1, 10985. <https://doi.org/10.37683/asa.v52.10985>

Eastwood, Terry. 1992. Towards a Social Theory of Appraisal. En The Archival Imagination: Essays in Honour of Hugh A. Taylor. Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists. p. 71–89.

Gastl-Hartmann, Angela. 2022. Forschen für die Ewigkeit: Bewertung und Archivierung von Forschungsdaten als neues Arbeitsgebiet für Hochschularchive. En Informationswissenschaft: Theorie, Methode und Praxis. Vol. 7, no. 1. <https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=664372181021> [Consulta: 29 octubre 2025].

Gómez, Luis. 2011. Un espacio para la investigación documental. En Vanguardia Psicológica. Clínica, Teórica y Práctica. Vol. 1, no. 2, 226–233. <https://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/4815129.pdf> [Consulta: 29 octubre 2025].

Jenkinson, Hilary. 1922. A manual of archive administration. Oxford: Clarendon Press. <https://arquivistasbahia.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2021/04/A-manual-of-archive-administration-Um-manual-de-administracao-de-arquivos.pdf> [Consulta: 29 octubre 2025].

Makhlouf Shabou, Basma, Julien Tièche, Julien Knafou y Arnaud Gaudinat. 2020. Algorithmic methods to explore the automation of the appraisal of structured and unstructured digital data. En Records Management Journal. Vol. 30, no. 2, 175–200. <https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-09-2019-0049>

Proctor, Jennifer y Richard Marciano. 2024. A computational review of the literature of computational archival science (CAS): Advancing archival theory in the age of the digital tsunami and the vanishing box problem. Trabajo presentado en la 2024 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (Big Data), IEEE. <https://doi.org/10.1109/BigData62323.2024.10825250>

Rhee, Hea Lim. 2022. A new lifecycle model enabling optimal digital curation. En Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. Vol. 56, no. 1, 241–266. <https://doi.org/10.1177/09610006221125956>

Samuels, Helen Willa. 1991. Improving Our Disposition: Documentation Strategy. En Archivaria. Vol. 33, 125–140. <https://archivaria.ca/index.php/archivaria/article/view/11804> [Consulta: 29 octubre 2025].

Samuels, Helen Willa. 1998. Varsity Letters: Documenting Modern Colleges and Universities. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. <https://doi.org/10.5771/9781461664345>

Schellenberg, Theodore. 1956. Modern archives: Principles and techniques. En The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. Vol. 43, no. 4, 708.

Seberger, John S. 2022. Into the archive of ubiquitous computing: The data perfect tense and the historicization of the present. En Journal of Documentation. Vol. 78, no. 1, 18–37. <https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-11-2020-0195>

Venkata, Santhilata Kuppili, Paul Young, Mark Bell y Alex Green. 2021. Alexa, is this a historical record? En Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage. Vol. 15, no. 1, 1–20. <https://doi.org/10.1145/3479008>

Yang, Bo, Guilian Su y Chunyan Wang. 2023. Analysis of archive management innovation mode in the information age based on big data. Trabajo presentado en la 2023 International Conference on Industrial IoT, Big Data, and Supply Chain (IIoTBDSC), IEEE. <https://doi.org/10.1109/IIoTBDSC60298.2023.00054>

Zhang, Hui, Maohua Ma, Peng Xu y Yan Wang. 2024. Research on archival management of electricity trading entity data based on the whole life cycle. Trabajo presentado en la 2nd IEEE International Conference on Energy Science and Technology (ICEST). IEEE.

Published

2026-06-11

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Ramírez-Chica, C. (2026). Rethinking archival appraisal. From traditional approaches to digital challenges. Información, Cultura Y Sociedad, 54, 11-29. https://doi.org/10.34096/ics.i54.17893