The unbearable lightness of participating? Revisiting the discourses of “participation” in archival literature

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate how archivists, records managers and scholarly literature in the field(s) analyse how "participation" is discussed in the context of archives and records management, and to explore practical and theoretical implications of the disclosed discursive practices. Design/methodology/approach -The analysis is based on a discourse analysis of a body of archival literature and a sample of posts collected from the archival and records management blogosphere.Findings -The analysis shows that instead of discussing one notion of participation, the archival science literature is referring to nine different and partly conflicting types of participation from three broad perspectives: management, empowerment and technology. The discourses have also conflicting ideas of the role of engagement and enthusiasm, and of that what do the different stakeholder communities see as real options.Research limitations/implications -The analysed material consists of a limited sample of mainly English language texts that may not capture all the nuances of how participation is discussed in the archival literature. Practical implications -A better understanding of how different claims of the benefits and threats endorsing "participation" in archives helps to develop effective and less contradictory forms of collaboration between different stakeholders. Originality/value -In spite of the popularity of the notion of "participation", there little, especially critical, research on how participation is conceptualised by archives professionals and researchers.

Institutional readiness for digital archives management at United States International University-Africa

“…For digital archives management awareness, Huvila proposes collaboration as a key part of the development of the organisational infrastructure that underpins the institutional digital archiving networks. 55 On the other hand, he advises that digital archivists, as participants, should identify themselves with their organisations and proactively work for a better management and description of existing and forthcoming digital archives. The present study's findings did not conform to these recommendations.…”

Remix in the age of ubiquitous remix

“…Participation has been at the forefront in new developments in archival studies as much as it has in media studies. Huvila's (2015) overview of the term in archival literature shows how it centers around various ways to get 'the public' involved in what archives do, from closer collaboration with 'record creators' on the part of archivists to crowdsourcing initiatives to accessibility programs. Digitization, in terms of making records digitally available and searchable, is a key pillar.…”

Epistemology, epistemic belief, personal epistemology, and epistemics: A review of concepts as they impact information behavior research

“…Swanson (2006) investigated personal epistemology and knowledge construction within the context of information literacy. Huvila (2015) considered epistemic belief in the context of the concept of participation in archival work. Mokhtari (2014) undertook research into how epistemic beliefs of undergraduate students influenced their information‐seeking behavior using Schraw, Bendixen, and Dunkle's (2002) epistemic beliefs inventory and his own questionnaire.…”