Book on our second webinar ‘Who creates the record and why? Evidence under attack’

  • People sat at a desk in discussion with open laptops

Booking for the second webinar in the British Records Association and Institute of Historical Research’s ‘Shock of the Record’ series is now open. Book at https://www.history.ac.uk/events/who-creates-record-and-why-evidence-under-attack.

Speakers include Andrew Flinn (University College London), Laura Millar (Independent Consultant and Scholar), Anthea Seles (International Council on Archives), Jo Fox (School of Advanced Studies, UoL) and Richard Ovenden (Bodleian Library). The participants will discuss the question ‘Who creates the record and why? Evidence under attack’.

 Laura Millar, author of the 2019 book A Matter of Facts: The Value of Evidence in an Information Age, will discuss the changing nature of evidence in the 21st century, suggesting one of the biggest risks to evidence is the mistaken assumption that traditional records and archives management practices can still work in a digital age. Today’s archivist, she argues, cannot wait for digital data and records to become ‘old’ before acting to ensure the evidence is protected and made available.

 Reflecting on her experience as Secretary General of the ICA and her work with The National Archives of the UK, Anthea Seles will consider how computer technologies change the ways in which governments and public agencies capture, manage, and make available records and archives. What are the risks and biases inherent in digital records today? What are the benefits of computerisation for enhancing and improving records and archives management?

 University College London archival scholar Andrew Flinn will draw on his extensive experience with independent and community-based archives and with archival activism to consider who creates records and why. He will argue the critical importance of recognising the central role of non-state actors in the creation, management, and dissemination of sources of evidence. How can individuals and communities use their own records and archives as tools to hold public agencies to account?

 The webinar is free to attend, but a ticket does need to be booked. It will take place at 17.30 GMT/ BST on 17 June 2021.

Our first webinar was a great success and can be viewed https://www.history.ac.uk/podcasts/shock-record-why-archives-matter.