Round table : the future of the archive

Moderator: Isabelle Alfandary (CIPh)

Interventions

• Étienne Anheim (EHESS) - Extension(s) du domaine de l'archive
• Marie-Anne Chabin (Université Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis) -  The archive, between construction and destruction
• Jean-Séverin Lair (DINSIC) - From cardboard files to digital flows, a paradigm shift for archivists
• Valérie Schafer (C2DH, University of Luxembourg) -  Thearchive will be mediated or it won't be
• Aurèle Crasson (CNRS/ENS, Institut des textes et manuscrits modernes) - The challenges of natively digital archives: the example of the Derrida Hexadecimal project

Abstract

In view of the abundance of data accessible on the Net, new questions arise: will all archives soon be accessible from home? What will become of the answers to questions of confidentiality, preservation and reuse of digital data? What will become of archivists, librarians and documentalists when artificial intelligence will enable everyone to find their way through the abundance of information, or even enrich its description on their own?

Digital tools call into question the limits of collections, as well as their anchorage in national institutions, transforming the skills required, redefining audiences and the uses of preserved documents. It's up to us to assess the reality of the impact of digital technology on our societies and our collective memory, at the risk of losing control of humanity's knowledge.