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This paper aims to present the universals properties of the Archives, thought of as an archival institution, based on a priori philosophical reflection, to establish fundaments to determinate the graduation of these properties - and their maximum level, at the Paradigmatic Archive - and to confirm these properties through the forms observed in the General Archive of the Indies, that displays them to some degree. With that, the aim is to build a model for the Archives, determining how they should be. The interdisciplinary approach, between ontology and archivology, was adopted, integrating the method of philosophical reflection with documentary research procedures, based on pieces of fonds from the General Archive of the Indies, collection of images of the author and sources. The discussion addresses aspects of practices, forms and functions, which indicate the essence of the Archives and their path towards their paradigmatic ideality. The General Archive of the Indies is presented as a particular example that exemplifies these essential properties. Our conclusion is that there are certain essential universal properties of Archives, or archival institutions, which are: accessibility, durability and practicality. In addition, the proposed model is applicable for the institutionalization of Archives and also for the construction, reforms, implantations, the creation of new spaces, adaptations, restructuring in buildings and institutional uses of the Archive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the importance assigned to public services, improvements have been sought in knowledge representation in the domain of Electronic Government (eGov). Academic and governmental initiatives seek consensus on processes and entities that compound a government institution. The approach through ontologies allows us to define, in a well-grounded fashion, entities in domains of knowledge. Ontologies are adopted worldwide and appear in two connotations: ontology as a discipline brings together philosophical practices discussed over 2,000 years in Metaphysics; ontology as an artifact studies representation artifacts inherited from Librarianship practices, with the difference that, since ontologies are computer-oriented, they are not suitable for encompassing social, cultural and historical aspects. To understand the theoretical foundation that involves ontologies and eGov, a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was planned and performed as part of ongoing research. The purpose of this article is to portray such an SRL, revealing state of the art on ontologies for eGov in the development of ontological representation artifacts. Hundreds of works were identified, among which a portion was separated by criteria and analyzed. We concluded that there is a reasonable number of eGov ontological models, which have been identified and listed for reuse, in addition to the need for national initiatives in the same direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]