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In the last few years, artists' archives have gained a central role in the debate on the nature, treatment and valorization of 20th century and contemporary archives. They are fascinating and precious aggregations, characterized by a plurality of documentary typologies and by specific requirements for their description. Starting from the definition of personal archives, the paper proposes a definition of artists' archives and then attempts to indicate their main characteristics, contents and elements of complexity. Finally, the paper attempts to establish a dialogue between archivists and artists, collectors, gallery owners, critics and curators in order to find common elements and differences in their actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of archival publishing, the transition phase in which the relationship between print and digital was in contrast is considered closed and it’s time to move towards a new model of integration. It would be time to start a more mature reflection, in the perspective of imagining a dialectical relationship, not of contrast but capable of overcoming indifference in view of a fruitful integration. For this purpose, this paper provides some ideas and some proposals for work, in the hope that the academic world, Anai and Directorate General Archives will start in collaboration shared work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on methods and tools for the preservation and management of architectural heritage, and presents the Conservation Management Plan (CMP) developed between 2018 and 2020 for the National Schools of Arts of Havana. The authors focus on the GIS based tools created to manage information collected by the different work groups who contributed to the drafting of the Plan. The outcome is an articulated and flexible system which aims to describe the complexity of the schools, as well as to actively involve interested actors in order to share cultural values, operational needs and priorities of intervention. Indeed, the objective of a CMP is to clarify the significance of a place, and define in which ways such significance will be maintained in future transformations. The GIS developed for the National Art Schools enabled to archive, systematize, and analyze data according to the double-scale approach which characterized the entire research (the territorial and the architectural one), thus becoming an essential tool for the implementation of the CMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the nowadays world characterized by complexity, the digital systems for archival and bibliographic description are, especially in Italy, a faithful mirror of too many horizontal (among bodies with national functions) and vertical (among central and peripheral levels) complications. The integration of data sets conceived according to the up-to-date conceptual domain models would simplify the dynamics of representation, improve user experiences, and optimize the environmental costs of computing infrastructures. The concepts to be shared should relate to agents (individual or collective), places, and chronological data, deepening on how to address the more complex issues opened by things. This paper introduces three possible scenarios of semantic cooperation between archivists and librarians, not necessarily alternative: activating a conceptual matching through common entities, relying on a neutral semantic data infrastructure such as Wikidata, or, finally, developing a transversal core ontology. Hoping that disciplinary boundaries will not impede cooperation, two types of impediments must be considered: the organizational one (bottom-up, top-down, or a virtuous synergy between the two organizational models?) and the crucial issue of offering easy-to-use interfaces to end users, not only constituted by software agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses data archiving procedures carried out during emergency archaeological excavations. It proposes a model for developing an information system capable of streamlining both the survey practices and the management of the excavation site. The opportunity to digitally acquire what emerged during an archaeological campaign as well as ordering data stemming from the stratigraphic analysis in a single digital database has offered us the possibility to discuss the cataloguing systems used in emergency situations. This drove us to experiment with novel application protocols for digitally recording archaeological evidence. The aim of this research is to reduce the loss of information and create dynamic archives for knowledge. Archaeologists can fill in this digital result with their considerations and hypotheses, as well as creating a study platform directly accessible during the phase of excavation, thus combining 3D digital surveys with archiving systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to give a new definition of the word "Archives" as a result of an accurate survey of doctrinal orientations on this specific subject, analyzing - word by word - each particular lemma which makes up the new proposal. Even though there is no definition that is valid in every context, but archival theory seems to suffer largely from a heterogeneous vision, downstream of a rigorous scientific journey, but dense of conceptual and lexical unexpected contingencies. Each term - with meanings and contexts - does not constitute a simple signifier, but refers to a specific baggage of every disciplinary and cultural tradition. For these reasons, we will attempt to provide an overview of the definitions of archives, from the particular to the general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The right to protection of confidentiality, involving any person mentioned in the documentation, is of great importance. The paper aims to outline the state of the art and to evaluate possible solutions for new improvements. The relationship between the rights of scientific research, the free expression of thought and the right to privacy of personal information are analyzed in legal terms, under Italian legislation, and in technological, just about the use of the technologies of the digital reproduction of documents, with particular attention to the concepts of communication and dissemination of personal data. The paper shows that the existing regulation framework fully meets the needs of protection of privacy, including in relation to technological changes taking place. Finally, it proposes strengthening instruments like the statement of informed consent and the elaboration of specific policies to ensure the highest possible protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The widespread use of social media in people's everyday life has set the basis for big changes in the relationships between individuals, public and private bodies on a global scale. With public administrations willing to adjust their identities to new tools for communication, archival organizations approached to social networks to connect with new users and enhance their heritage. This paper aims to define methods, specificities and limits of the Italian archival institutions' social media policies, opening up to a first comparison with other national strategies, especially with the French one. A special focus has been put on the role of social networks in March and April 2020, when Italian archives faced a two-month lockdown following the health emergency caused by the spread of COVID-19: moved away from the ordinary work, archivists and archival institutes were encouraged to start alternative forms of communication with their users, including a more effective social campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of archival publishing, the transition phase in which the relationship between print and digital was in contrast is considered closed and it’s time to move towards a new model of integration. It would be time to start a more mature reflection, in the perspective of imagining a dialectical relationship, not of contrast but capable of overcoming indifference in view of a fruitful integration. For this purpose, this paper provides some ideas and some proposals for work, in the hope that the academic world, Anai and Directorate General Archives will start in collaboration shared work.

This paper conjectures that standard archival descriptions are no longer efficient in order to answer to society needs, mainly in an intercultural perspective. After a brief evaluation of the peculiarities of cultural heritage different domain languages, the specific issues of archival descriptions are discussed, seeking the possible strategies - technological as well as cultural - valid to open to an integration of descriptive languages. A particular focus is proposed on RDA, an approach which shows to be the best candidate to harmonize the separate descriptions typical of archival domain and activating the potential informative integrations with any limitation of information environments and single content quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to give a new definition of the word “Archives” as a result of an accurate survey of doctrinal orientations on this specific subject, analyzing - word by word – each particular lemma which makes up the new proposal. Even though there is no definition that is valid in every context, but archival theory seems to suffer largely from a heterogeneous vision, downstream of a rigorous scientific journey, but dense of conceptual and lexical unexpected contingencies. Each term - with meanings and contexts - does not constitute a simple signifier, but refers to a specific baggage of every disciplinary and cultural tradition. For these reasons, we will attempt to provide an overview of the definitions of archives, from the particular to the general.

Philosophical texts regarded as «inspired» present special difficulties for textual editors and intellectual historians that can be mitigated by the study of archival documents. The works of the philosopher and yogī Aurobindo Ghose are considered important contributions to twentieth-century Indian literature and philosophy. Some of his followers regard them as inspired and therefore not subject to critical study. Aurobindo himself accepted the reality of inspiration but also thought that inspired texts, such as the Bhagavad Gītā, contain a temporal as well as an eternal element. Aurobindo’s papers are preserved in the Sri Aurobindo Ashram Archives, which took shape during the 1970s. Editions of Aurobindo’s books published between his death in 1950 and 1977 were issued without consulting his manuscripts, early editions, etc., and therefore contain transmission errors, subjective emendations, etc. The editors of texts issued after 1977 followed the established methodology of textual criticism and so eliminated many obvious errors. Some of Aurobindo’s readers refused to accept the new editions, and agitated for the restoration of the earlier texts, going so far as to file legal cases against the editors and the administrators of his ashram or spiritual community. A nuanced approach to the editing of texts regarded by some as inspired must take the sentiments of readers into consideration while insisting on scholarly rigour.

This paper conjectures that standard archival descriptions are no longer efficient in order to answer to society needs, mainly in an intercultural perspective. After a brief evaluation of the peculiarities of cultural heritage different domain languages, the specific issues of archival descriptions are discussed, seeking the possible strategies - technological as well as cultural - valid to open to an integration of descriptive languages. A particular focus is proposed on RDA, an approach which shows to be the best candidate to harmonize the separate descriptions typical of archival domain and activating the potential informative integrations with any limitation of information environments and single content quality.