Documentation

A common ground for research for the Cultural Heritage sector

Niels Windfeld Lund

University of Tromsø, Norway

Documentation

• A theoretical approach

• Importance of concepts: Our task is not to penetrate into the essence of

things, the meaning of which we don't know anyway, but rather to develop concepts which allow us to talk in a productive way about phenomena in nature (Niels Bohr 1935)

Diversity of documents

• Why Documentation Studies in Tromsø

• Act of legal deposit 1989 - all media

• Convergency vs. Diversity

What is a document ?

• Document = doceo + mentum

• Doceo :

• - to demonstrate, show

• Mentum:

• - means

• - result

To document

• To document is to show ”something” by using some means in some modes resulting in one or more documents

• To document you need a producer, means, modes and some results

Knitting documents

• A knitting recipe

• A knitten hat

• A book about knitting traditions

• Three different documents produced by different people using different means and made in different modes, but all documentation of knitting

What is documentation ?

• Post-document conception- document organisation - archives, libraries,

museums

• Pre-document conception- document production - documentation is a

precondition for communication - you always need means - no immediacy

Modes - traditions of documentation

• Document production

• Public administration - forms• Literature - novels• Music - libretto• Science - article • Journalism - documentary

• Politics - speech

Modes-tradition of documentation

• Document organisation

• Archives

• Libraries

• Museums

• All are document institutions

Having different traditions for organizing documents for different purposes

The digital challenge

• Still new kinds of documents

• Blurring borders between institutions - new institutions ?

• Still new instruments

• Still new problems

Experimental research

• An instrumental approach

• A complementary perspective

• Critical studies of traditions

• Selection of means

• Document labs for document production as well as document organisation

A sample of cases

• Telemedicine - EPR

• Arts - performance as a document

• Research - classification of publications

• Trade - Image database of seafood

• Software - content/form

• Etc.

Documentation Studies

• Study programs BA-MA-Ph.D.• Tech.-nat.,social sciences, humanities• Specialties : - document development- Document institution (libraries, (archives),

(museums)• Problem based work• Project organised work• Seminars

The Document Academy

• A collaborative project between University of Tromsø, Norway and University of California, Berkeley open for scholars, professionals, artists etc. worldwide interested in exploring :

• The possibilities for making documents • The potentialities of the concept of document• Annual meeting, DOCAM, at Berkeley• Workshops • Planning Document labs

• http://thedocumentacademy.hum.uit.no