Existential dependence relations of documents in the context of preservation
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-02-2022-0050 |
| Published date | 28 June 2022 |
| Date | 28 June 2022 |
| Pages | 341-356 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
| Author | Ryo Shiozaki |
Existential dependence relations of
documents in the context
of preservation
Ryo Shiozaki
Seigakuin University, Saitama, Japan
Abstract
Purpose –This paper re-examines the ontology of documents, especially digital ones, in the context of
preservation, which presumes the actual existence of things. It also explores which aspects of documents are
retained or lost over the course of time.
Design/methodology/approach–This study detangles the complexities of existential dependence relations
of documents, by selectively reviewing literature on digital preservation, document theory,John Searle’s social
ontology, Maurizio Ferraris’documentality, and Amie Thomasson’s categorial ontology.
Findings –The author argues that (1) existing objects can be documents, insofar as perceivers regard them as
such; (2) documents are social objects as they depend on other objects, including creators, perceivers, and other
documents; and (3) preserving digital documents entails the curation of dependence relations since they
inherently have technologically dependent relations.
Practical implications –A clarification of the existential dependence relations of documents can aid
documentary heritage institutions in determining preservation goals and strategies. Future research must
address how, and to what extent, such dependence relations can be curated.
Originality/value –This paper clarifies that the preservation of documents entails the curation of
dependence relations, and the critical issue inpreservation is how to best preserve the dependence relations of
documents, especially since digital documents available on the Internet inherently have technological and
dynamic dependence relations.
Keywords Document, Social ontology, Documentality, Existential dependence, Digital preservation, Digital
curation, John Searle, Maurizio Ferraris, Amie Thomasson
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
To the extent that our everyday lives are heavily dependent on documents as recorded
information and data, we could be considered as living in “document societies”(Buckland,
2017, p. 17), rather than in information or data-driven societies. In addition to conventional
documents such as banknotes, passports, and identity cards, digital documents such as
digital currency, certificates, and even personal data have become increasingly important.
Libraries, archives, and publishers manage the environment for access to analog and digital
documents. Recently, documentary heritage institutions have begun ensuring long-term
access to cultural digital documents, including social media content. The Statement on Legal
Deposit, issued by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
(IFLA, 2011), declares that “[e]lectronic publications are a major and integral component of a
nation’s documentary heritage, and therefore must be included in legal deposit arrangements,
including content produced and shared by Internet users.”Clearly, such an act of preserving
documents presumes that they actually exist.
It remains unclear which aspects of documents can and should be preserved; physical
media inevitably deteriorates (document compounds could change, even if in the microscopic
Existential
dependence
relations
341
Funding: This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP22K12720.
Declaration of conflicting interests: The author declares no potential conflicts of interest with respect
to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0022-0418.htm
Received 28 February 2022
Revised 7 June 2022
Accepted 11 June 2022
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 79 No. 2, 2023
pp. 341-356
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-02-2022-0050
view), technological obsolescence is unavoidable (document content might not be
interpretable without appropriate execution environments), and the proper use of
documents might not be transmitted to the next generation (people would no longer
experience the same enjoyment). Thus, despite the possible loss of certain document
elements, this activity has been labeled “preserve”(Lischer-Katz, 2022).
Preserving digital documents is a complicated matter, because it involves entangled
dependence relations (Corrado and Sandy, 2017). For instance, computer hardware might
not work without electricity, software might not render on hardware, unintended changes
or corruptions of digital signals could destroy the authenticity of documents, a particular
file format might not play on an execution environment, content might not be represented if
the data are not further linked to external content, and dynamic content requires interaction
between users and machines. When a publicly funded memory institution attempts to
preserve a document, they should continuously justify the public spending for their
activities. Thus, it is necessary to detangle the complexities of dependence relations and
clarify what should really be preserved. While the focal point of this study is digital
documents, it also examines non-digital documents, to clearly illustrate the characteristics
of the former.
This paper re-examines the ontology of (especially digital) documents in the context of
preservation, which presumes the actual existence of things, and explores which aspects of
documents are either retained or lost. However, we neither intend to propose normative
guidelines for (digital) preservation, nor provide an optimal solution in technological and
operational contexts. Instead, we employ philosophical concepts for an exploratory analysis
of the possible existential dependence relations of (digital) documents.
The structure of the paper is as follows: first, we outline the lack of ontological arguments
on what is preserved to situate this conceptual paper in related literature. Next, we provide an
overview of the definitions of preservation, in the context of documentary heritage, and
document theory. We then outline social ontology, with specific focus on American
philosopher John Searle(1995,2010) and Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris (2013,2014a,b),
to explain that documents are socially created. We then describe the existential dependence
relations of documents, by applying American philosopher Amie Thomasson’s categorial
ontology (Thomasson, 1999;Kurata, 2014). Finally, we consider the possible counter-
arguments to our approach, to justify it better, and present a tentative conclusion.
Background
There are numerous studies on preservation and conservation in information science and
collection disciplines. In brief, the main interest of such research has been on how to preserve
documents. Nowadays, digital preservation issues receive more attention due to the
popularization of digitized and born-digital materials. However, information scientists and
professionals rarely deal with ontology, as a philosophical term, applied to what is preserved,
whereas ontology engineering as a computational term has been discussed, to some extent, in
terms of preservation metadata for digital documents.
To illustrate this overall trend, Table 1 summarizes the number of studies with subjects
related to preservation issues published from 1991 to 2020, retrieved from the Library,
Information Science and Technology Abstracts (LISTA) using the search term “preserv*”in
the subject field as of June 2022. Irrelevant brief news reports were excluded after skimming
the abstracts. In total, there were 1,484 articles with five or more pages written in English, in
peer-reviewed academic journals. One or more subject category codes were added for each
article according to the descriptors/subjects assigned in LISTA: preservation of X such as
materials, digital preservation, preservation metadata or ontologies (information retrieval),
and preservation equipment.
JD
79,2
342
To continue reading
Request your trial