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Records Continuum Model
32
Assignment 1 Part 2
Evidence, Memory, and Accountability
Monash University
Faculty of Information Technology
FIT5206 2021 Digital Continuity
Introduction
Submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the award of the degree
Master of Business Information Systems(C6003)
Under the guidance of
Dr. Zoe Henderson(Lecturer)
Submitted by
Farheen Siddiqui(30994934)
Online Thursday 5 pm - 7 pm
What to expect
Overview
Number of records: Seven
Dimensions these records appear when encountered for the first time in the film
Users of the records and their reasons
Purpose of the records when they were created and if they were later used for different purposes
Records that were made public and what facilitated their pluralisation
How different acts could make the records available to other stakeholders
Records Continuum model analysis for the film
Records
Records
Frank Koza's Email
Frank Koza's Email
Create
(Hood, 2019)
Frank Koza's perspective
- Dimension
Create → Capture → Organise → Create
- Actors
Frank Koza and GCHQ
- Reason
To request UK’s GCHQ to spy on UN council members
- Purpose
US wanted UK’s help to go to war with Iraq (McKemmish et al., 2010)
- Dimensions
Create(receiving email) → Capture → Organise → Create(printed email) → Capture → Organise
- Actors
Primary: Katherine, HoD in GCHQ and Jasmine
Secondary: Frank Koza, Yvonne and Martin
- Reason
Katherine prints the email in an attempt to stop the war
- Purpose
She wants to release it to the public to make them aware of the govt.’s manipulation
Katherine's perspective
- Dimensions
Create(receiving email) → Capture → Organise → Capture → Organise → Capture → Organise(The Observer) → Pluralise
- Actors
Yvonne, Martin, The Observer Media Agency, Paul Beaver and the society
- Reason
Martin wants to reveals the government’s illegal actions
- Purpose
To hold the UK and the US govt. accountable (Bright et al., 2003)
- Contributing factors to pluralisations
Authenticating it, adding supporting metadata, and also it being a sensational news in the society
- Enabling availability for more stakeholders
Katherine could have sent it to more media outlets, it can be digitised and put in the archive libraries, more inquiries like The Iraq Inquiry
Martin's perspective
Katherine's Charge Sheet
Katherine's Charge Sheet
Pluralise
(Hood, 2019)
- Dimensions
Pluralise(Charge as part of the court) → Create → Capture → Organise → Pluralise(Charges in media)
- Actors
UK Central Court, Police department, Katherine,
media organisations, and the public
- Reason
The court charges Katherine for breaching The Official Secrets Act
- Purpose
To punish Katherine for going against the government
Police's perspective
Court's perspective
- Dimensions
Organise(police dept) → Create → Capture → Organise → Create → Capture → Organise → Pluralise(Court and media)
- Actors
Police department, Attorney General, Crown Prosecution Service, media and society
- Reason
The govt. wants the case to be argued by the most appropriate legal representatives
- Purpose
To hold Katherine accountable to discourage such acts in future
- Contributing factors to pluralisations
Journalists in the court, and court being in top level hierarchy disseminates hearings to a wider audience
- Enabling availability to more stakeholders
FOI and case being used as precedent
Resignation Letter
Elizabeth Wilmshurst's Resignation Letter
Organise
(Hood, 2019)
- Dimensions
Create(Elizabeth) → Capture → Organise → Create(Attorney General) → Capture → Organise
- Actors
Elizabeth and Attorney General Goldsmith
- Reason
Elizabeth believed that going to war was illegal
- Purpose
To not be part of the govt. that’s been manipulating the public
- Enabling availability to more stakeholders
Elizabeth could have held a press conference to pluralize the letter
Letter
Detailed Advisory Document
Attorney General's Detailed Advisory Document
Pluralise
(Hood, 2019)
Initial Advisory Document
- Dimensions
Create → Capture → Organise
- Actors
Attorney General Goldsmith and AG’s office
- Reason
To oppose going to war against Iraq
- Purpose
To advise the PM that going to war is illegal
AG Goldsmith's perspective
- Dimensions
Create(PM) → Capture → Organise
- Actors
Attorney General Goldsmith and AG’s office
- Reason
PM seeked legal advice on war
- Purpose
To ensure if they can favour the US in going to war without breaking the UN’s laws
- Enabling availability to more stakeholders
Katherine’s attorneys could have pressured to release the document in the court or even filed a defamation case
PM Tony Blair's perspective
- Dimensions
Pluralise → Create(AG) → Capture → Organise → Create(PM) → Capture → Organise
- Actors
PM Tony Blair, Attorney General Goldsmith, and the public
- Reason
To prove that going to war without the second resolution is legal
- Purpose
To manipulate the public and the UN
- Contributing factors to pluralisations
TV news channels with background
Modified Document
Employee Records
GCHQ Employee's Records
Organise
(Hood, 2019)
- Dimensions
Organise(GCHQ) → Create → Capture → Create(Police) → Capture → Organise
- Actors
GCHQ, GCHQ staff and police department
- Reason
To surveil employees
- Purpose
To intimidate and find out who leaked the memo using it as a tool of oppression (Ketelaar, 2005)
Yasar's Police Records
Yasar's Police Record
Capture
(Hood, 2019)
- Dimensions
Capture → Create(Police dept) → Capture → Organise
- Actors
Yasar Gun, UK Police, and Immigiration dept.
- Reason
Yasar Gun’s visa expired
- Purpose
To monitor his conduct
Police Record
Marriage Certificate
Yasar and Katherine's Marriage Certificate
Organise
(Hood, 2019)
- Dimensions
Create(marriage bureau) → Capture(bureau and couple) → Organise → Create(Immigration and police, UK)
- Actors
Katherine, Yasar, marriage bureau, immigration and police departments
- Reason
Proof of their marriage
- Purpose
So Yasar could apply for asylum
Immigration Department
- Dimensions
Organise(Katherine) → Create(MP) → Capture → Organise(MP & Immigration dept) → Capture → Organise
- Actors
Katherine, Yasar, MP, and Beverley(immigration)
- Reason
To prove that Yasar can legally stay in the UK
- Purpose
To stop Yasar’s unlawful deportation
- Recommendation
Record could be digitized for synchronous exchanges
Yasar's Deportation
Continuum Model analysis
Records Continuum influence on the analysis of the film
(Hood, 2019)
Analysis
- Each record was continuously re-created across space-time
traversing through various dimension several times when viewed from different perspectives of multiple actors or scenarios (Hessami, 2021).
- A single record can tell numerous stories, which Barbara Reed(2005) refers to as simultaneous multiple provenances.
- Metadata is especially powerful and metadata and record always coexist in a symbiotic relationship.
- Records aids in investigations and should never be looked in isolation.
- Different actors, organisations, and even the general public affect the record.
- Certain records like Attorney General’s initial advisory document or Elizabeth’s resignation letter if were pluralised, could have brought the Iraqi war to a halt.
References
Bright, M., Vulliamy, E., & Beaumont, P. (2003). Revealed: US dirty tricks to win vote on Iraq war. The Guardian. Retrieved 22 March 2021, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/mar/02/usa.iraq
Ketelaar, Eric. (2005). Chapter 11 - Recordkeeping and societal power. In Archives (pp. 277–298). Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-1-876938-84-0.50011-1
Hessami, V. (2021, March 11). Recordkeeping Contexts Part 1 - The Records Continuum Model [Lecture notes]. https://lms.monash.edu/my/
Hood, G. (2019). Official Secrets [Film]. United Kingdom; Entertainment One. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/EDUTV.6526443
Reed, Barbara. (2005). Reading the records continuum: interpretations and explorations. [An earlier version of this article was presented at the Archives and Collective Memory: Challenges and Issues in a Pluralised Archival Role seminar (2004: Melbourne).]. Archives and Manuscripts, 33(1), 18–43
McKemmish, S., Piggott, M., Reed, B., & Upward, F. (2005). Archives : Recordkeeping in society. ProQuest Ebook Central https://ebookcentral.proquest.com
McKemmish, S., Upward, F. H., & Reed, B. (2010). Records Continuum Model. In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, Third Edition (pp. 4447– 4459). Taylor & Francis