Prevention or Cure?
Structuring the Pre-ingest
Life of the Records
Fiorella Foscarini
Faculty of Information, University of Toronto
Digital Curation Institute Conference
Toronto, June 17, 2010
Presentation Overview
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Limitations of existing standards and models
Inadequate understanding of structures and
processes
Organizations as ‘human activity systems’
Alternative approaches to the study of pre-ingest
activities
 Three
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levels of analysis  Three frameworks
Contributions to the digital curation domain
The OAIS Model
The DCC’s Curation Lifecycle
Model
Records-related Standards and
Models
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ISO 15489-1:2001 & ISO 15489-2:2001
ISO 23081-1:2006 & ISO 23081-2:2009
MoReq2 (2008)
ICA, Principles and Functional Requirements for
Records in Electronic Office Environments (2008)
NAA, DIRKS Manual (2003)
InterPARES 2, Chain of Preservation Model &
Business-driven Recordkeeping Model (2008)
…
InterPARES Chain of Preservation
Model
‘Hard’ Systems Thinking
Structured problems
 Systems engineering / Systems analysis
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S0 = present state
S1 = desired state

S0
S1
Management science view of ‘business
systems’
‘Soft’ Systems Thinking
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Unstructured problems
 “A
problem relating to real-world manifestations of
human activity systems is a condition
characterized by a sense of mismatch, which
eludes precise definition, between what is
perceived to be actuality and what is perceived
might become actuality”
(Checkland 1999)
Levels of Analysis  Theoretical
and Methodological Frameworks
MACROSCOPIC LEVEL : Organizational Activity
 Soft Systems Methodology
MESOSCOPIC LEVEL : Conscious Human Actions
 Adaptive Structuration Theory
MICROSCOPIC LEVEL : Minute Operations
 Genre Theory
Soft Systems Methodology
Perceived
real-world
problem
situation
leads to selection of
Comparison of models
with perceived situation
Accommodations
which enable action
to improve situation
Models of
relevant systems
of purposeful
activity
Debate about desirable
and feasible change
Conclusion
“The humanities [and the social sciences] are not a
problem-solving undertaking.
Instead, their prime concern is to achieve
understanding, to assess context-relatedness, to
investigate meaning and function…
In order to gain access to the domain to be charted,
[one needs to] piece together observed data and
elements drawn from different frameworks.”
(Iser 2006)