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Medium, Access, and Obsolescence: What Kinds of Objects are Lasting Objects?

Published: 18 April 2015 Publication History

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a field study of records managers that provides context for understanding how people see objects on varying media as long-lasting objects (or not). Part of the mandate of the profession of records management is long-term preservation of digital and paper records. At the site of the fieldwork for this study, research participants' tasks primarily consisted of examining individual case files to determine if the files should be kept or destroyed under the relevant rules set by higher-level management according to legal requirements. Close observation of work practices showed that application of records management rules varied depending on the medium of the records, despite the policy that records on varying media are equal in importance. The results of the study suggest that the perceived accessibility and obsolescence of digital objects deserve more attention in the exploration of the place of digital objects in human lives over the long-term.

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  1. Medium, Access, and Obsolescence: What Kinds of Objects are Lasting Objects?

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    cover image ACM Conferences
    CHI '15: Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
    April 2015
    4290 pages
    ISBN:9781450331456
    DOI:10.1145/2702123
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    Published: 18 April 2015

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    Author Tags

    1. digital objects
    2. digital preservation
    3. ethnography
    4. field study
    5. obsolescence
    6. records management

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    April 18 - 23, 2015
    Seoul, Republic of Korea

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    CHI '15 Paper Acceptance Rate 486 of 2,120 submissions, 23%;
    Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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    View all
    • (2025)Time's Sublimest Target: Practices of Forgetting in HCI and CSCWProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/37012119:1(1-24)Online publication date: 10-Jan-2025
    • (2024)Spirits in the Material World: Older Adults' Personal Curation of Memory ArtifactsProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36869958:CSCW2(1-35)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2024
    • (2021)Relation Artefacts Type IVHuman Work Interaction Design10.1007/978-3-030-71796-4_6(107-132)Online publication date: 24-Sep-2021
    • (2019)Rethinking Technologies for Behavior ChangeACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/331814226:4(1-30)Online publication date: 17-Jun-2019
    • (2016)Digital Footprints and Changing Networks During Online Identity TransitionsProceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2858036.2858136(2895-2907)Online publication date: 7-May-2016
    • (2016)Paper Books, Digital BooksProceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/2851581.2859015(208-212)Online publication date: 7-May-2016

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