Encoded Archival Description as a Halfway Technology

Abstract

In the mid 1990s, Encoded Archival Description (EAD) appeared as a revolutionary technology for publishing archival finding aids on the Web. The author explores whether or not, given the advent of Web 2.0, the archival community should abandon EAD and look for something to replace it.

KEYWORDS:

• archival description
• Encoded Archival Description
• EAD
• Web 2.0
• halfway technologies
• old media
• new media

Notes

1. Daniel Pitti, “The Development of an Encoding Standard for Archival Finding Aids,” American Archivist 60, no. 3 (Summer 1997): 268–284.

2. Lewis Thomas, “The Technology of Medicine,” New England Journal of Medicine 285 (1971): 1366–1368.

3. Arnold Pacey, The Culture of Technology (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983).

4. Donald N. King, “Library Technology As ‘Halfway’ Technology,” Proceedings of the American Society for Information Science 23 (1986): 132–137.

5. J. H. Maxwell, “The Iron Lung: Halfway Technology or Necessary Step?” Milbank Quarterly 64, no. 1 (1986): 3–33.

6. University of Vermont Special Collections, George Perkins Marsh Online Research Center, http://bailey2.uvm.edu:6336/dynaweb/findingaids/marsh; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/library-and-archives/archive-collections; North Carolina State University, http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/findingaids; James Madison University, Carrier Library, http://www.lib.jmu.edu/Special/OralHistory/SdArch029/S029FA.aspx; Smithsonian Archives of American Art, http://www.aaa.si.edu/collectionsonline (all accessed May 13, 2009).

7. Edward J. Lias, Future Mind: The Microcomputer, New Medium, New Mental Environment (Boston: Little, Brown, 1982): 13–32.

8. Except to clarify a point as it relates to EAD, I will not delve into each of these principles in great depth. However, to examine their applicability in general, the reader might consider the evolution of entertainment technologies from vaudeville and magic lantern shows of the nineteenth century to handheld devices of today.

9. Stephen Hensen, “Archival Cataloging and the Internet: The Implications and Impact of EAD,” in Encoded Archival Description on the Internet, eds. Daniel Pitti and Wendy Duff (Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press, 2001): 75–96.

10. Dennis Meissner, “First Things First: Re-engineering Finding Aids for the Implementation of EAD,” American Archivist 60 no. 4 (Fall 1997): 372–387; Clay Redding, “Reengineering Finding Aids Revisited: Current Archival Description Practices and Its Effect on EAD Implementation,” Journal of Archival Organization. 1, no. 3 (2002): 35–50; Cory Nimer and J. Gordon Daines III, “What Do You Mean It Doesn't Make Sense? Redesigning Finding Aids from the User's Perspective,” Journal of Archival Organization 6, no. 4 (2008): 216–232.

11. Elizabeth J. Shaw, “Rethinking EAD: Balancing Flexibility and Interoperability,” New Review of Information Networking 7 (2001): 117–131.

12. Miriam J. Metzger, Andrew J. Flanagin, and Lara Zwarun, “College Student Web Use, Perceptions of Information Credibility, and Verification Behavior,” Computers & Education 41, no. 3 (November 2003): 271–290; Christen Thompson, “Information Illiterate or Lazy: How College Students Use the Web for Research,” Portal: Libraries and the Academy 3, no. 2 (April 2003): 259–68; Tracy Gabridge, Millicent Gaskell, and Amy Stout, “Information Seeking through Students’ Eyes: The MIT Photo Diary Study,” College & Research Libraries 69, no. 6 (November 2008): 510–522.

13. Carmine Sellitto, “A Study of Missing Web-sites in Scholarly Articles: Towards an Evaluation Framework,” Journal of Information Science 30, no. 6 (December 2004): 484–495.

14. Daniel Pitti, “Future Developments of Content and Encoding Standards for Archival Description,” Encoded Archival Description Roundtable Meeting, Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

15. Daniel Pitti, “Designing Archival Description Systems,” Rare Book School (Charlottesville, VA, 2008), http://www.rarebookschool.org/courses/libraries/l90 (accessed January 25, 2009).

16. Personal correspondence from Daniel Pitti, February 10, 2009.

17. John A. Delivuk, “How to Build a High Quality Cataloging Database through a Retrospective Conversion Project,” Information Today 7, no. 11 (1990): 28–29; G. Knutson, “A Comparison of Online and Card Catalog Accuracy,” Library Resources & Technical Services 34, no. 1 (January 1990): 24–35; L. H. Settler, “Automation. Getting Started,” Journal of Library Administration 5, no. 1 (Spring 1984): 7–10; Idelle Port, “Developing a Strategy for Retrospective Conversion of the Card Catalog to a Machine Readable Data Base in Three Academic Libraries (Small, Medium and Large): Two Alternatives Considered,” Information Storage & Retrieval 9, no. 5 (May 1973): 267–280; A. G. Adler and E. A. Baber, Retrospective Conversion: From Cards to Computer (Ann Arbor, MI: Pierian Press, 1983).

18. Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-reliance,” in The Spiritual Emerson: Essential Writings, ed. David M. Robinson (Boston: Beacon Press, 2003): 83–109.