Susan K. Soy

Program of Work

For the Graduate School of Library and Information Science
University of Texas at Austin
Fall 1998

Educational Background

Statement of Research Interests

An open question is how our library and archival institutions, originally established to house and make available print documents, can expand to include digital archives. The templates, tools, and descriptive mechanisms necessary to make digital works available as research material are not fully developed. Standards and practices developed to preserve digital media will influence the future availability of information useful for study of social history and particularly societal changes brought about through large scale use of the Internet. Electronic community network information is in danger of disappearing entirely if methods of appraisal, capture, and preservation are not devised and promulgated in our institutions.

My proposed program of work involves three parts. Each part concerns aspects that impact electronic community networks as documentation of our cultural heritage: (1) archives, appraisal techniques, and users of archives, (2) electronic records management, and (3) policy frameworks influencing communication, societal change, telecommunications, and the Internet.

I. Primary Study Area: Archives, Appraisal, and Users of Archives

Archival and preservation courses will provide the foundation for the exploration of appraisal techniques that can be applied to electronic community networks. Other areas of study include the fundamentals of arrangement and description that are basic to determining the essential core elements of description that lead to the organization and retrieval of information contained in the electronic record. Study of the clientele and reasons for use, problems encountered, and delivery mechanisms preferred by users of archives are additional areas for study and clarification. The doctoral seminar in Uses and Users of Information completed in the Spring of 1997 provided the opportunity to explore common research methodologies used in user studies and to begin a small investigation into appraisal practices and electronic community networks. This course set the stage for consideration of various research methods which might apply to the study of community networks and those who use them now and might use them in the future as study material. The course Literature of the Humanities provided a frame of reference for linking history to work in archives and in reference service. Disciplinary and Professional Development of Library and Information Science provided the opportunity to examine and better understand the interconnections between the information professions and the closely related disciplines that will influence the development of digital archives. The seminar in Research and Writing will provide practice in proposal writing and the opportunity to sharpen writing skills.

Total Hours: 15

II. Secondary Study Area: Electronic Records Management

Coursework in electronic records management will explore issues in the creation and retention of the electronic record covering functional requirements, standards development, retention requirements, and the core elements that are essential components of electronic records. This coursework will provide a foundation for exploring strategies and approaches that are important components of the process of saving or migrating fragile information environments of diverse types.

The doctoral seminar Organizing and Providing Access to Information provided an opportunity to examine both the management of the electronic record as an information form, and technologies and retrieval methods that are likely to provide greater access to electronic records in archival institutions. Administration of Information Resources is providing an understanding of what is needed to plan for and incorporate all forms of media into existing systems, which for archival enterprise have been based largely on paper and organized to describe and preserve physical documents. Additional post graduate coursework in information systems, systems analysis, and computer use complement this second area of study.

III. Outside Study Area: Policy Frameworks

To understand policy frameworks, I have studied public policy topics at the LBJ School of Public Affairs. Public Policy and the Internet, completed in the Summer of 1997 at the LBJ School, focused on the telecommunications and legislative arenas that shape both the commercial and community-based applications of the Internet. This course traced the history of the community networking movement and discussed new forms of community networks that are evolving from the networks we see today. This course touched on the nature of policy decision-making and provided the opportunity to explore the relationship of archival enterprise to the Internet and to discuss intellectual property rights, preservation of electronic records, and standards development. Courses in Federal Information Policy and in Communication and Social Change will add to this base of knowledge by providing the opportunity to study the policy questions surrounding the creation, management, and preservation of records in our increasingly customer driven electronic society and communities. The policy making process links with many areas of investigation and is influenced by both past initiatives and new directions. Government action in the telecommunications policy arena is one of the parameters that influences electronic networking and communication. Previous coursework in Communications and Behavioral Science for Management provide the fundamental information needed for further study.

A directed study in LIS under Dr. Gracy will begin the process of exploring how community is currently defined in archives and will begin the process of forming a scope of definition for research in the appraisal of the electronic community network as a record of enduring value that can be preserved and accessed in our increasingly networked information environment.

Total Hours: 12

IV. The Dissertation

Archivists confront many issues of a technical and administrative nature, among them the overabundance of records, and the professional and technical challenges posed as a result of the increase in electronic records. Only a small percentage of the information contained in electronic records will be of archival value. Archivists are challenged with the responsibility to identify and preserve records of continuing and enduring value, and to make these appraisal decisions regarding electronic records in collaboration with records creators and managers. These decisions are complicated further by the companion issues of the longevity of the medium and of the hardware and software systems that permit access to and interpretation of the information.

Although it is too early to select a dissertation topic, the work that I intend to pursue confronts questions such as the following:

1. What policies are used now to address the archival concerns for the identification, appraisal, retention, preservation, and research use of the electronic community network record? What policies are needed to aid in making these records available, accessible, and useful as research material that will endure over time? These questions would focus research on providing policymakers with options and information needed to answer appraisal questions related to electronic community network records. Policies studied would appear primarily in collection development statements and in evidence available in archival holdings.

2. How do archivists and records managers define "community"? What is the scope of a community, and have definitions for community been established in collection development statements and in actual practice? How is the life or the social fabric of a community likely to be affected by different definitions? Do larger urban population centers have broader definitions of community than rural areas?

3. What barriers prevent archivists from developing and implementing programs to acquire and preserve the electronic community network? Which communities and archives are currently preserving this information and what strategies are used? What are the characteristics of an electronic community records preservation program? Do communities with electronic community networks operated and maintained by local government more frequently support preservation than those whose origin is more grassroots oriented?

4. What parallels can be drawn between this type of record in archives and other types that also have posed initial barriers and concerns? What can be learned from those experiences and be applied to the appraisal and preservation of the electronic community network record? Do the traditional principles, theories, and methods of appraisal apply to the electronic community network record?

5. Who is using this form of record for research and how do they use it? Who is likely to use it in the future and for what purpose?

Literature Review

A brief review of the literatures of archival enterprise, electronic community networks, and electronic record preservation reveals that few user studies have been conducted in the archives field and that very few research projects have been published concerning the electronic community network. Two master’s theses published in 1996 by Andrew Avis and Anne Beamish examine the question of whether this form of community networking will exist for the long term. Kristin Surak more recently examined the variations in structure and function of community computing networks in the US, Canada, and Australia due to contextual and cultural factors. Articles and books addressing the topic of the electronic community network are largely very positive about the sustainability and growth of this form of community communication and civic participation. Two hundred electronic community networks have been identified in the United States and Canada. At least twenty-three listservs address the topic of community networks and the Internet. The Benton Foundation, the Morino Institute, and the Kellogg Foundation all support community networking studies and experimentation to develop best practices. At the University of Texas at Austin, the Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute has been instrumental in fostering online community networks for Texas lending support for conferences and student participation in community networking. The Getty Conservation Institute has recently announced a forum for interdisciplinary study, research, and collaboration in information management and examination of the technological forces that impact cultural heritage conservation. Still, the interdisciplinary research on this topic is sparse across Communications, Social History, Library and Information Science, and the Humanities in general.

Several networks are of particular interest, including the now defunct Community Memory project (Berkeley, California) and the Blacksburg (Virginia) Electronic Village Nostalgia Project. Other well known community networks include the PEN system in Santa Monica, California, Prarienet in Central Illinois, and the Cleveland (Ohio) Free-Net. Austin has two non-commercial electronic community networks of interest, the Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network (MAIN) and the Austin Free-Net. In addition, Austin has a municipal government network, City Connection, and multiple commercially based Internet sites delivering community information such as CitySearch. Each of these electronic community networks document civic participation and community life in Austin and provide a local base of study.

V. Research Tools

A. I have completed one Research Methods course and intend to complete additional courses in both quantitative and qualitative research methods to update my skills. I anticipate examining community network content available through the Internet and intend to use interviews and surveys to gather data. The Quantitative Research Analysis and Design course completed during the Summer of 1998 helped clarify the ideas of testing a hypothesis and looking for relationships; however, the question of what research method(s) will be used is still open. I intend to consider content analysis, naturalistic inquiry, and policy research. Work that I have started to investigate that may have research potential includes the potential for appraisal systems in archives which use numeric weighting factors in the appraisal process, the development of metadata systems which are easy for all authors and creators to implement, and methods to balance the proliferation of new technologies with the need to provide authentication of records and maintain the trustworthiness of the records provided through archives. Each of these areas is a part of the overall issue of appraisal and the electronic community network.

B. Foreign Language is the second research tool that I will be using in this program. I offer French as the language to be used primarily because of the strong connection between French documentation practice and the archival community.

Total Hours: 9

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