Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa
This article reflects on humanities research and archival futures in Southern Africa in the Cloud era—those collections that support research on an institutionalised basis, including sound and related collections. Since the 1990s, for comparably smaller, lesser resourced institutions in South Africa...
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| Formaat: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Taal: | Anglais |
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2024
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| Onderwerpen: | |
| Online toegang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:sources_963 |
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openedition |
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OpenEdition Journal |
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Anglais |
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Article ou chapitre numérique |
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0/Bibliothèque numérique/ 1/Bibliothèque numérique/OpenEdition Journals/ |
| topic |
archives futur restitution souveraineté numérique cloud postapartheid activisme infrastructure numérique archives futures restitution sovereignty cloud computing postapartheid activism foundations infrastructure arquivos futuros restituição soberania computação em nuvem pós-apartheid activismo fundações infraestrutura |
| spellingShingle |
archives futur restitution souveraineté numérique cloud postapartheid activisme infrastructure numérique archives futures restitution sovereignty cloud computing postapartheid activism foundations infrastructure arquivos futuros restituição soberania computação em nuvem pós-apartheid activismo fundações infraestrutura Layne, Valmont Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa |
| description |
This article reflects on humanities research and archival futures in Southern Africa in the Cloud era—those collections that support research on an institutionalised basis, including sound and related collections. Since the 1990s, for comparably smaller, lesser resourced institutions in South Africa, a scramble for digital Africa amid a technological divide piled upon other inequities. This condition has manifested in today’s big technology stacks and stakes. What then, does it mean for archives and their work of helping to produce the conditions for a meaningful engagement with the past and the present, indeed the future? A major challenge for research archives, it seems, may be to do the work of enabling epistemic access, which includes an orientation to ethics from the south, with the new set of vocabularies of digital sovereignty on the other hand. It is also crucial to redefine archival restitution as a social process in which the sovereignty of local communities, digital and otherwise, matters. |
| author |
Layne, Valmont |
| author_facet |
Layne, Valmont |
| author_sort |
Layne, Valmont |
| title |
Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa |
| title_short |
Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa |
| title_full |
Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa |
| title_fullStr |
Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa |
| title_sort |
thoughts on a changing landscape for research archiving in the cloud era: a critical perspective from south africa |
| publisher |
Sources |
| publishDate |
2024 |
| container_title |
URI:https://journals.openedition.org/sources |
| url |
https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://doi.org/10.4000/11tb5 https://ezproxy.univ-orleans.fr/login?url=https://journals.openedition.org/sources/963 |
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1877292406642049024 |
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openedition-oai:revues.org:sources_963 https://doi.org/10.4000/11tb5 urn:doi:10.4000/11tb5 en https://journals.openedition.org/sources/963 2024-06-13T02:00:00Z info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess article info:eu-repo/semantics/article urn:handle:20.500.13089/11tb5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Thoughts on a Changing Landscape for Research Archiving in the Cloud Era: A Critical Perspective from South Africa Sources IFRA-Nairobi info:eu-repo/semantics/reference/issn/2708-7034 URI:https://journals.openedition.org/sources Layne, Valmont South Africa archives futur restitution souveraineté numérique cloud postapartheid activisme infrastructure numérique archives futures restitution sovereignty cloud computing postapartheid activism foundations infrastructure arquivos futuros restituição soberania computação em nuvem pós-apartheid activismo fundações infraestrutura This article reflects on humanities research and archival futures in Southern Africa in the Cloud era—those collections that support research on an institutionalised basis, including sound and related collections. Since the 1990s, for comparably smaller, lesser resourced institutions in South Africa, a scramble for digital Africa amid a technological divide piled upon other inequities. This condition has manifested in today’s big technology stacks and stakes. What then, does it mean for archives and their work of helping to produce the conditions for a meaningful engagement with the past and the present, indeed the future? A major challenge for research archives, it seems, may be to do the work of enabling epistemic access, which includes an orientation to ethics from the south, with the new set of vocabularies of digital sovereignty on the other hand. It is also crucial to redefine archival restitution as a social process in which the sovereignty of local communities, digital and otherwise, matters. Cet article propose une réflexion sur l’avenir de l’archive de recherche en sciences humaines en Afrique du Sud à l’ère du cloud – l’avenir des collections archivistiques institutionnelles, tout support confondu, y compris sonores ou multimédias. Depuis les années 1990, et dans un contexte de fracture technologique, la ruée vers l’Afrique numérique n’a fait qu’ajouter une nouvelle inégalité pour les institutions sud-africaines les plus petites et les moins bien dotées en ressources. Cette situation se manifeste dans les grandes concentrations technologiques et les grands objectifs d’infrastructure qui se sont établis aujourd’hui. Dans ce contexte, qu’est-ce que signifie, pour les archives et les archivistes, de contribuer à produire les conditions d’un dialogue intéressant avec le passé, le présent, voire l’avenir ? Si une mission majeure des archives de recherche est bien de permettre l’accès épistémique, cela implique, en Afrique, d’une part de réorienter l’éthique depuis le Sud, d’autre part d’investir le nouveau vocabulaire de la souveraineté numérique : en particulier, de redéfinir la restitution archivistique comme un processus social dans lequel la souveraineté des communautés locales, numériques et autres, compte. Este artigo reflecte sobre a pesquisa em humanidades e o futuro dos arquivos na África Austral na era da nuvem – isto é, as colecções que apoiam a pesquisa numa base institucional – incluindo colecções sonoras e conexas. Desde a década de 1990, instituições de dimensão comparativamente menor e com menos recursos na África do Sul, viram-se confrontadas com uma correria pela África digital que, no meio de um fosso tecnológico, se acumulava com outras desigualdades. Essa condição manifesta-se nos grandes stacks e stakes tecnológicos de hoje. Quais são as implicações, então, para os arquivos e a sua missão, de ajudar à produção das condições permitindo um envolvimento significativo com o passado e o presente, e de facto com o futuro? Um grande desafio para os arquivos de pesquisa, poderá ser o de viabilizar o acesso epistêmico, o que inclui uma orientação para a ética do sul, acompanhada pelo novo conjunto de vocabulários de soberania digital. Parece também essencial redefinir a restituição arquivística como um processo social, no qual a soberania das comunidades locais, digitais e outras, importa. |