digital documents and their discontents (part 2 of 2)
DESCRIPTION
This lecture asks 'what is a document?' and takes a closer look at the issues of assessing digital documents for research including authority, authenticity, information overload and information scarcity. For Part 1 see http://www.slideshare.net/minyall/digital-culture-industry-writing-a-digital-history-with-digital-documents This lecture was delivered as part of the BA in Sociology at the University of Essex, Spring 2014. http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/TRANSCRIPT
DIGITAL DOCUMENTS AND THEIR DISCONTENTS
LAST WEEK
THIS WEEK
1. About the Project2. About the Method
1. What is a Document?2. Issues with Digital Documents
1. What is a Document?
POPULAR UNDERSTANDING
Text on paper.
Status via its authorship by an individual or institution of esteem.
POPULAR UNDERSTANDING
Text on paper.
Status via its authorship by an individual or institution of esteem.
TRADITIONAL MODELLanglois & Seignobos, 1908
Documents are...“traces which have been left by the thoughts and actions of men of former times” (Langlois & Seignobos, 1908:46)
Facts can be retrieved from first hand documents.
Facts are viewed from multiple perspectives to avoid bias.
Langlois, C. V. and Seignobos, C. (1908) Introduction to the Study of History, London: Duckworth.
TRADITIONAL MODELSidney and Beatrice Webb,1932
Text of action...e.g. Correspondence from a King to his ministers.
DOCUMENT CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE
Created by institutions and individuals of authority.
All other writings ‘contemporary to the time.
Considered background information.
Much lower status to the ‘document’.
Webb, S. and Webb, B. (1932/1975) Methods of Social Study, Cambridge University PressScott, J. (1990) A Matter of Record, Polity Press: Cambridge
EXPANDING THE MODELPaul Otlet, 1934
Any object is a document if it is possible to be informed by the observation of it.
Otlet, P. (1934) Traité de documentation, Brussels: Editiones Mundaneum (1989, Liege: Centre de Lecture Publique de la Communauté Française).
EXPANDING THE MODELSuzanne Briet, 1951
Anything is a document if treated as one.
“A document is evidence in support of a fact” (Briet, 1951:7).
Object? Document?Star in the sky No
Photo of the Star YesStone in a river No
Stone in museum YesAnimal in the wild NoAnimal in a zoo Yes
Briet, S. (1951) Qu’est-ce que la documentation, Paris (English translation available at http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/∼ roday/briet.htm).
EXPANDING THE MODELPaul Buckland, 1991 & 1997
Combining Otlet and Briet - A document has these features...• There is materiality: Physical objects and physical signs
only.• There is intentionality: Intention that the object be
treated as evidence.• The objects have to be processed: They have to be made
into documents.• There is a phenomenological position: The object must be
perceived as a document.
Buckland, M. (1997) What Is a ‘Document’? Journal of the American Society for Information Science 48: 804–809.
Buckland, M. (1991) Information as Thing. Journal of the American Society for Information Science 42: 351–360.
‘Document’ becomes a title bestowed upon ‘information as thing’.
EXPANDING THE MODELLindsay Prior, 2003
Prior, L. (2003) Using Documents in Social Research, London: Sage Publications.
Anything can be a document if relevant to the researcher’s...
‘Field of action’Wall Street CrashIndustrial Revolution
BitTorrentA day in your life
A document is both a receptacle of information and an actor within a field of action.
A DIGITAL DOCUMENT
• Flexible definition, “Follow the story”
• Definition of a document must be flexible when researching online.
• Does not absolve the need for critical evaluation.
2. Issues withDigital Documents
DOCUMENTS AND TRUTH
Platt, J. (1981) Evidence and Proof in Documentary Research 1: Some Specific Problems of Documentary Research. Sociological Review 29: 31–52.
Burgess, R. G. (1984) In the Field: An Introduction to Field Research, London: Allen and Unwin.
Scott, J. (1990) A Matter of Record: Documentary Sources in Social Research, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Issues in ‘Physical’ Documentary Analysis
Authenticity
Availability
Representative?
Bias Sampling
Credibility
Primary better than secondaryOriginal better than copy
MEDIATED INFORMATIONUndisclosed Politics
Finding Fact in Fiction
Traditional HistoriographyDefault to Distrust
Primary > SecondaryInternet Historiography
Account for Bias/Drama Report on Conflict
Cross-Reference for Fact
Everything is Secondary
Links to... BiasCredibilityPrimary/Secondary Sources
LACK OF INFORMATION
No custodianNever Recorded
Not maintained
Can lead to over-reliance on a small group of sources
Reliability with a small sample:Does this make sense Chronologically?
Biographically?
Links to... SamplingReliabilityAvailabilityBias
AUTHORITY
Sometimes the ‘real’ reporters are farthest from the source.
Under-reporting in traditional newsMisunderstanding of technical and organisational details
AmateursHighly integratedTrusted
Comments act as editor
Anonymity of sources
Significant reliance on community reporting
Links to... AuthenticityCredibility
INFORMATION OVERLOADFollowing stories as they break...
Inaccuracy
MisinformationConflicting Reports
Internet ‘Echoes’ can be usefuland can be confusing
Links to... SamplingReliability
AUTHENTICITY
Historical MethodDon’t use a Copy, use the Original
Which source is the ‘original’?Digital sources can be edited
Digital sources can disappear
Copies may be more ‘original’ than the originalAmalgamation rather than identification of the original
SUMMARY:USING DIGITAL DOCUMENTS
Changing ways of defining ‘document’
From...“This is a document because it has document qualities”
to...“This is a document because it can be treated as a document”
SUMMARY:USING DIGITAL DOCUMENTS
The issues of digital documents are...
Similar to those of physical documents,
but challenge some assumptionsabout...
and require flexible approaches to manage issues like...
AuthenticityAuthority +
Validity + Reliability
Bias
AvailabilityCredibility
Interpretation
CopyCopy
CopyCopyCopy
CopyCopy