15 September 2021
The 2021 annual ASA conference was an entirely virtual event after the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the planned in-person events. This theme of this year’s conference was “Archives Amplified” and I attended the first full day.
The keynote address was given by investigative author Matthew Condren who spoke about the problems researchers encounter when attempting to access public records and archives, especially those pertaining to the recent past. Following his address, he, and a panel including Dr Anne Tiernan and Dr David Solomon, discussed how archives can become impediments to justice and aid bureaucrats in keeping secrets and perpetuating a sense of ‘executive privilege’. This view shows information professionals where improvement is needed in facilitating access to information held within our collections. However, many archives are constrained by out-of-date laws or access provisions attached to donations. The result, Matthew noted, is that many archives are stuck in another century and are rapidly using losing their relevance.
Other sessions I attended included “Privacy in a collected world” with Phillip Green, Mark Burdon and Melanie Marks who discussed the ways that public and private organisations collect data, the implications this has for privacy issues and how this data is treated, retained or disposed; “Amplifying Indigenous voice in the archive” with Rose Barrowcliffe who spoke of the damage that can be inflicted when First Nations people are excluded from records about them through lack of appropriate metadata and which emphasises the colonialness of our archives and renders First Nations people invisible; and “Amplifying memories of a Nation” with Karuna Bhoday from the National Archives of Australia who described her experience implementing a new archival management system at the NAA which included using Preservica as the digital preservation platform.
These sessions were particularly relevant to the subjects I’m currently studying including The Information Society and Digital Curation and Preservation. They built upon the theory and concepts I have learned and demonstrated their real world application. Rose Barrowcliffe’s session had a direct impact on my daily tasks in the workplace. I am now more conscious of the metadata and descriptions I create for places and people. Where possible I am now trying to include more Indigenous names so that my cataloguing is more inclusive and reflective of Australian society and the users of the archive.
My original intention for attending this conference was to expand my professional network as it would be the first in-person industry event I was able to attend since beginning my studies, due to the pandemic. Unfortunately because of lockdowns and border closures it was moved to an online event. However, the virtual platform that was used by the ASA was well executed and while I wasn’t able to connect with other information professionals like I had wanted to, the sessions I attended broadened my view of access in archives and records organisations, made me think about how data collection and privacy is changing quickly as technology becomes more embedded in our everyday lives than ever before, and allowed me to take what I’ve learnt in my studies and my workplace and see it applied in other archival organisations. I’ll be able to take what I’ve learnt at this conference and use it to give me better understanding of these concepts during my studies and apply them in my workplace.
