Title: Pluralizing the Archival Paradigm: A Needs Assessment for Archival Education in Pacific Rim Communit
1Pluralizing the Archival Paradigm A Needs
Assessment for Archival Education in Pacific Rim
Communities Reflections on the Research
Protocol and Data Collection
2Archivists -- The Power to Represent
- Traditional image of archivists passive,
impartial and objective - In fact, at the center of archives power (the
power to create social memory and national
identity) - Especially in todays electronic era
exponential production of electronic records and
continuous change of the means and media to
produce and preserve documents
3Archival Education vs. the Marginal Communities
- Archives -- the memory institution of the
powerful - Representation of the marginal communities --
archives about the community rather than of the
community - Then
- How do we ensure that archivists undertake the
representation responsibilities without
prioritizing or marginalizing the voices and
traditions of certain groups or communities? - Part of the answers lies in education pluralism
in archival education
4The Pluralizing the Archival Paradigm Through
Education Project
- A seed project aiming for an initial exploration
of the archival education landscape in the
Pacific Rim region and providing baseline data to
build up future research - A collaborative project funded by the University
of California Office of the Presidents Pacific
Rim Research Program and involving researchers at
UCLA, Monash University in Melbourne, and Renmin
University in Beijing - Purposes
- 1) to identify the current availability and
scope of the archival education across the
Pacific Rim - 2) to identify a methodology for follow-up
research and development activities
5Research Design Three Components
- 1st survey of educators in Archival Science and
related areas -- the current status of archival
education in the Pacific Rim - 2nd survey of professionals from archival and
other cultural and government repositories - 3rd survey community leaders and relevant
scholars
6Research Design Subject Identification and
Recruitment
- Identification
- 1) publicly available information (websites,
directories of various academic departments,
museums, and governmental sections, and
publications) - 2) China name list from Bin Zhang
- Means of recruitment and survey
- 1) Mail or email
- 2) Face to face
7Data Analysis and Results -- Survey of Archival
Educators
8Number of Countries and Educators Surveyed and
Response Rate
9I. Origination of the Archival Programs Major
Political Shifts and Social Events
- Earliest countries independent of colonial rule
promoting national sovereignty and cultural
identify - Economic revival and/or judicial stipulations
10(No Transcript)
11II. Evolution of the archival programs
- Disciplinary location History ? elsewhere in the
1980s and 1990s - A movement away from certification and vocational
programs to full-fledged degree programs - The rise of doctoral education
12 13III. Areas of Focus and Targeted Sectors of the
Archival Programs
- Areas of Focus
- All mainstream areas of archival theory and
practice - Most frequently mentioned electronic or digital
records management - Least mentioned juridical context, legal issues
affecting archival access and use, archival
collecting, and management of non-textual
archival materials
14III. Areas of Focus and Targeted Sectors of the
Archival Programs
15IV. Curriculum Design
- Frequently mentioned government needs and
initiatives, international standards, and social
needs (in particular, the state of the job market
for archivists) - Less frequently mentioned local history and
culture and the historical background of the
archival education program
16V. Consideration of Local and Community Needs and
Issues
17VI. Program Outreach and Academic Collaboration
- Outreach
- 1) websites and brochures
- 2) word-of-mouth and distance education
- Academic collaboration
- 1) faculty exchange
- 2) cooperative teaching and exchanges of courses
through distance education
18VI. Program Outreach and Academic Collaboration
- Incentives for collaboration
- 1) obtain specific expertise
- 2) faculty and programmatic improvement,
- 3) lack of local experts and faculty
- 4) build cooperative relationships
- 5) exposure to differences
- Impediments for collaboration
- 1) salary and tuition differences
- 2) local and military policies and
regulations - 3) lack of time for learning
- 4) lack of communication channels with other
countries - 5) need for a shared language of instruction
- 6) difficulties with articulation of credits
- 7) cultural differences.
19VII. Distance Learning
- 50 participate in some form of distance
education mostly short courses (VHS video,
online, CD/DVD, correspondence, TV) - 15 distance education under development
- 45 no participation in distance education
- (difficulties in administering the logistical
and financial aspects full-time status recent
internal changes in program structure or faculty
the inappropriateness for research training)
20Summary
- The establishment of many Pacific Rim archival
programs, ranging from 1950s to 1980s, was
closely associated with major political shifts
and social events. - The traditional cultural and historical
imperatives in archival education were giving
away to an economy-driven paradigm with an
overall emphasis on information, technology and
business. Correspondingly, targeted employment
sectors are predominantly occupied by government,
and increasingly, industries and enterprises. - Current archival programs focus on teaching
international standards and best practices,
covering all paradigmatic aspects of contemporary
archival theory and practice, especially
electronic/digital records management. However,
areas that are critical for understanding
alternative perspectives and modalities of
recordkeeping are rarely covered.
21Summary
- Although local and community needs were
considered, they were not truly identified or
catered to, and played little role in curriculum
design in these archival programs. - International collaboration on the development
and pluralization of archival education is highly
desireable in order for faculty to acquire
additional expertise and have their own expertise
exposed to others, but in practice is hard to
accomplish. - Distance education was moderately utilized in the
Pacific Rim but mostly was short training
courses.