Annual Conference of the Institute of Austrian Historical Research: The Future of the Past in the Present. Archives as Lighthouses in the Information Age (November 9-11, 2016, Vienna)

The Annual Conference 2016 of the Institute of Austrian Historical Research will be held in co-operation with the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna (Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv), the Provincial Archives of Upper Austria (Oberösterreichisches Landesarchiv) and the Provincial Archives of Styria (Steiermärkisches Landesarchiv) from November 9 to November 11, 2016. The venue will be the conference room of the Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna (Gasometer D, Guglgasse 14, 1110 Wien). The event is entitled

The Future of the Past in the Present. Archives as Lighthouses in the Information Age

The “archival sphere” and archivists currently exist in a time of challenges and change. The function of archives as storehouses of information is contested by numerous other types of institutions which cultivate memory, offer or curate information; the increasingly ubiquitous use of the word “archive” may be considered a symptom of this. The necessary re-orientation of archives towards the digital has been undertaken; it demands new strategies and expanded knowledge and skills from archivists, without making “traditional” knowledge and skills obsolete. Under conditions of shrinking resource allocation, this situation exacerbates conflicts of aims, necessitating specialisation, the setting of priorities, and above all increased co-operation with other disciplines and institutions.

With an eye on these ambient conditions, the goal of the conference is to ask questions about the position of archives in the present, about their importance in the information age, starting with the assumption of a tension between what is and what is wished and aimed for. What roles can and should archives play in the information age, based on the knowledge and skills concentrated in them? Answers to these broad questions will be sought in individual panels dedicated to the key activities and tasks of archivists, as manifestations of their specific knowledge and skills; these will be discussed both in theory and in regard to their practical realisation in daily archival work.

The event is organised by Heinrich Berg (Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna), Elisabeth Schöggl-Ernst (Provincial Archives of Styria), Thomas Stockinger (Institute of Austrian Historical Research) and Jakob Wührer (Provincial Archives of Upper Austria). Das conference programme is available here in PDF format. Abstracts of the presentations will be published in this blog in October 2016. The official conference hashtag is #IOeG2016.

Wednesday, 9 November 2016

09.30    

Brigitte Rigele (Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna), Thomas Winkelbauer (Institute of Austrian Historical Research), Willibald Rosner (Society of Austrian Archivists): Welcome and Introductory Statements

Jakob Wührer (Provincial Archives of Upper Austria, Linz): Introduction to the Conference

10.15    

I. Categorising Information – a New Science of Archival Sources

Moderator: Luciana Duranti (University of British Columbia, Vancouver) / Organiser: Thomas Stockinger

Robert Kretzschmar (Provincial Archives of Baden-Württemberg, Stuttgart): Archivalische Quellenkunde im frühen 21. Jahrhundert [A Science of Archival Sources for the Early 21st Century]

Holger Berwinkel (Political Archives of the Foreign Office, Berlin): Probleme einer Aktenkunde der Zeitgeschichte [Problems of the Study of Contemporary Official Documents]

Lunch break

13.45

Elizabeth Kata (IAEA Archives, Vienna): Archivalienkunde von unten? Möglichkeiten einer Archivalienkunde für Unterlagen aus Neuen Sozialen Bewegungen am Beispiel feministischen Archivguts [Grassroots Modern Diplomatics? Examining the Possibilities for a Modern Diplomatics of Records from Modern Social Movements Using Feminist Records]

Heather MacNeil (University of Toronto: Faculty of Information, Toronto): Trusting Records in the Digital Age: Changing Archival Perspectives

Coffee break

15.45

II. Formation of Collections and Appraisal

Moderator and Organiser: Elisabeth Schöggl-Ernst

Helga Penz (Referat für die Kulturgüter der Orden, Vienna): Nil memorabile sed tamen asservandum. Merkwürdigkeit und Überlieferungsbildung: Das Beispiel der Archive katholischer Ordensgemeinschaften [Memorability and the Formation of Archival Holdings: the Example of the Archives of Catholic Religious]

Matthias Buchholz (Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship, Berlin): Alles doch ganz einfach? Archivische Bewertung zwischen Wissenschaft und Bauchgefühl [All Perfectly Simple? Archival Appraisal between Science and Gut Feeling]

Evening event

19.30

Film showing: Rollerball (USA 1975). Commentary by Heinrich Berg

Venue: Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna, Conference Room

 

Thursday, 10 November 2016

09.00    

Michel Pfeiffer (University of Applied Sciences Chur): Digitale Bilder – was darf, was kann bleiben? [Digital Images – What Should Remain, What Can Remain?]

Christa Ehrmann-Hämmerle (University of Vienna: Department of History): Privat_öffentliche Überlieferungen: Das Beispiel der „Sammlung Frauennachlässe“ an der Universität Wien [Private_Public Collections: the Example of the “Sammlung Frauennachlässe” at the University of Vienna]

Coffee break

11.00

Markus Schmidgall (Provincial Archives of Vorarlberg, Bregenz): Überlieferungsbildung und Erschließung im digitalen Bereich. Ein Arbeitsbericht aus dem Vorarlberger Landesarchiv [Formation of Collections and Cataloguing in the Digital Realm. A Report on the Practices of the Provincial Archives of Vorarlberg]

Lunch break

13.30

III. Processing and Providing Information – Arrangement, Description, and Beyond

Moderator and Organiser: Heinrich Berg

Andreas Kellerhals (Swiss Federal Archives, Berne): Leuchtturm oder GPS – welche Orientierung in der Infosphäre? [Lighthouses or GPS – What Kind of Orientation in the Infosphere?]

Brigitte Krenn (Austrian Research Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Vienna): Methoden der Künstlichen Intelligenz zur Erschließung von Textinhalten [Artificial Intelligence Methods for Mining Text Content]

Christoph Sonnlechner (Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna): Parallelangebot oder Wegweiser in die Zukunft? Das weltweit umfangreichste Stadtgeschichte-Wiki und seine Interaktion mit dem Wiener Archivinformationssystem WAIS [Parallel Offer or Signpost to the Future? The World’s Most Copious Urban History Wiki and its Inter-action with the Vienna Archival Information System WAIS]

Georg Vogeler (Austrian Centre for Digital Humanities, Graz): Vernetzung: Zum Verhältnis von klassischen Formen der Archiverschließung und IT-gestützter Information Retrieval [Networking: On the Relation between Classic Forms of Archival Cataloguing and IT-Based Infor-mation Retrieval]

Miroslav Novak (Regional Archives Maribor): Archival Information System: A Bridge Between Past, Present and Future

Evening event

19.30

Luciana Duranti (University of British Columbia, Vancouver): The Right to Be Remembered and the Duty to Memorialize: the Role of Archives in the Digital Environment

Followed by panel discussion with Luciana Duranti and

Thomas Just (Austrian State Archives, Vienna)

Alfred J. Noll (Law Firm Noll Keider, Wien)

Heidemarie Uhl (Austrian Academy of Sciences: Institute of Culture Studies and Theatre History, Vienna)

Venue: Altes Rathaus, Gemeinderatssitzungssaal (Wipplingerstraße 8, 1010 Wien)

 

Friday, 11 November 2016

09.00    

IV. The Archive in its Surroundings: Positioning, Marketing Information, Expectations

Moderator and Organiser: Jakob Wührer

Patrick Joyce (University of Manchester): Archival Powers – Archives and State Making

Dietmar Schenk (Archives of the University of Arts, Berlin): Was heißt heute „Archiv“? Eine Standortbestimmung nach dem „archival turn“ [What Does “Archive” Mean Today? Searching for a Position after the “Archival Turn”]

Coffee break

11.00

Joachim Kemper (Institute of Urban History, Frankfurt am Main): Externe Kommunikation und digitale Vermittlung – heraus aus der archivischen Staubecke? [External Communication and Digital Outreach – Escape from the Dusty Corner?]

Lunch break

13.45

Mario Glauert (Provincial Archives of Brandenburg, Potsdam): Was ist ein erfolgreiches Archiv? [What Is a Successful Archive?]

14.30

Peter Csendes (Communal Archives of Wiener Neudorf/Municipal and Provincial Archives of Vienna), Gerhart Marckhgott (Provincial Archives of Upper Austria, Linz): Resumé and final debate

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