Research On The Authenticity Of Electronic Records:Analysis Of The InterPARES Project

With the popularization of computer and widespread applications of Internet technology, produced a large number of electronic records. Electronic records are increasingly becoming the main carrier to record, storge and transmit information. On the one hand, electronic records facilitate communication between people, conforming to the development of the Times; on the other hand, electronic records bring many challenges to record managers and archivisits, such as how to manage electronic records, how to ensure the security of electronic records, how to ensure the long-term preservation of electronic records. Among these challenges, the authenticity of electronic records gets more attentions from the archival professsion. It relates to how to manage electronic records, how to ensure the legal status of electronic records. Therefore, it is urgent to solve the problems of the authenticity of electronic records.Domestic and foreign experts and scholars are concerned the authenticity of electronic records, and carry out many research. One of the famous project is The International Research on Permanent Authentic Records in Electronic Systems(InterPARES). This project begins from 1999 to 2012, which is divided into three stages to carry on. InterPARES project treats the authenticity of electronic records as the main research object,explores the theoretical knowledge and methods for long-term preservation of electronic records. Based on these theoretical knowledge and methods,provide the guidelines to the international organizations, countries or departments, which can help them to develop strategies, policies and standards for long-term preservation of electronic records. In essence, InterPARES project is a theory research about the authenticity of electronic records, which involves the constituent elements of electronic records, the concepts and the intelletual framework about authenticity of electronic records, rather than the specific solution to ensure the authenticity of electronic records.To compensate the gap in the theoretical research of the authenticity of electronic records, to better understand the InterPARES’ research achivements on long-term preservation of the authenticity of electronic records, and to further promote our work to protect the authenticity of electronic records, it is necessary to have a comprehensive, systematic congnition and comprehension about the InterPARES project. This paper takes InterPARES as research object,treats two research perspectives as main line,strives to accurately analyze the overall operation of the project.As well as, this paper provides some references about the research thinking, research methods, and research results to someone who wants to know the project, and provides some suggestions and thinkings to our country to study the authenticity of electronic records.The paper includes six chapters as follows:Chapter 1:Introduction. This part introduces the research background, research status and research significance. Given the current research status, the paper strives to analyze the InterPARES project in a comprehensive, detailed and accurate way.Chapter 2:InterPARES overview. The project is divided into three phrases:From the preservers point of view, IP1 (1999-2001) primarily researches the authenticity and long-term preservation of the inactive textual records that were created in databases and document management systems. In the view of records creators, IP2 (2002-2006) addresses the permanent preservation of experiential, interactive and dynamic digital records created in arts, sciences and e-government activities. IP3 (2007-2012) mainly studies how to apply the research results of IP1 and IP2 to the small and meduim sized organizations.Chapter 3:The research basis of the InterPARES. This part mainly introduces the theoretical basis of the InterPARES, includes contemporary archival diplomatics; the theory of record life-cycle; the records continuum theory and unbroken chain of custody.Chapter 4:The Perspectives of reocrds preservers. From the preservers point of view, this part describes the research process and achivements about the authenticity of electronic records. The main achivements are the concept requirements of authenticity; the selection function model; the preserve electronic records process model; the criteria for the development of policy; standard and strategy and so on.Chapter 5:The Perspectives of reocrds preservers. In the view of record creators, this part mainly describes how to ensure the authenticity of electronic records and introduces many research achivements. The main research results include the framework criteria for developing the policies, strategies and standards of long-term preservation electronic records; the guidelines for record creators; the guidelines for record preservers; the model of COP and BDR; Metadata and Archival Description Registry and Analysis System (MADRAS).Chapter 6:Conclusion.This part analyzes and generalizes the characteristics and contents of the overall project, and proposes some suggestions for our country to research the authenticity of electronic records.