TEMPLATE 1
WHAT IS A RECORD IN THE TRADITIONAL ENVIRONMENT?
I. DIPLOMATICS
Record = archival document
Archival document = a document produced in the course of practical
activity
Document = written evidence of juridical facts
Evidence = testimony of facts = conveyed observation of events
Written evidence = evidence produced on a medium by means of a writing
instrument or of an apparatus for fixing data, images, or voices
Facts = human conduct or natural events
Juridical facts = facts whose occurrence is taken into consideration
by the juridical system. Facts include acts.
Juridical system = a social group organized on the basis of a system
of rules
System of rules = all the rules that are perceived as binding at any
time and place by a given social group
Produced = made or received
Activity = a collection or sequence of acts aimed to one purpose
Practical activity = an activity whose purpose is not the activity
itself but the production of effects capable of influencing situations
Therefore, a record is testimony, produced on a medium in the course of
practical activity, of facts taken into consideration by the rules recognized as
binding by a social group.
On the basis of this definition the necessary components of a record
are:
- medium = the material support of the record’s content, that is, of
the testimony of facts
- content = the facts the record speaks of
- form = the way in which content is manifested = all the
characteristics of a record determined by the application of the rules of
representation of content typical of a given environment.
Form breaks down into:
- a. physical form = the characteristics of the external appearance
of the record, such as format, colors, etc. These characteristics are also
called "extrinsic elements.
- b. intellectual form = the characteristics of the internal
composition of the record. Intellectual form can be distinguished into:
- i. content configuration = the mode of expression of the
content: text, graphics, images, or a combination
- ii. content articulation = the elements of the writing and
their arrangement, that is, what determines the distinction between a
letter and a memo or a chart and a map.
- iii. annotations = additions to the content of the record made
after its compilation
- persons = entities which the juridical system recognizes as having
the capacity to act, that is, to generate consequencences on the basis of the
will. Persons can be either physical or juridical. Juridical persons are
collections or successions of physical persons (also called moral persons or
artificial persons). The existence of every record needs the concurrence of
three persons:
- a. author = the person competent for the creation of the record,
which is issued by it or its command or in its name. The author of a record
may coincide with the author of the action of which the record is the
outcome, or may not.
- b. addressee = the person to whom the record is directed. The
addressee of a record may coincide with the addressee of the action, or may
not. The addressee is not necessarily the person to whom a record is
delivered or transmitted.
- c. writer = the person responsible for the intellectual form of
the record. A modern term that expresses the same concept is
originator. The writer cannot be a secretary or a clerk or a scribe.
There are other persons who can be involved in the creation of a record,
but are not necessary to its existence. They are:
- d. countersigner = the person who validates the form of the
record, its procedure of creation, or its content. For example, the
city-clerk signing a by-law.
- e. witness = the person signing the record for the purpose of
either conferring solemnity to it; authenticating the signature of the
author, the content of the record, or its compilation; or stating that an
act for which both oral and written form are required, such as an oath, took
place in its presence.
- acts = acts are movements of the will aimed to create, maintain,
modify or extinguish situations. A special type of act is a transaction
= an act capable of changing the relationships between two or more persons
Therefore, the necessary components of a record are medium,
content, form, persons, acts. Intent of the author to transmit and capability to
be transmitted are implied by the necessary existence of an addressee. Because
of the necessary intent to transmit (over time or through space) and
capability of the record to be transmitted, readability to and intelligibility
by the addressee at the moment of the creation of the record (see created in the
"archival science" section below) are also implied.
The minimum necessary requirements for a record to exist are:
- a. medium
- b. content
- c. form
- d. perons
- e. acts
Implied requirements are:
- f. intent to be transmitted
- g. capability to be transmitted
- h. readability at the creation stage by the intended addressee
- i. intelligibility at the creation stage by the intended addressee
Question
are actual transmission and communication necessary
components?
(tentative answer: not for a record to be "made," that is, to
exist with the author; yes for a record to be "received," that is, to come
into existence with the addressee--see created)
II. ARCHIVAL SCIENCE
Archival science does not define "a record",
but "records," because it only deals with aggregations.
Records = archival documents
Archival documents = documents created by a physical or juridical
person for the achievement of its purposes or in the exercise of its functions
Document = recorded information
Information = intelligence given = understanding conveyed
Recorded = affixed to a medium in a stable form
Created = made or received. A record is
made when its compilation in its intended form is concluded and the
record is set aside for transmission (over time or over space), reference and
use, or subsequent action. A record is received when it reaches the
intended addressee and is set aside for transmission, reference and use, or
subsequent action. Initial preservation is necessary to the arising of
documentary relationships.
Function = the whole of the activities aimed to one purpose. When such
activities, or part of them, are assigned to a person, they constitute a
competence
Therefore, records are documents made or received by a physical or
juridical person as means and residue of its activity.
On the basis of this definition, we can add two other necessary
components to those identified by diplomatics:
1. creator = the physical or juridical person who makes or
receives the records in the course of its activity
- 2. archival bond = the relationships that, because of the
circumstances of their creation, records have with their creator, with the
activity in which they participate, and among themselves. The archival bond is
originary (it comes into existence when the record is made or
received), necessary (it exists for every record), and
determined (it is characterised by the purpose of the record).
Therefore, archival documents or records are necessarily composed
of documents and the complex of their relationships. Because of this, any
document, of any nature, which acquires relationships with a group of archival
documents or records, is to be considered a record itself, following the
fundamental rule which governs every collectivity, according to which each
individual entity acquires the nature and characteristics of the whole to which
it belongs.
Is order a necessary component? The existence of an intellectual order
is implied by the archival bond, thus order is a necessary consequence of the
existence of the bond.
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