Tetsuro Kamimura | Digital Archives as Process Structure—Describing Invisible Components and Supporting Value Autonomy
Tetsuro Kamimura argues that digital archives must be viewed as process structures, not just collections of outputs, to describe invisible components and support value autonomy.Summary
Tetsuro Kamimura points out that while digital archives (DA) have expanded as a foundation for preserving cultural and academic materials, the 'process' behind the creation and handling of works is often insufficiently recorded. He argues for viewing the DA not merely as an accumulation of final products but as a 'process structure' encompassing creation and operation, advocating for 'process description' to record the entire trajectory from data creation to utilization in a verifiable manner. Building on prior discussions regarding the duality of digital data (physical dependency and value autonomy), he contends that the DA must describe the 'invisible components'—such as creative judgments and physical manipulations—that are currently overlooked. The proposed solution involves shifting the center of gravity from the finished output to a 'high-density process structure' composed of four layers: (A) Body/Physical conditions, (B) Judgment/Time (selection history), (C) Society/Thought (context), and (D) System/Trust (data provenance). This framework aims to imbue digital data with reliability and authenticity, thereby guaranteeing autonomous value independent of the physical original.
(Source：artscape)