22nd July 11:05 – 11:20
Speaker: Dr Adam Nix
Abstract: Insofar as born-digital materials present new challenges for archival access, they also create opportunities for new and existing archival users. These users come with increasingly diverse research aims and employ varied methodological approaches that are not always well understood outside of their particular community. This risks the development of services and systems that favour certain research approaches and forms of access over others, potentially creating barriers for users whose methodologies fall outside conventional assumptions. In this presentation, I will report on recent research that organises born-digital archival users around their distinct research methodologies and access requirements. Drawing on cross-disciplinary research methods and current practices in born-digital access, the research identifies four user types (the aggregator, the synthesiser, the fact finder, and the narrator), each characterised by specific motivations, research approaches, and access needs. In particular, I will emphasise the practical relevance of these user types for archival professionals and those developing technologies to support user needs.
Bio: Adam is a historian and management scholar who studies organisations and their relationship to political and market environments. He has a methodological interest in born-digital archives, digital data, and preservation within digitalised organisational settings. Adam is based at the University of Birmingham, where he is an Associate Professor in Responsible Business.