Knowledge archives in dialogue with science and society
Press release from 12/10/2010
Conference organised by the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation as part of the Berlin Year of Science 2010 "Berlin - Capital for Science"
On 9 and 10 December 2010, the conference "Knowledge Archives in Dialogue with Science and Society" took place at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. As an institution that unites a broad spectrum of knowledge archives with its museums, libraries, archives and research facilities, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation had invited participants to define their position and debate the current challenges and areas of conflict in the age of digitisation, open access and virtual research environments.
Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, emphasised: "Today, knowledge archives are modern and dynamic institutions that make important contributions to science and society. It is crucial for their future that they are not just reduced to the preservation of cultural heritage, but that they are given the basis to fulfil their tasks even better, especially in the production, circulation and communication of knowledge. Special funding programmes and improvements to the institutional framework are essential for this."
It became clear that knowledge archives are not only involved in the dissemination of information, but also in the production of knowledge itself. The starting point here is researching the collections, one of their fundamental tasks. In order to place material and collection-related research in a larger context, knowledge archives are increasingly cooperating with other research institutions - in individual projects, strategic cooperations, alliances or programmes. The conference provided a suitable forum for exploring the potential and interactions of such interdisciplinary alliances, but also for discussing reservations, problems and possible solutions.
Another central task of museums, libraries and archives as knowledge archives was also discussed: providing access to the objects they preserve - text, image and sound storage - for science and research. Forward-looking projects and strategies for the provision of a corresponding infrastructure were presented and questions relating to new information structures, changing methods and disciplines as well as user expectations were discussed.
A third section focussed on the cultural and identity-forming significance of knowledge archives. The example of indigenous Latin America was used to illustrate that the holdings and activities of knowledge archives not only play a role in national and international research and science, but can also have far-reaching significance for certain social groups or indigenous peoples. One example of this is the facsimile edition "Codex Humboldt Fragment 1 / Codex Azoyú 2 Reverso". It combines two fragments of an Indian illuminated manuscript from Mexico, one of which is located in Mexico and the other in the Berlin State Library. By bringing the fragments together, scholars have gained a unique source: The fragments depict a precise list of the tribute payments that the province of Tlapa in Guerrero had to make to the Aztecs after the principality of Tlapa-Tlachinollan was conquered by the army of the Aztec king Ahuizotl in 1486. The topics of "knowledge archives" or "memory archives" and "scientific knowledge" versus "indigenous knowledge" were addressed in this section, as were the role of science and research in cultural memory and the significance of sources in the digital age.
The topics of a concluding discussion round were future-oriented: What potential for innovation do museums, libraries and archives have if they keep pace with rapid technological developments? What role will knowledge archives play in the knowledge and information society in the future? What user expectations can be expected? The contributions dealt with digitisation, public-private partnerships, open access, web 2.0 and semantic web.
Further information on the conference can be found on the website of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation