Fotots väg från arkivboxen till allmänheten : En dokumentation av DiBiS digitaliseringsprocess samt en studie av digitaliseringens följder

The purpose of my one year master’s thesis is to add a documentation of a data processing-process of photo- graphs to the administration of archives. The thesis is written from an archival science perspective which is to be seen in my choice of literature, method and questions at issue. To be able to form a documentation of a data processing-process I studied DiBiS, a company specialized in digitalizing old photographs and publish them on a online database. I also added a chapter where I studied how archival institutions used to handle their old photo- graphs in a traditional manner so the reader of this thesis will be able to understand and see the differences be- tween traditional and modern photograph management. Following the chapters describing traditional and modern management I formulated some questions at issue about the data-processing-process. Those questions I studied and analyzed in chapters about advantages and the complex of problems surrounding the subject. I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of advantages surrounding the data processing-process, especially from an ar- rangement- preservation and access point of view. I also came to the conclusion that the problems with data processing is the exaggerated focus on the photographic subject, the mistake of thinking that a digital copy of the subject can replace the original photograph and that retouch might distort the original outcome and therefore not live up to archival science standards. To my assistance I had Katarina Nordin, archivist at Arkiv Gävleborg and, among others, Ingrid Fallström, ar- chivist at DiBiS. Specialist technical literature used during my work with this thesis have been Anna Dahlgrens and Pelle Snickars (red.) I bildarkivet om fotografi och digitaliserings effekter, Hege Oulies Digitalisering av fotosamlinger, Project Minervas Good practices handbook, Wolfgang Ernsts Sorlet från arkiven – ordning ur oordning and Anna Christina Ulfsparres (red.) Arkivvetenskap