Research Document No. 03 Digital Archival Ecosystems Why Preserving Records Means Preserving Relationships, Not Simply Systems

 

PDS & Ged/A | Research Notes

Research Document No. 03

Digital Archival Ecosystems

Why Preserving Records Means Preserving Relationships, Not Simply Systems

10 February 2026

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🌎 Open Science

The PDS & Ged/A Research Notes are part of an ongoing Open Science initiative dedicated to sharing research questions, emerging ideas, preliminary findings and research agendas in Digital Archival Science. Rather than presenting only completed research, we seek to make the research process itself more transparent, inviting archivists, records professionals, researchers, students and society to participate in the development of knowledge.

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Welcome back to our research laboratory

In our first two Research Notes we shared two questions that gradually emerged during the Permanent Research Seminar held by the PDS & Ged/A Research Group between 2025 and 2026.

First, we asked whether digital transformation had actually changed the foundations of Archival Science, or whether it had simply made its enduring questions more visible.

Our second discussion focused on Systemic Digital Preservation.

As our conversations evolved, we realised that preserving digital records has never been solely a technological challenge.

Preservation depends upon institutions.

Upon governance.

Upon professional responsibilities.

Upon policies.

Upon people.

Upon long-term organizational commitment.

When we finished writing that second document, another question naturally emerged.

If preservation depends upon the continuous interaction among so many different components, does it still make sense to think in terms of isolated systems?

Or should we begin to understand contemporary archival environments in a different way?

This Research Note is our first attempt to explore that question.

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📓 Laboratory Notes

November 2025

During one of our seminar meetings someone made an observation that immediately caught everyone's attention.

"Perhaps we keep studying systems while institutions have already become ecosystems."

At that moment it sounded more like an intuition than a research hypothesis.

We simply wrote it down.

The discussion moved on.

Several months later we realised that this single sentence had quietly transformed the way we were beginning to understand digital archival environments.

Sometimes research advances exactly like that.

Not through sudden discoveries.

But through ideas that slowly mature over time.

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For many years we thought in terms of systems

Anyone working with digital records is familiar with that vocabulary.

Records management systems.

Business systems.

Digital preservation systems.

Trusted Digital Repositories.

Access platforms.

Each appears to perform a specific function.

For a long time this way of thinking seemed perfectly adequate.

Records were created in one system.

Managed in another.

Preserved in a third.

Accessed through a fourth.

Everything appeared relatively well organized.

Gradually, however, that picture became less convincing.

Records increasingly moved across multiple platforms.

Cloud services became part of everyday archival workflows.

Metadata originated from different applications.

Authentication services operated independently.

Artificial intelligence began participating in documentary processes.

The boundaries between systems became increasingly blurred.

Eventually we found ourselves asking a rather simple question.

Are we still dealing with isolated systems?

Or are we observing something much larger?

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💡 One of our research findings

For many years we used the expression digital environment almost as a synonym for system.

Today we believe that association no longer captures the complexity of contemporary archival reality.

Digital records do not exist inside a single system.

They exist within a continuously evolving network of relationships involving institutions, technologies, governance, policies, infrastructures, professional practices and people.

Perhaps this is what we now mean by a Digital Archival Ecosystem.

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Records have never existed alone

One of the most interesting outcomes of our seminar was realising something that, in retrospect, seems almost obvious.

Records have never existed in isolation.

They have always existed within relationships.

Relationships with their creators.

With institutional functions.

With business activities.

With other records.

With legal responsibilities.

With organizational contexts.

Perhaps Archival Science has always been concerned with relationships.

We simply described them using different concepts.

Provenance.

Context.

Organic relationships.

Custody.

Authenticity.

Preservation.

Digital transformation did not invent these relationships.

It simply made them far more visible than they had ever been before.

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🔬 An unexpected outcome of our seminar

When we revisited our own publications, something rather surprising happened.

Concepts that we had originally developed independently suddenly appeared closely connected.

The Chain of Archival Digital Custody helped explain documentary continuity.

Systemic Digital Preservation explained institutional organization.

Archival requirements defined necessary conditions.

The OAIS Reference Model organized preservation functions.

Instead of representing competing ideas, they appeared to describe different dimensions of the same phenomenon.

That realisation changed the way we began to interpret our own research programme.

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Perhaps the real challenge lies between systems

For many years our discussions focused on choosing better software.

Better repositories.

Better preservation platforms.

Those questions remain important.

But perhaps they are no longer sufficient.

An excellent repository may still fail if it receives records stripped of their archival context.

Metadata lose much of their value when they become disconnected from the records they describe.

Preservation strategies become fragile when institutional governance fails to evolve alongside technological change.

Increasingly, we have come to believe that many of the most significant archival challenges no longer exist inside individual systems.

They emerge between them.

Perhaps this is precisely where the concept of an ecosystem becomes most useful.

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🤔 An ongoing discussion

Not everyone participating in the seminar immediately agreed with the word ecosystem.

Some colleagues considered it little more than a metaphor.

Others argued that it accurately reflected the growing complexity of contemporary digital environments.

Rather than forcing an immediate conclusion, we decided to keep the discussion open.

After all, the value of a concept does not depend solely upon its terminology.

It depends upon its ability to explain reality.

That investigation continues.

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A research hypothesis is beginning to emerge

Perhaps we are witnessing one of the most interesting moments in this research programme.

We certainly do not have definitive answers.

But we are beginning to suspect something.

Perhaps Archival Science has never primarily studied isolated objects.

Perhaps it has always studied relationships.

Digital transformation merely made those relationships impossible to overlook.

If this hypothesis proves correct, then Digital Archival Ecosystems do not represent a break with archival tradition.

Instead, they offer a contemporary perspective from which longstanding archival principles can be understood more coherently.

There is still much work ahead.

Which is precisely why we believe these reflections should already be shared.

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🌱 A hypothesis under construction

When this seminar began, we believed we would spend most of our time discussing technologies.

Instead, we found ourselves revisiting some of the most fundamental questions of Archival Science.

That was unexpected.

And perhaps it has become the central thread connecting this entire collection of Research Notes.

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Learning together

One of the greatest strengths of Open Science may be its willingness to make research itself visible.

Ideas evolve.

Some become stronger.

Others are reformulated.

A few may eventually be abandoned.

That is not a weakness of science.

It is one of its greatest strengths.

Research advances because ideas remain open to discussion.

That is precisely what we hope these Research Notes will encourage.

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💬 Let's continue the conversation

How are digital records managed within your own institution?

Do they remain inside a single system?

Or do they already move continuously across multiple platforms, services and digital environments?

Do you believe the concept of Digital Archival Ecosystems helps explain this reality?

We would genuinely like to hear your perspective.

Perhaps your experience will help shape the next stage of this research programme.

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📅 Next Research Note

25 February 2026

The OAIS Reference Model from an Archival Perspective

Have we been using OAIS exactly as it was originally conceived? Or is it time to reinterpret the model through the principles of Archival Science?

The research continues.

And we hope you will continue this journey with us.