Addendum I
Fictional Example of a Human Rights Archive’s Guiding Principles
| Guiding Principle 1—Purpose Statement |
|---|
Description
The first Guiding Principle needs to clearly communicate the main reasons why we are building the digital archive and what will the archive do. The purpose should reflect the organizational and community needs that give rise to the creation of the digital archive.
The Purpose Statement should be kept brief and to the point with one or two simple sentences.
Human rights CSOs typically cite two main purposes for building digital archives: preservation of invaluable material on human rights violations, and provision of wider or easier access to it. Other frequent reasons behind development of a digital archive include legal, educational, research, advocacy, memorialization, and other functions, often related to transitional justice processes.
Example
We collect, digitally preserve, and safeguard material related to human rights violations committed in Georgia in order to save them from loss and harm and make them publicly available in Georgia and worldwide.
| Guiding Principle 2—Aims, Goals, and Beneficiaries |
|---|
Description
The Guiding Principle 2 defines in more concrete terms what the archive is designed to achieve and who its expected beneficiaries are.
The “aim”—which refers to a wider function the archive will provide for its community, specific groups, or society as a whole—is of the archive outline of the social benefits the archive is seeking to bring. There could be anywhere from just one to several aims of the archive, which should be clearly stated and defined.
The goals should specify the types of educational, academic, media, legal, or other projects and outcomes the archive aspires to support and enable. While it is important to state and outlie all of the archive’s main goals, the list should not be excessive. The goals could also include examples of concrete products, events, or actions the archive aims to help produce and create.
The aims and goals of the archive are focused on one or several groups, organizations, or communities—the archive’s beneficiaries. Beneficiaries include the archive’s users and other groups that are positively affected by its work and the services it provides, such as victims and their families, legal professionals, teachers, students, journalists, and others. Organizations can also be beneficiaries (e.g., a truth commission relying on the archival content for its work, or other human rights CSOs).
Example
Aim
To facilitate transitional justice processes related to dealing with the legacy of mass human rights violations of USSR Police Forces in Georgia.
Goal 1
Promote access to and the use of the digital archive by journalists, students, teachers, researchers, artists, and others who may utilize it in their public-facing work.
Goal 2
Support use of the digital archive for development of outreach and educational tools and resources, as well as research, media, and artistic projects.
Goal 3
Develop an online platform that will streamline access to the digital archive for the general public and provide a space for publication and promotion of archive-based projects, actions, and products.
Beneficiaries
Main beneficiary groups include:
● Users of the archive
● Victims and their families
● State institutions dealing with the legacy of mass violence during the USSR period
● Other CSOs dealing with the legacy of mass violence during the USSR period
● Teachers
● Students
● Historians
● Other academic and non-academic researchers
| Guiding Principle 3: Scope of Content |
|---|
Description
Guiding Principle 3 determines what material will be included the archive, the defining of which allows us to focus time and resources on the items that are most relevant and important, including by guiding us in deciding which material should not be included in the digital archive. The scope of content should define what should be made part of any given archive based on criteria that are most relevant for its specific content and context.
Example
The following are the criteria that are usually important to be included in defining a digital archive’s scope of content:
● The types and formats of items. (e.g., paper documents, photographs, and analogue multimedia material)
● The geographical area to which the items are related and time period (e.g., USSR Republic of Georgia from 1939 to 1989)
● The themes or topics the items are about (e.g., human rights violations by representatives of USSR police forces)
● Sensitivity, confidentiality, and credibility of material. (e.g., archive will include sensitive but not confidential material)
| Guiding Principle 4—Statement of Responsibilities |
|---|
The Guiding Principle 4 defines the main responsibilities the digital archive has and was created to uphold. These predominantly, though not exclusively, include ethical-, legal-, access-, and data security-related duties.
These are all highly relevant issues for human rights CSOs that require the organization to regularly revisit the Statement of Responsibilities and further devise or revise it as necessary to ensure it remains comprehensive, up to date, and effective.
Note: The following example lays out areas the Statement of Responsibilities should include. Depending on the content and context of a specific digital archive, the Statement should provide concrete considerations and measures the digital archive will take to uphold these responsibilities. As the archive develops over time, it will be possible to define its responsibilities in more concrete and detailed terms.
Example
The digital archive will take all reasonable measures to ensure its work is aligned with the following responsibilities:
● Protection of data privacy
● Respect of intellectual property and copyrights
● Trustworthy and confidential management of sensitive data, or data that otherwise requires such approach
● Control over access and dissemination of the archive’s content
● Safeguarding data from harm, loss, or unauthorized access
● To maintain credibility and integrity of data, including through control of the chain of custody.
| Guiding Principle 5: Implementation Statement |
|---|
The Guiding Principle 5 responds to the question of “how” the other principles will be achieved and realized. The Implementation Statement should cover three main aspects of a successful and sustainable digital archive: resources, organization, and technology.
The Statement should deal with these domains in a general way, laying out the key considerations and approaches. More detailed, operational decisions will be devised through implementation plans, which will be developed throughout the process to address specific elements of implementation.
Without considering and maintaining each of these components a digital archive cannot be sustained. These three components need to be considered together to provide for a feasible development and long-term resilience of a digital archive. It is important that a balance is struck between technology, people, funding, and the organizational practices.
Example
Note: This example lists the areas the Implementation Statement should include. Details on each of these domains need to be included based on the specific circumstances of the given archive.
This digital archive operates based on advanced planning of the resources and requirements needed to develop, populate, and continuously maintain and develop it. The plans include cost assessment and a time frame in which these resources can be obtained and put into practice. Building this digital archive is supported by the entire organization: management, IT, fundraisers, project managers, field researchers, communications, etc. The roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and aligned with each other, aimed toward achieving the same joint purpose.
The technology elements of this digital archive include the hardware, software, and secure environments required to create, develop, manage, maintain, and provide access to it. This digital archive will develop measures to ensure its continued readiness to adequately respond to the ever-changing technological developments.
Resources
● Types of resources needed include financial, human, organizational, and technical
● Estimate of requirements for each type of resources needed in initial phases of digital archive development for long-term maintenance
● Outline of modes and approaches through which the organization will sustainably obtain each type of the required resources, and over which time period
● For the resources that cannot be obtained, the organization states alternative ways of ensuring that the goals of the digital archiving process are achieved, either by identifying different solutions or redefining the goals that can be achieved.
Organization
● Commitment to developing timely, specific plans for key areas of the archive’s development, maintenance, and continued transformation
● Establishment of procedures and workflows to ensure proper performance of key functions and upholding of the digital archive’s responsibilities
● Documentation of key decisions and overall operations of the digital archive to create a reference and knowledge base for its future development
● Ensuring the necessary staff training and expertise to build the organization’s capacities and the hiring of relevant external experts when necessary
● Identifying possible risks and then determining approaches to how they could be mitigated
● Clear division of roles and responsibilities within the organization and in relation to external actors
Technology
● Selection, installation, maintenance, and timely transformation of the Digital Archiving System
● Selection, installation, maintenance, and timely migration of the storage and back-up system
● Utilization of appropriate archiving software and tools, including for preservation actions
● Use of data safety and archive security tools and solutions to prevent leakage, harm, and loss of data
● Use of online technology, software, and tools needed to provide secure and appropriate access to different segments of the archive for the general public and individual users