ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 41. (ZAGREB, 1998.)

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J. Ivanović, Vrednovanje elektroničkih zapisa, Arh. vjesn., god. 41 (1998), str. 7-21 Summary APPRAISAL OF ELECTRONIC RECORDS First attempts to appraise machine-readable data have shown that traditional criteria developed for paper-based records cannot answer all questions raised by the appearance of electronic records. Machine-readable data were seen as a step in data processing between hard copy input and output, being an interim form of data, or having only informational value. It was suggested that appraisal of such data should concentrate on their information value and be applied on the level of individual data, rather than on the level of data aggregations in archival sense. Some additional criteria were proposed, such as readability and processibility of data, their portability and the existence of documentation about the data and their processing. Significant change has been made when the approach was adopted that electronic data can be archival records in the same way as the other kinds of recorded information, and should be appraised in the same way, on the base of common appraisal criteria. It is especially important in mixed environment where some records are in electronic form, the other in paper or some other traditional form. In electronic environment, it is not always easy to make clear distinction between records and other kinds of information that are not records. Therefore, if machine-readable data had to be appraised on the same basis as traditional records, first it was necessarily to identify them, i.e. to see what constitutes a record in electronic environment, and how records can be distinguished from non-records. This task can be difficult if the system used to produce and manage electronic information lacks the functionality of capturing records when they are created (the function of traditional registry systems), and if records are stored in and managed by the same system that is used for other kinds of information. The identification of records became a part of appraisal action. For some electronic data aggregates (complex relational databases, hypertext, geographic information systems etc.) there is no analogue paper-based form. Structure of these electronic systems, the way in which they are used to support business functions of the creator, and legal aspects that relate to the legal value and access to information, have a great impact on appraisal criteria and methodology. Functional appraisal is often supposed to be the most appropriate model for appraising electronic records. Instead on the taxonomy of values of individual records or series, appraisal decision is made on the basis of the functional context of record creation. This concept allows for the appraisal in the stage of the record system design, before any record is created, because the primary object of appraisal is the function and not records that are created or supposed to be created by subsequent us of 20