Sonderband 2. International Council on Archives. Dritte Europäische Archivkonferenz, Wien 11. bis 15. Mai 1993. Tagungsprotokolle (1996)

4. Session / Séance. Strategies for Links with Historical Research / Stratégies de Communication envers la Recherche historique - Gonzalez, Pedro: Data Bases and Long Distance Communication. A Spanish Éxperience / Bases de données et information a distance. Une expérience des archives espagnoles (english 319 - français 343)

4. Session/Séance: Gonzalez, Data Bases and long distance Communcation

of contract to be carried out, with conditions set down on the use of the information for research or other purposes, and the methods of payment for services (by time using the system, or number of pages transmitted, or quantity of information used, measured by the number of bytes). Safety conditions (keys and authorization for connection, call monitoring, the possibilities of encrypting the images for use only in connection with the system) will also have to be analyzed and the necessary computing tools developed.

7. Conclusion

A wealth of possibilities present themselves for the near future, possibilities where we can use the paths open in other areas of documentation, but in which the historical archives are presented with their specific features, and up till now in general with less preparation than that of a librarian or documenter. However, the disappearance of geographical and time barriers which is occurring in the world of documentation will also dictate the future of the Archives, the process of greatly increased access which began two centuries ago now.

The Spanish archives are optimistically open to this process and offer their small experience in the field, believing that with this they contribute decisively to more effective fulfilment of their basic objectives, and more than any other, that of disseminating information.

Annex 1

The Basic Infrastructure of Telecommunications

The various different public or private companies which manage communications in the different countries provide the basic infrastructure for any type of information transmission. The basic telephone networks (Switched Telephone Network) which exist in all these countries represent the most basic medium. These are generally completed with the networks specifically devoted to handling information exchange - the so-called Packet Switching Data Network (PSDN), which are both private and public: many countries have one or more public data transmission network, basically adhering to the standard X-25 of the CC1TT, as well as other standards for interconnecting different networks with each other, such as the X-75, or for access to the PSDN network through the RTC, and the X-28 or the X-32.

However, the possibilities of these networks are limited to the transmission of specific types of information or to reduced quantities of data (due to lack of cost- effectiveness their capacity and speed rule out sending high quality digital images of archive documents, for example).

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