Summit Dwells on Limits of Archive & Preservation of Materials: Prof David R Syiemlieh 

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: Historian Prof David R Syiemlieh has stressed the need to restrict the use of certain collections within the archive. Delivering the keynote address during a two-day North-East India Archive Summit at St. Anthony’s College here organized by the Department of Mass Media, Prof. Syiemlieh said that this was for the efficient management and preservation of such materials.

The historian also talked about the subjective conclusions stemming from future research that may or may not aid in the cultural construction and reconstruction of historical narratives. The two-day archive summit was attended by Yui Nakamura, Senior Programme Officer, Sasakawa Peace Foundation, Japan. She addressed the gathering about the role of her foundation in the setting up of the archive.

During the different sessions of the summit, the participants also expressed their various concerns regarding the digitization of archival material juxtaposed against the matter of information overload and cyber sabotage.

Questions pertaining to what constitute endangered records and documents that could be given the top priority status in the archive, were touched upon. Also discussed were the ethical, cultural and legal aspects of archiving, besides discussions were held on exploring the challenges of housing an archive with unique, rare and specialized material in the physical as well as digitized format of record keeping. The two-day summit ended with some salient matters of concern that the due to be launched Northeast archive could consider in its future course of action.

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