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Application of Evolutionary
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Motion Planning
Article in Journal of Information Technology Research · October 2010

DOI: 10.4018/jitr.2010100102 · Source: DBLP
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Journal of Information
Technology Research
July-September 2010, Vol. 3, No. 3
Table of Contents
Research Articles
1 Comparing the Effect of Use Case Format on End User Understanding of System
Requirements
Balsam A. Mustafa, Swinburne University of Technology - Sarawak, Malaysia

22 Application of Evolutionary Algorithms for Humanoid Robot Motion Planning
G. Capi, University of Toyama, Japan
K. Mitobe, Yamagata University, Japan
35 ERP Systems in Hospitals: A Case Study

Bernabé Escobar-Pérez, University of Seville, Spain
Tomás Escobar-Rodríguez, University of Huelva, Spain
Pedro Monge-Lozano, University of Huelva, Spain
51 The Four Paradigms of Archival History

Iván Székely, Open Society Archives at Central European University, Hungary
i
Guest Editorial Preface

Business Technology Strategy
Stephen J. Andriole, Villanova University, USA
Business technology strategies are necessary tional technology problem and is investing in
to optimize investments in technology on be- strategic technology opportunities.
half of the business. But the methods, tools Entel is an energy research company that’s
and techniques necessary to develop effective transforming itself to take greater advantage
strategies are fragmented. At the same time, of newer technologies – especially Web 2.0,
the need for cost-effective strategies has never content management and social media tech-
been greater: the current economic crisis nologies. The strategy identifies a set of steps
requires companies to acquire, deploy and that should be taken, steps that are assessed in
support technology carefully and strategically. terms of their risk. The value of this strategy
This special issue of the Journal of In- is its embedded SWOT (strength/weakness/
formation Technology Research describes opportunity/ threat) analysis of each recom-
an approach to the development of business mendation.
technology strategies; it also presents a set The next strategy is from a real estate and
of real strategies from companies across sev- mortgage brokerage company. The company
eral vertical industries. The special issue is needs to transform its approach to the acquisi-
practical yet grounded in strategic planning tion, deployment and support of technology,
methodology. especially how it sources technology. A
There are five papers in this special is- multi-year plan is developed that will take
sue. The first paper presents a set of business the company’s relationship with technology
technology strategy templates used to educate to the next level.
students about the components of business Finally, the energy industry is – like the
technology strategies and how strategies can real estate industry – in turmoil. Regional
be developed with “lite” or “heavy” templates. transmission organizations (RTOs) have to
The next paper presents the business manage the distribution of electric power reli-
technology strategy for a special chemicals ably and securely. EnDis distributes electricity
company – SpeChem. The lesson here is to a large geographic region. Its technology
that once computing and communications strategy reflects its emphasis on reliability,
infrastructure – operational technology – is security and agility.
organized and measured, companies can turn to All of the papers demonstrate the im-
strategic technology where impact is measured portance of aligning business strategy with
around customers, revenue, up-selling and technology strategy. They also represent
cross-selling. SpeChem “solved” the opera- diversity: they’re all from different vertical
ii
industries. Taken together, they demonstrate Stephen J. Andriole

and educate – and underscore the importance Guest Editor
of detailed business technology strategies. JITR
Stephen J. Andriole is the Thomas G. Labrecque Professor of Business Technology in Villanova

University’s School of Business (www.villanova.edu). He is also a Fellow in the Cutter Consor-
tium (www.cutter.com). He is the co-founder of The Acentio Group (www.acentio.com), a group
of business technology veterans that focus on optimizing investments in information technology.
He is formerly the Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of Safeguard Scientifics, Inc.
and the Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President for Technology Strategy at CIGNA
Corporation. His career began at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
where he was the Director of Cybernetics Technology.
Journal of Information Technology Research, 3(4), 1-21, October-December 2010 1
Comparing the Effect of

Use Case Format on End
User Understanding of
System Requirements
Balsam A. Mustafa, Swinburne University of Technology - Sarawak, Malaysia
Abstract
The effective analysis and specification of requirements is critical in software development. Faults in the re-
quirements may have significant impact on the quality of the software system. Use cases describe and analyze
requirements in many current Object Oriented (OO) development methodologies, and can serve as a means
for developers to communicate with different stakeholders. However, issues concerning use case format and
level of detail are unclear and debatable. This study uses theories from cognitive psychology on how humans
understand text and diagrams to investigate the effect of use case model format on end user understanding.
An experiment to assess the performance of novices when using different use case formats indicated that for
tasks that required only surface understanding of the use case model, the provision of diagrams along with
the textual use case descriptions significantly improved comprehension performance in both familiar and
unfamiliar application domains. However, the author found no statistically significant difference in perfor-
mance between simple and detailed diagrams, suggesting that the provision of simple diagrams along with
textual use case descriptions might be sufficient to support the negotiation and communication on system
requirements between novice end-users and system analysts.
Keywords: Cognitive Psychology, Laboratory Experiment, Requirements Analysis, UML, Use Case Model,
User Comprehension
1. Introduction specification should reflect an understanding

of a system, guide the subsequent design and
Numerous studies have indicated the importance programming phases, and serve as a basis for
of identifying correct, adequate and unambigu- all communications concerning the software
ous requirements for the success of software sys- system being developed (e.g., users should be
tems development (Lamsweerde, 2001; Vessay able to verify that their needs are answered and
& Conger, 1994; Yeo, 2002; Valenti et al., 1998). to plan acceptance tests”. Various methods and
Shemer (1983) stated that “ Requirements techniques have been developed for require-
ments specification and many research suggest
the need for empirical evidence of the ease of
DOI: 10.4018/jitr.2010100101
Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global
is prohibited.
2 Journal of Information Technology Research, 3(4), 1-21, October-December 2010
interpretation and understandability of these that clients were often involved in developing,
methods (Wand & Weber, 2002). reviewing and approving use case narratives and
The unified modeling language (UML) the use case diagram, and much more so than
is the modeling language for object oriented for other kinds of UML diagrams. They pointed
systems development. It is widely acknowl- out to the fact that how UML diagrams were
edged that UML has become the standard for used among non-experts remains unexplored.
modeling object oriented software systems Our objective in this paper is to demonstrate
since its adoption by the Object Management how using diagrams with the text description
Group (OMG) in 1997 (Kobryn, 2002). Use in a use case model can be studied by combin-
cases are the technique in the unified modeling ing theoretical considerations and empirical
language that is used to capture the functional methods. To accomplish this, we have chosen
requirements of software and validate them with to consider an intra-grammar comparison
the system users in the early phases of system (Wand & Weber, 2002) of three informationally
development. Use case models serve as basis equivalent formats of Use Case model. In one
for deriving other UML conceptual models. format, a text description is used. In the other
Thus, it is important to ensure the quality of two formats, text with diagrams of different
these models. Little empirical research is found levels of detail is used. In this study, we use
on how we can make the best use of use case cognitive considerations to suggest why there
modeling (Dobing & Parsons, 2006). are differences in users’ understanding when
In order to make full use of these, estab- presented different formats of use case model.
lishment of communication and understanding The other objective is to explore whether a
between the system developers and the novice simple diagram may be more understandable
users is of paramount significance. This points to than detailed one for novice users. There is one
the need to investigate how the current formats independent variable with three levels, corre-
of use case models assist user’s understanding sponding to three different formats of use case
of system requirements. model used in this study. The dependent variable
There was a variety of formats for use is the performance (in terms of effectiveness and
cases (Schneider & Winter, 2001; Cockburn, efficiency) of subjects performing comprehen-
2001; Constantine & Lockwood, 2000). Some sion and verification tasks using the models.
researchers used use case narratives (either To explain why differences in performance
structured or unstructured text) while others might exist, we use the Cognitive Load theory
used diagrams with the text. The use case dia- (Sweller, 1988), and the Multimedia Learning
gram does not show the step by step interactions theory (Mayer, 2001).
within use cases, but it provides an overview Our first hypothesis is that when there are
of the use cases and the relationships between two alternative representations of the require-
them. Little attention has been paid to the ments (e.g., a text and a diagram) combined in
role of use case diagrams in supporting user one model, the model viewer can use both types
understanding when accompanying the text. of presentation to improve his/her understand-
Although the effect of pictures on facilitating ing. The second hypothesis is that using simple
text comprehension is well known in literature, diagrams with the text may improve the com-
few empirical work has been undertaken to prehension and verification task performance
investigate the cognitive processes underly- of novice users more than a detailed diagram
ing the understanding of use case models. In do. The remainder of this paper is organized
a survey on UML current usage, Dobing and as follows. Section 2 provides a brief descrip-
Parsons (2005) found that use case narratives tion of the use case models. Section 3 presents
had the highest score for verifying and validat- related work on the empirical evaluation of
ing requirements with client representatives UML diagrams comprehension and specifically
on the project team. Their results also showed with regard to use cases. Section 4 provides a
is prohibited.
discussion of cognitive theories that suggest why lationships between use cases and actors who
different formats of use case model might affect trigger them. The relationships used in the
task performance and proposes hypotheses. An diagram are <<include>>, <<extend>>, and
experiment to test these hypotheses is described <<generalization>>. These associations could
in Section 5 and results are presented in Section be mandatory relationship where the included
6. Section 7 discusses the threats to the validity use case is part of the behavior of the base use
of the study. Section 8 concludes this report. case and it serves reusable when finding similar-
ity between use cases. They could be optional
when it is desirable to extend a use case without
2. UML and use changing its original description (Fowler, 1997).
case models Generalization is used when finding similari-
ties in the behavior of the actors or use cases.
The UML advocates claim that users quickly
Thus, one use case or actor would be a special
recognize the advantages of a common modeling
case inherent in the behavior of the parent
language that can be used to visualize, construct
use case or actor and may add to it. However,
and document the artifacts of a software system
some researchers (Schneider & Winters, 2001)
(Booch et al., 1999) and argue that UML uses
argue that these techniques are really of interest
simple, intuitive notations that are understand-
to development staff, not end users. Figure 1
able by non programmers (Kobryn, 1999).
shows an example of UML use case diagram,
On the other hand, some researchers (Siau &
which is also part of the experimental materials
Cao, 2001; Siau et al., 2005; Dobing & Parson,
described in Section 5.
2006) consider UML complicated as it has large
number of diagrams (9 in UML1.2). The Class
diagram, the object diagram, the component 3. Related Research in
diagram, and the deployment diagram represent UML
the static view of the system, while the state
chart diagram, the use case diagram, the activity UML is a large and complex language with
diagram, the sequence diagram, and the collabo- more than 150 constructs (Dori, 2002) which
ration diagram depict the dynamic view of the render it difficult to understand. Empirical
system. Each diagram shows different aspect of research have been undertaken to investigate
the system, and is by itself insufficient (Siau & the comprehension of UML diagrams. Siau and
Cao, 2001). However, the sequence diagram and Lee (2004) used verbal protocol technique in
the collaboration diagram were found redundant an experiment to investigate whether use case
as they represent the same behavior in different diagrams and class diagrams complement each
arrangements (Batra & Satzinger, 2006). Use other in requirement analysis. Their findings
case model is an important part in the UML. Use showed that use case diagrams are easier to
cases are intended to aid the analyst to identify interpret than class diagrams. Satron et al.
and describe the functional requirements for the (2006) used a set of controlled experiments to
proposed system. As defined by Malan (2001), a evaluate the role of stereotypes on improving
use case “describes the sequence of interactions comprehension of class diagram and collabo-
between an actor and the system necessary to ration diagram. They found that stereotypes
deliver the service that satisfies the goal of the significantly supported the comprehension of
actor”. Use case narratives include specifica- both students and industry professionals. Lange
tion of use cases, actors and the relationships and Chaudron (2006) developed two controlled
between them. experiments to investigate the extent to which
A UML use case diagram is a graphical implementers detect defects in UML models
representation of system use cases. Use case (sequence, use case, and class diagram) used
diagrams show use cases names, actors, re- as basis for implementation and maintenance,
is prohibited.
Figure 1. Use case diagram (ATM)
and the effect of defects on the models inter- Burton- Jones and Meso (2008) focused on
pretation. The results showed that defects often conceptual diagrams and developed protocol
remain undetected and cause misinterpretation. study and an experiment to explain the effect of
Manso et al. (2009) used a set of five controlled decomposing and accompanying the diagrams
experiments to explore the relationship between by additional information in an alternative form
the structural complexity and size of class on user understanding of the domain. They
diagrams and their cognitive complexity and found positive effect of good decomposition
comprehensibility. They found strong correla- and multiple form of information on domain
tion between the associations and cognitive understanding. They used elements of class,
complexity which affects comprehensibility of use case, and state transition diagrams. Anda
the models. Cruz Lemus et al. (2007) presented et al. (2001) conducted an experiment where
three experiments to investigate the effect of three sets of guidelines to construct and docu-
using composite states on the understandability ment use cases were examined. The results of
of state chart diagrams. The results showed no the experiment indicate that use case models
effect of the composite states on improving the constructed with the support of guidelines
understandability of simple state chart diagrams. based on templates are easier to understand than
is prohibited.
those supported by guidelines without specific multimedia as presenting both words (spoken or
details on how to document each use case. The printed text) and pictures (illustrations, photos,
literature review described here considers the animations). Mayer assumes that verbal and
comprehension as the primary concern in the pictorial explanations are separately processed
context of UML modeling, this study tries to in verbal and pictorial stores in working memory
compare different formats of use case models (Figure 2) and explains that the construction of
and looks at how the detail in use case diagrams different mental models in different channels
affects the viewer’s understanding. of working memory may reduce the cognitive
load on working memory, freeing up more
resources in working memory to process new
4. Cognitive information so active learning could take place.
Considerations Mayer focuses on active learning or “meaning-
and Hypotheses ful learning” that supports problem-solving.
Meaningful learning, according to Mayer, oc-
This section provides a discussion of cognitive
curs when learners engage in active cognitive
theories that suggest why different formats of
processing. This includes paying attention to
use case model might affect task performance.
the related words and pictures coming from
Based on these theories, we propose two re-
external sources, organizing them mentally into
search questions and related hypotheses, which
coherent verbal and pictorial representations,
in turn are refined and made operational in the
and mentally integrating verbal and pictorial
experiment design described in Section 5.
representations with each other and with prior
4.1 Dual Coding Theory knowledge stored in long term memory. Prior
and Multimedia knowledge is organized in schemas which have
been constructed as a result of experience over
Learning from multiple external presentations time and stored in long term memory. Schemas
is a wide area of research. Schnotze and Ban- are the cognitive structures that make up an
nert (2003) point out that the main findings of individual’s knowledge base (Sweller et al.,
research in this area are that text information 1998). They argue that these Schemata can
is remembered better when it is illustrated organize information that needs to be processed
by pictures than that without any illustration. in limited capacity working memory, thus
They explain this effect with the Paivio’s dual reducing the load on working memory which
coding theory (Paivio, 1986). This theory makes it unlimited. Mayer (1989) also notices
states that verbal material and pictorial mate- that there is a growing research base showing
rial are processed in two different channels in that well designed multimedia presentations
human memory. Consequently, learning from help students learn more deeply than traditional
text with pictures leads to better recall for the text only instructions. Mayer’s focus was on
learned information and to better performance improving performance on tests of problem-
in knowledge acquisition, as Winn (1990) ex- solving transfer that require deep understanding
plains information is encoded twice verbally of the problem domain.
(text) and spatially (picture), which make it Bearing in mind the above theories, the
easier to retrieve. Richard Mayer has extended following research question is established for
the dual coding theory in order to explain the this study.
effect of pictures with text (multimedia) on
the understanding of technical or physical Research Question 1:Does the format of use
phenomena, especially for individuals with case model influence the understanding
low prior knowledge of the phenomena, who and the patterns of performance, when
need pictorial support in constructing mental individuals have to solve tasks on the basis
models (Mayer & Moreno, 2002). He defined of their previously acquired knowledge?
is prohibited.
Figure 2. A cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer & Moreno, 2002)
And which use case, text only or text in the form of schemas which are treated as a
accompanied with diagram better sup- single element in working memory and vary in
port user understanding of the domain the degree of complexity and automation (Van
requirements? Merrienboer & Sweller 2005; Pass et al., 2004;
Kalyuga et al., 1997). If schemas repeatedly
Based on the above theories, we hypoth- applied they become automated and processed
esize that using a diagram to accompany the text automatically rather than consciously in work-
descriptions in a use case model may improve ing memory, thus, reducing working memory
viewers understanding of the functions provided load. Human expertise come from knowledge
by the proposed software. Two representations stored in these schemata, and the difference
may help the viewer integrating the two sources between an expert and a novice is that a novice
to improve his/her understanding of the domain. hasn’t acquired the schemas of an expert (Van
Merrienboer & Swellerm, 2005; Kalyuga &
Hypothesis 1: Individuals who receive a use Sweller, 2005). The theory is concerned with
case model consisting of both diagrams improving the learning process by encouraging
and text may develop a higher level of learners to construct new schemas and automate
understanding of the system requirements them. According to the CLT, working memory
faster than individuals who receive a use load may be affected by two sources of cogni-
case model consisting text only. tive load, intrinsic and extraneous. The intrinsic
cognitive load (ICL) is imposed by the number
of information elements and their interactivity.
4.2 Cognitive Load Theory (CLT)
The difficulty in learning appears when there is
This theory was first developed by John Sweller large number of elements that interact with each
in 1980. The main concepts of the CLT are that other within the material and to learn they must
human cognitive architecture consists of a work- be processed simultaneously. This load cannot
ing memory (short term memory) which has a be altered by instructional manipulation and it
limited storage and process of novel informa- is not possible to avoid it with very complex,
tion. It can process only about seven elements high interactive element tasks (Paas et al., 2004;
at a time (Miller, 1956). This working memory Sweller & Chandler, 1994; Sweller et al., 1998).
becomes unlimited in capacity when dealing Extraneous cognitive load (ECL) is the
with familiar information brought from long load imposed by instructional procedures and
term memory (Figure 3). Long term memory is not necessary for learning, e.g. for the process
holds unlimited number of elements organized of schema construction and automation. It is
is prohibited.
Figure 3. An information processing model (Mayer, 1989)
under the control of the instructional designer this would hinder their understanding. We
and can be reduced by instructional manipula- hypothesize, therefore, that a simple diagram
tion. Extraneous cognitive load is primarily will support their understanding more than a
important when intrinsic cognitive load is high. detailed diagram:
It must be lowered to keep the total cognitive
load within the memory limits because the two Hypothesis 2: Novice users who receive a use
forms of cognitive load are additive (Van Mer- case model consisting of text and a simple
rienboer & Sweller, 2005). diagram accompanying the text may de-
Based on CLT, the following research velop a higher level of understanding of
question which explores a totally new area is the system requirements faster than those
set up for this study. who receive a use case model consisting
of text and a detailed diagram.
Research Question 2:How does the degree
of detail in a UML diagram that accom- 5. Method
panies text in a use case model affect
end user comprehension of the domain To answer the research questions, an empirical
requirements? study was conducted in the laboratories of the
Faculty of Computer Science and Information
The UML use case diagram consists of Systems in the University of Technology (Ma-
many elements as use cases, actors, advanced laysia). Participants were required to complete
relationships which are highly interactive. When two tasks using computer based tests. To assure
novices with little experience in modeling are internal validity, the three models used were
exposed to such material at once, it imposes assumed to be informationally equivalent
a high, intrinsic cognitive load because many with respect to the dependent variables, as it
elements must be processed in working memory was possible to answer the test questions with
simultaneously to be understood. As it is found any of the three representation formats used as
that the intrinsic cognitive load of the material treatments (Parsons & Cole, 2005). Although
is fixed if immediate understanding is the goal the three models include the required informa-
of the task (Pollock et al., 2002), the only way tion for answering questions about the domain
to ease understanding is to develop cognitive requirements they can nevertheless differ in
schemata that incorporate the interacting ele- their usefulness.
ments. Because novices lack these schemata,
is prohibited.
A pilot test was conducted before the ex- and adapted by Gemino and Wand (2005) for the
periment to validate the experimental materials information systems research. For the product
and procedures. Six Master students from the of understanding, which is the main focus in
Faculty of Computer Science and Informa- this study, we distinguish between two levels:
tion systems in the University of Technology
Malaysia participated in this pilot study, which (1) Surface understanding, which reflects the
revealed some discrepancies in the materials understanding of the domain elements and
and thus the procedures and the materials of functions.
the experiment were improved. (2) Deep understanding, which concerns the
understanding of the actual relationships
5.1 Experiment Design among elements and how to apply the
understanding in problem solving.
A 3x2 factorial between-subject, randomized
design is used in this experiment.
We used a comprehension test to assess
surface understanding and a verification test to
• Independent variable: The first factor
assess deep understanding. According to Kim
was the use case representation method
and March (1995), comprehension performance
with three levels:
reflects syntactic understanding, the person’s
(1) Text only use case model
competence in understanding the constructs
(2) Text with simple diagram use case
of the modeling formalism, while verification
model
performance reflects semantic understanding,
(3) Text with detailed diagram use case
the person’s ability to apply that understanding.
model.
Our comprehension test consisted of 12 multiple
choice questions that tested the comprehension
The other factor had two levels correspond- of explicit system functionality as depicted by
ing to the two cases adapted from two separate the use case model. The verification test was
sources: simulation of an automatic teller ma- done by providing the participants with a model
chine (ATM) (Charbonneau, 2003) and home having mixed inconsistencies of elements and
security system (HSS) (Anderson & Polanski, functions and asked them to identify any fault
2001). The use of two cases was to broaden the in the model based on their knowledge of the
external validity of the comparison between the system requirements gained from the compre-
use case model formats. hension task, and to explain why they think it
is incorrect.
• Dependent variable: was the level of user In defining measures of understanding, we
understanding of the use case model being therefore distinguish between:
presented in the treatments.
• Comprehension performance: the abil-
In this study, we consider the process and ity to answer questions about a use case
product of understanding. The process refers to model (12 multiple choice questions)
the activities a user engages in to understand the (Appendix C).
domain. One aspect of this process will measure • Verification performance: the ability to
the user’s ease of understanding the domain identify inconsistencies between a use
(Gemino & Wand, 2005; Burton-Jones & Meso, case model and user understanding of the
2006). Therefore, a post-test was conducted for domain requirements (8 inconsistencies)
measuring the perceived ease of understanding
by using the ease of use scale of Moore and Previous study of Bodart et al. (2001)
Benbasat (1991). This scale was originally de- measured the time taken to complete the tasks
veloped in the context of Technology acceptance
is prohibited.
as an indication of the degree of difficulty en- model may develop higher level of
countered. Thus, time taken to complete each understanding of the system require-
of the two experimental tasks (comprehension ments faster than individuals who
and verification) was measured. Participants received a text with detailed diagram
were aware that tasks were being timed but model.
no time limit was placed on them. The time to
complete the task was collected automatically Predictions:
by the computerized test application.
We also distinguish between two dimen-
sions of performance: • Comprehension Performance
H2A: Participants using text with simple
Effectiveness: as reflected by the number of diagram model will perform the com-
total correct answers to the comprehen- prehension task more accurately than
sion and verification tasks, respectively. those using text with detailed diagram.
Efficiency: as reflected by the time taken to H2B: Participants using text with simple
perform the comprehension and verifica- diagram model will perform the com-
tion tasks, respectively, which represents prehension task faster than those using
the effort exerted in completing the tasks. text with detailed diagram.
Hypothesis 1: Individuals who receive a use • Verification performance
case model consisting of both diagrams H2C: Participants using text with simple
and text may develop a higher level of diagram model will perform the
understanding of the system requirements verification task more accurately than
faster than individuals who receive a use those using text with detailed diagram.
case model consisting text only. H2D: Participants using text with simple
diagram model will perform the veri-
Predictions: fication task faster than those using
text with detailed diagram.
• Comprehension Performance • Control Variables

H1A: Participants using text with diagram
model will perform the comprehen- Data were collected during the experiment to
sion task more accurately than those create scale variables that are used as covariates
using text only. in the MANCOVA analysis. This includes any
H1B: Participants using text with diagram factors that may confound the results and affect
model will perform the comprehension the internal validity of the experiment. In this
task faster than those using text only. study, two factors were considered, the level of
• Verification performance experience with modeling methods and the level
H1C: Participants using text with diagram of knowledge of the modeled domains. The main
model will perform the verification reason to measure the prior knowledge was to
task more accurately than those using ensure that there were no significant differences
text only. among three groups of our subjects. A pre-test
H1D: Participants using text with diagram was used to collect information on participant’s
model will perform the verification familiarity, confidence, and competence with
task faster than those using text only. the modeling techniques, as well as their per-
Hypothesis 2: Individuals who received a ceived knowledge of the two domains used in
text with simple diagram Use Case the study (Appendix A).
is prohibited.
5.2 Participants (text, text combined with a simple diagram,

or text combined with a detailed diagram) and
Participants were 84 undergraduate students completed two tasks in the following order:
(49 female and 35 male), drawn from the Fac- comprehension task, verification task. Figure 1
ulty of Computer Science at the University of shows one of the detailed diagrams used in this
Technology in Malaysia, who had completed experiment. It includes main use cases, include
a course of software engineering of which use and extend relationships to finer-granularity use
case technique was taught for about two hours. cases for the ATM case. The relative textual
The experiment was administered at least one description is provided in Appendix B. Half
year after finishing that course for all students. of the subjects started with case1 (ATM) and
It is claimed in studies (Kalyuga et al., 1998) then continued with case2 (HSS), the other half
that although learned conventions of diagrams is counter balanced to control for any learning
are clearly critical for understanding and using between the two domains. To ensure internal
schematic diagrams, expertise in using these validity of the experiment, first, subjects read
diagrams in scientific material is not gained by the correct use case models and completed the
only learning their conventions. Rather, domain- multiple choice comprehension questions on
specific knowledge within the area of applica- the computer, with the models available (see
tion is required as well. This sample contains Appendix C for the ATM case). This serves
individuals without high level of knowledge in to assure that the subjects scanned the whole
both the domains under study and the use case models and understood the domain, so they
modeling technique which might confound the would be ready to apply this understanding. The
results. Thus, they represent a group of novices models were removed after the comprehension
or end users, thus, increasing the validity of test of each case. The subjects then started the
this research. Subjects were randomly assigned verification test with the correct models away to
to three groups of 28 persons corresponding ensure that the information available to the par-
to three experimental conditions (text with ticipant is the cognitive model developed earlier
simple diagram, text with detailed diagram, by viewing the original, correct model. For the
text only). The experiment was conducted in a second test, participants received a new model
large computer lab in the same university and that contained eight inconsistencies, and asked
monitored to assure individuals completed the to identify any inconsistency in the model on
tests independently. the computer. A post-test was provided after the
verification task of the second case to measure
5.3 Materials and Procedure the perceived ease of interpretation associated
with the method (Appendix D).
The paper material which includes the use
case models of two cases, instructions for
computerized tests, pre and post tests were 6. Analysis and Results
provided to participants in closed envelops.
Subjects began by registering and filling the A priori analysis was conducted to determine
pre-test form manually (Appendix A). Then, the effect size (η2 >.06), power = .8, alpha level
they rate their experience, familiarity with use (α = .05), total number (N) of subjects needed
case modeling and their knowledge of the two (Cohen 1988). The statistical method used to
case domains. Each subject then completed analyze the data in this study was multivariate
two cases, an automatic teller machine (ATM) analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The data
(Charbonneau, 2003), and a Home security collected for all dependent variables in each case
system (HSS) (Anderson & Polanski, 2001) was analyzed separately. Figure 4 shows a pre-
in computerized tests. For each case, subjects liminary descriptive statistics of all dependent
received one format of the use case model variables in the study (ATM and HSS). The data
is prohibited.
for the two covariates used in the analysis: (1) (Figure 6). In both cases the covariates did not
Knowledge of use case model (KMETHOD) affect the dependent scores significantly, sug-
and (2) domain knowledge (KDOMAIN for gesting that prior experience with modeling
the two cases) were collected in the pre-test. method and prior domain knowledge had no
Participants were asked if they have used the significant effect on the results of the experi-
method and how long they have been familiar ment. Thus, the control variables were ex-
with the method. Then they were asked to cluded from the final analysis. High values of
rate their competence and confidence with the Eta squared η2 were observed (η2 >.171) in
method on a 5-point scale from (very low, 1) Figure 6 indicating large treatment effect sizes
to (very high, 5). To assess the participant’s according to Cohen’s definition of effect size
knowledge of the domains, they were asked to (Cohen, 1988).
rate their level of familiarity with “Automatic Pairwise comparisons followed the
Teller Machine” and “Home Security System” MANOVA analysis to determine to which DV
case on a 5-point scale from (never, 1) to (very the observed difference between the three treat-
frequently, 5) for the (ATM) case, and from ments could be attributed. Results of Pairwise
(very low, 1) to (very high, 5) for the (HSS) comparisons are provided in Figure 7. For the
case. An ANOVA (Figure 5) was conducted comprehension task, Figure 7 shows that the
to compare the level of the two scales across groups that received a text with diagram use
the three treatments. The results showed no case model (simple or detailed) scored signifi-
significant differences between the participants cantly higher than the text only group in both
on these covariates, which may indicate that the cases (ATM&HSS) and took less time to solve
randomization was successful. the multiple choice questions than did the text
The post-test was used to collect perceived only group for both cases. These results support
ease of use or interpretation of the models. both hypotheses H1A& H1B and suggest
Participants using the text with diagram model people viewing models created with text ac-
rated their perceived ease of use on a 5-point companied with diagram gain higher level of
scale slightly higher than participants using the comprehension of system requirements than
text only model (Figure 5), but this difference participants viewing a model with text descrip-
was not statistically significant. The control tion only, which might indicate that the diagram
variables were initially added in the MAN- has aided people to understand, and that two
COVA analysis done by the SPSS package representations are better than one.
Figure 4. Descriptive statistics for dependent variables of both cases (ATM & HSS)
is prohibited.
Figure 5. ANOVA results of control variables and ease of use scale
Figure 6. MANCOVA analysis of both cases (ATM&HSS)
For the verification task, the results in cies between the presented model and what
Figure 7 for hypotheses H1C and H1D did not the participants understood after scanning the
show significant differences between the text original model that show the correct system
with diagram and text only groups with respect functionality. Complex tasks usually require
to deep understanding. Thus, there is insufficient more background knowledge in both the domain
support for hypotheses H1C and H1D. under study and the method used to model the
The same results in both cases might domain, to be accomplished. As mentioned in
indicate higher complexity of the verification Section 4.1, prior knowledge is determined
task, which demand finding any inconsisten- by the extent of schema acquisition, as well
is prohibited.
Figure 7. Pairwise comparisons between the treatment groups
as the degree to which these schemas contain extra effort in our case. Judging from the effect
specific information on domain typical problem sizes, both text with simple and text with detailed
solutions. These results are consistent with the diagram provide more or less the same (and
outcome of Tables 2 and 3, which suggests statistically significant) benefits over text only
consistently low level domain and modeling use case models. There might be many explana-
method knowledge among the participants, tions for these results, but it is possible that the
and might explain why there were small and manipulation of the difference between the two
not statistically significant differences in their types of diagrams in the models was not strong
performance in the (deep understanding) enough, or that the effects are moderated by the
verification task. For hypotheses H2A, H2B, prior knowledge of the participants.
H2C and H2D, we expected that subjects who
received a text with simple diagram use case
model would have higher 7. Threats to Validity
comprehension and verification task per-
The better scores of correct answers with less
formance than individuals who received a text
time taken to answer them observed in the
with detailed diagram. The results in Figure
comprehension test could not be attributed
7 show no statistically significant differences
to difference in the material content or to the
in performance between simple and detailed
characteristics of the participants in the three
diagrams groups and there is thus insufficient
groups. The similar results observed across
support for hypotheses H2A, H2B, H2C and
two cases support the internal validity of the
H2D. However, given the small effect sizes
results. Participants’ apprehension effect which
compared with the effect of providing diagrams
may threat the internal validity was minimized
versus text only (H1A and H1B), there is not
by reducing the interaction between the re-
much evidence to suggest that the provision
searcher and the participants and eliminating
of more detailed diagrams would be worth the
the interaction between participants. The order
is prohibited.
of presenting the cases was alternated to reduce validated in information systems research as
any possible order bias. “valid” measures of experience.
To reduce the threats to statistical conclu- Regarding the external validity, this study
sions validity, the experimental design contrib- uses relatively small cases to enable students
uted in minimizing the impact of violations in the to complete the required tasks in a time rea-
assumptions underlying statistical procedures sonable for the study. We can not claim that
by utilizing a balanced, independent, random- the results could be extended to real world
ized design, with equal group’s sizes. Meeting problems. However, this does not discount the
the mathematical assumptions underlying the differences observed, but might limit the exten-
MANOVA analysis is necessary before making sion of the results to more complex domains.
inferences from the experiment results. Normal The strong emphasis in this study on existing
distribution for each dependent variable in each theories that support our hypotheses partially
group separately was verified using graphical counters this threat. In regard to our subject’s
and non graphical tests. Other tests to ensure no sample, as mentioned in Section 5.2, we con-
violation of the MANONA assumptions were sider undergraduate students to be appropriate
also done including check of homogenous co- representatives of “novice users”, which was
variance matrices (Box’s M), (Levene’s test) of our target population.
homogeneity of Covariance and (Bartlett-Box)
homogeneity of variance which are produced au-
tomatically in the MANOVA procedure with the 8. Conclusion
statistical program for Social Sciences (SPSS).
This paper focused on studying the usefulness
Normality tests included: Wilks-Shapiro,
of different representations of use cases in
Skewness & Kurtosis, Kolmogorov- Simirnov
communicating requirements between software
test, Histogram, and Q-Q plot. From this analysis
developers and novice users, by combining
we concluded that the
theoretical considerations and a controlled
dependent variables in the study are not
experiment. The objective of this study was
significantly different from normal.
both to evaluate alternative formats of use case
As common in most software engineering
models, to determine which format performs
experiments, there are some important threats
better with respect to individual’s performance
to construct validity. The focus of this study
differences, and to understand why these differ-
was to investigate the product of understanding
ences occur. To explain “why” requires theory of
which is the cognitive model that an individual
how the characteristics of a modeling technique
has developed as a result of viewing the diagram
affect the understanding of individuals viewing
or description. Since the product is cognitive,
the model. We adopted cognitive theories of
it cannot be adequately observed directly. For
learning from diagram and text, and complex
this reason, participants are asked a set of
information processing to explain why the
performance tests, to obtain a picture of the
differences between different formats of use
product that each participant has developed
case models can have impact in the actual use
cognitively. The extent to which the dependent
of models. We observed that evaluation of use
variables from these tests reflect the cognitive
case models understandability can be based on
processes (shallow and deep understanding) in
cognitive theories to provide predictions on pos-
individuals with different experiences, cognitive
sible differences and how to test them. The lack
abilities, and levels of motivation is unknown.
of theory to drive empirical tests of conceptual
Furthermore, our moderator variables of prior
modeling methods has long been noted as a dif-
knowledge of domain and the modeling method
ficulty in advancing research in this area. This
are quite subjective and have not been formally
study is unique in two aspects. Firstly, it made
is prohibited.
comparison between the comprehensibility of References

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Balsam A. Mustafa is a lecturer of Business Information Systems in the school of Engineering,

Computing, and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak campus, Malaysia.
She holds a MSc in Computer-Based Information Systems from Sunderland University in UK
and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Technology in Malaysia. Her research
interests include systems usability, empirical software engineering, requirements analysis and
understanding the cognitive aspects that influence analysis and design methods.
is prohibited.
is prohibited.
Appendix A
A.1 Pre- test questions (knowledge of method)
• Prior use of analysis methods.
Have you ever used Use Cases to model a business

organization? Y/N
• Familiarity with analysis methods.
For how many months have you been familiar with

Use Case Models?( )\
Competence with Use Case models (Text/Diagram)

Very weak Weak Average Good Very good
Confidence in Use Case models (Text/ Diagram)
Very Low Low Average High Very high

A.2 Pre-test questions (knowledge of domain- ATM)
Please indicate your level of knowledge of the following businesses:
Using Automated Teller Machine (ATM)
Never Occasionally Sometimes Frequently Very frequently
Please indicate which of the activities listed below you have done: (circle Y/N as appropriate)
Withdraw cash Y/N

Deposit Funds Y/N
Transfer money between accounts Y/N
Pay Bills Y/N
Print balance statement Y/N
Appendix B
A simulation of an Automated Teller Machine(ATM)

“ Withdraw Cash” Use Case
(“A customer withdraws cash from the ATM system”)
Primary Actor: Customer

Goal in Context: The ATM enables authorized customer to successfully withdraw money from
his/her account
Scope: ATM system
Stakeholders and Interests:
Customer – wants to withdraw cash money
Bank – maintains customers information
is prohibited.
Precondition:
The ATM is in service

The customer have been successfully identified and
authenticated
The customer has at least one active account
Success Guarantees: Customer determined amount of funds successfully withdrawn

Trigger: Customer inserts card
Main Success Scenario:
1. This use case starts when the system authenticates the user by entering his/her card through
the card reader slot and then asks the user to enter his/her PIN.
2. The system prompts the customer to select one of the following transactions
◦◦ Withdraw Cash
◦◦ Deposit cash/check
◦◦ Transfer Funds
◦◦ Pay Bills
◦◦ Print Statement
3. The customer selects the withdraw cash option
4. The system prompts the customer to select one of the following accounts
◦◦ Checking Account
◦◦ Savings Account
◦◦ Credit Margin Account
5. The customer selects an account
6. The system prompts the customer to enter an amount
7. The customer enters an amount and notifies the bank
8. The system verifies that the customer has sufficient funds to satisfy the request
9. The system ensures that the request amount does not exceed the ATM daily withdrawal
maximum
10. The system notifies the customer if he/she wants to perform another transaction
11. The customer selects not to perform another transaction
12. The system returns the card to the customer
13. the customer takes the card
14. The system dispenses cash to the customer
15. The customer takes cash
16. The system prints a receipt
17. The customer takes the receipt
18. The Use Case ends
Extensions:
1a. Card can not be read due to improper insertion or damaged strip: card ejected and use case
terminate in failure.
is prohibited.
1b. More than two invalid PIN entries: session is aborted, card is retained, and use case termi-
nates in failure
8a. Insufficient funds -There is not enough money in the customer account to provide the cus-
tomer with the requested amount: Customer is informed and asked to enter a different
amount. Use Case continues.
◦◦ ATM system Balance Too Low – There is not enough money in the ATM system to
provide the customer with the requested amount: Use Case terminates into failure.
◦◦ Special Requirement 1: Currency – The system shall provide cash only in US Currency.
◦◦ Special Requirements 2: Currency Unit – The system shall provide cash amount in
multiple of 20 Dollar bills.
Post condition: The amount withdrawn by the customer is subtracted from the customer ac-
count balance
Appendix C
Example of the multiple choice questions of the ATM case (Comprehension test)
A bank customer can make the following transactions
• Withdraw cash, deposit funds, pay bills, print balance statement, and print receipt
• Withdraw cash, deposit check, transfer money, balance inquiry, start and stop ATM service
• Withdraw and deposit cash, transfer money and print balance statement
• Withdraw cash, deposit cash/check, transfer funds, pay bills, and print balance statement
Appendix D
Post- test questions (ease of interpretation)
1. I believe that it was easy for me to understand what the
Use Case model was trying to model 1-5
2. Overall, I believe that the Use Case model was easy to
use 1-5
3. Learning how to read the Use Case model was easy
for me 1-5
4. Using the Use Case model was often frustrating 1-5
is prohibited.
Application of Evolutionary
Algorithms for Humanoid
Robot Motion Planning
G. Capi, University of Toyama, Japan
K. Mitobe, Yamagata University, Japan
Abstract
In this article, the authors present a new method for humanoid robot motion planning, satisfying multiple
objectives. In this method, the multiple objectives humanoid robot motion is formulated as a multiobjective
optimization problem, considering each objective as a separate fitness function. Three different objectives
are considered: (1) minimum energy consumption; (2) stability; and (3) walking speed. The advantage of
the proposed method is that, in a single run of multiobjective evolution, generated humanoid robot motions
satisfy each objective separately or multiple objectives simultaneously. Therefore, the humanoid robot can
switch between different gaits based on environmental conditions. The results show that humanoid robot
gaits generated by multiobjective evolution are similar to that of humans. To further verify the performance
of optimal motions, they are transferred to the “Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Evolutionary Algorithm, Humanoid Robot, Motion Planning,

Multiobjective Evolution
1. INTRODUCTION is generated such as the real ZMP trajectory

follows the prescribed one (Vokobratovic &
The problem of gait planning for humanoid Borovac, 2004; Vokobratovic et al., 1990). There
robots is fundamentally different from the path are also other methods, which considered natural
planning for traditional fixed-base manipulator optimal performance, like energy consumption,
arms due to the inherent characteristics of legged to generate humanoid robot motion (Chanon et
locomotion. Up to now several approaches have al., 1996; Roussel et al., 1998). In our previous
been proposed to address this problem. The works, we considered energy consumption and
majority of humanoid robot control policies are torque change as criteria for humanoid robot
built around the notion of controlling the Zero gait generation (Capi et al., 2001, 2003). In
Moment Point (ZMP). The ZMP trajectory is another approach (Capi & Yokota, 2007), we
pre-described and the humanoid robot motion applied multiobjective evolution to evolve the
humanoid robot gait that satisfied two conflict-
ing objectives. In all previous works, the main
DOI: 10.4018/jitr.2010100102
is prohibited.
objective was to generate an optimal stable In order to further investigate the perfor-
human like walking motion. mance of humanoid robot motions generated
However, humans and humanoid robots by MOEA they have been implemented on
must generally carefully adapt their gaits de- “Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot. Despite some
pending on environment conditions: whether the restriction due to the hardware specifications,
ground is even or uneven, slippery or sticky, soft the robot motion satisfied the objectives.
or hard, horizontal or with a slope (Kagami et The outline of this chapter is as follows.
al., 2003; Kuffner, 2000). As the environment In Section 2, the humanoid robot model,
changes, the humanoid robot has to switch to motion objectives and optimized variables
the appropriate gait that satisfy a specific objec- are discussed. The multiobjective evolution
tive or different objectives, simultaneously. For algorithm is presented in Section 3. Section
example, in slippery or uneven environments the 4 presents series of experiments carried by
robot has to increase the stability by restricting simulation and with real robot system. Finally,
the ZMP in a narrow region. In even terrains we conclude and discuss some future work in
it will be advantage if the robot walk fast or Section 5.
operates for a long time by reducing the energy
consumption. In addition, there are situations
where multiple objectives have to be satisfied. 2. HUMANOID ROBOT
In order to cope with a wide range of environ- MOTION OBJECTIVES
ments in real time, various types of sensors
2.1 Biped Robot Model
will be necessary.
This article presents a novel approach for During motion, the arms of the humanoid
multiple objectives humanoid robot gait gen- robot will be fixed on the chest. Therefore, it
eration based on multiobjective evolutionary can be considered as a five-link biped robot in
algorithms (MOEAs) (Coello et al., 2002; Deb, the sagittal plane, as shown in Figure 1. The
2001; Fonseca & Fleming, 1995; Weile, 1996). motion of the biped robot is considered to be
The basic idea is to consider each objective as composed from a single support phase and
separate fitness function of MOEA. Three dif- an instantaneous double support phase. The
ferent objectives are considered in the current friction force between the robot’s feet and
work: minimizing the energy consumption by the ground is considered to be great enough
reducing the joint torque; increasing the stability to prevent sliding. During the single support
by restricting the ZMP in narrow region; and phase, the ZMP must be within the sole length,
increasing the walking speed by reducing the so the contact between the foot and the ground
step time. The nondominated sorting genetic will remain. In our work, we calculate the ZMP
algorithm (NSGA II) (Deb et al., 2002) is used to by considering the link mass concentrated at
generate the Pareto set of humanoid robot gaits one point. To have a stable periodic walking
that tradeoff between different objectives. An motion, when the swing foot touches the
advantage of the proposed algorithm is that in ground, the ZMP must jump in its sole. This
a single run of MOEA are generated humanoid is realized by accelerating the body link. To
robot gaits that satisfy each objective separately have an easier relative motion of the body, the
or multiple objectives simultaneously. Another coordinate system from the ankle joint of the
advantage of applying MOEA is the easy with supporting leg is moved transitionally to the
which the number of objectives may be in- waist of the robot (O1X1Z1). Referring to the
creased. In real time situations the humanoid new coordinate system, the ZMP position is
robot can utilize different sensors and switch to written as follows:
the appropriate gait based on the environment
conditions.
is prohibited.
2.2 Motion Objectives

5 5
∑ m (z + z
i i w
 + x
+ g z )x i − ∑ m i (x i
 w )(zi + z w )
XZMP = i=1 i=1
,
5
∑ m (z + z
i i w
+ gz ) In our implementation, the following objectives
i=1
are considered:
(1)
A. Minimum energy
where mi is mass of the particle “i”, xw and
zw are the coordinates of the waist with respect For the minimum consumed energy objective,
to the coordinate system at the ankle joint of it can be assumed that the energy to control the
supporting leg, x i and zi are the coordinates position of the robot is proportional to the inte-
of the mass particle “i” with respect to the gration of the square of the torque with respect
 and z are the to time, because the joint torque is proportional
O1X1Z1 coordinate system, x
i i with current. Therefore, minimizing the joint
acceleration of the mass particle “i” with respect torque can solve the minimum consumed energy
to the O1X1Z1 coordinate system. problem ([5]).
Based on the eq. (1), if the position, x i ,zi The consumed energy objective, O1, is
defined as follows:
 ,z , of the leg part
, and acceleration, x i i
(i=1,2,4,5), the body angle, q3 , and body an- tf
1
gular velocity, q3 , are known, then because O1 = min[ (∫ t T t dt + ∆t 2jump ∆ t)],
2 0
 ,z are functions of l , q , q , q , it is easy
x (2)
3 3 3 3 3 3
to calculate the body angular acceleration based
on the ZMP position. Let (0) and (f) be the where: tf is the step time, t is the torque
indexes at the beginning and at the end of the vector, Dt jump and Dt are the addition torque
step, respectively. At the beginning of the step,
applied to the body link to cause the ZMP to
q 30 causes the ZMP to be inside the new sup- jump and its duration time.
porting foot.
Figure 1. Five-link humanoid robot
is prohibited.
The torque vector is calculated from the q 10, q 20 and q 30 -determine the humanoid
inverse dynamics of the five-link biped robot robot posture at the beginning of the step. For
as follows: a given step length, it is easy to calculate q 40
and q 50. To have a continuous periodic motion,
J( θ)θ + X( θ)θ2 + Y θ + Z( θ) = τ , the posture of the biped robot is considered to
(3) be the same at the beginning and at the end of
the step; q 3p and t3 - are an intermediate angle
and its passing time in order to find the upper
where J(q) is the mass matrix (5x5), X(q)
body motion; xp, zp, and tp - are the coordinates
is the matrix of centrifugal coefficients (5x5),
of an intermediate point P(xp,zp) and its passing
Y is the matrix of Coriolis coefficients (5x5),
time tp to determine the angle trajectories of the
Z(q) is the vector of gravity terms (5x1), t is
swing leg (Figure 1); q1 -the angular velocity
the generalized torque vector (5x1), and q, q, q
are 5x1 vectors of joint variables, joint angular of link 1 at the end of the step; q3 - the angular
velocities and joint angular accelerations, re- velocity of the body link, which is considered
spectively. to be the same at the beginning and at the end
of the step; ZMPtoe and ZMPtip - the initial and
B. Stability last position of the ZMP; tstep - the step time.
Based on the number of objectives, the degree
The stability objective restricts the ZMP in of the time polynomial for q 1, q 2, q 3, q 4 and
a narrow region near the center of humanoid q 5 are 3, 3, 7,6 and 6, respectively.
robot foot using the following fitness function:
3. MULTIOBJECTIVE
O2 = min(ZMPtip − ZMPtoe ), (4)
EVOLUTION
We formulated the multiple objectives human-
where the ZMPtip and ZMPtoe are the nearest
oid robot motion as a multiobjective optimiza-
ZMP position to the tip and toe, respectively.
tion problem. Because there are many objec-
C. Walking speed tives, there is no longer a single optimal solution
but rather a whole set of possible solutions of
The walking speed objective reduces the step equivalent quality. Consider without loss of
time, tstep, as follows: generality the following multiobjective maxi-
mization problem with m decision variables, x
parameters and n objectives:
O3 = min(tstep ) . (5)
y = f (x ) = ( f1(x 1,......x m ),...,

2.3 Optimized Variables fn (x 1,......x m ))
(6)
The gait synthesis problem, with respect to
walking, consists on finding the joint angle where x =(x1,……xm)∈X, y = (y1,……yn)
trajectories, to connect the first and last posture ∈Y and where x is called decision parameter
of the biped robot for which the objectives are vector, X parameter space, y objective vector
satisfied. To generate a multiple objective hu- and Y objective space. A decision vector a∈X
manoid robot motion, the following parameters is said to dominate a decision vector b∈X (also
are evolved: written as a ≻b) if and only if:
is prohibited.
The same fitness value is assigned to all

∀i ∈ {1,...., n } : fi (a ) ≥ fi (b) ∧ of them. In order to maintain diversity in the
(7)
∃j ∈ {1,...., n } : fj (a ) > fj (b) population, a sharing method is then applied.
Afterwards, the individuals of the first front are
The decision vector a is called Pareto-opti- ignored temporarily and the rest of the popula-
mal if and only if a is nondominated regarding tion is processed in the same way to identify
the whole parameter space X. individuals for the second nondominated front.
3.1 Nondominated Sorting 4. RESULTS

Genetic Algorithm II
4.1”Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot
The NSGA II (Srinivas et al., 2002; Deb et al.,
2000) can be successfully used to find multiple In the simulations and experiments, we use
Pareto-optimal solutions of humanoid robot the “Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot (Nasu et
gaits. In NSGA II, before selection is per- al., 2002; Takeda et al., 2001). The parameter
formed, the population is ranked on the basis values are presented in Table 1 and the robot
of domination using Pareto ranking, as shown is shown in Figure 3. The “Bonten-Maru” hu-
in Figure 2. All nondominated individuals are manoid robot is 1.2 m high and weights 32 kg,
classified in one category with a dummy fitness like an 8 years old child. The “Bonten-Maru”
value, which is proportional to the population is a research prototype, and as such has un-
size. After this, the selection, crossover, and dergone some refinement as different research
mutation operators are performed. directions are considered. During the design
In the ranking procedure, the nondomi- process, some predefined degree of stiffness,
nated individuals in the current population are accuracy, repeatability, and other design factors
first identified (Tanaka, 1995). Then, these have been taken into consideration. The link
individuals are assumed to constitute the first dimensions are determined such that to mimic
nondominated front with a large dummy fitness as much as possible the humans. In the “Bonten-
value.
Figure 2. Flowchart of NSGA II
is prohibited.
Maru” humanoid robot, a DC motor actuates optimization terminated after 1000 generations.
each joint. The rotation motion is transmitted A bad fitness is given to individuals that:
by a timing belt and harmonic drive reduction
system. Under each foot are four force sensors, 1. Generate unstable walking or ZMP gets
two at the toe and two across the heel. These out of the sole.
provide a good indication of both contact with 2. The distance between the hip and ankle
the ground, and the ZMP position. The head joint of the swing leg is longer than the
unit has two CCD cameras (542x492 pixels, length of the extended leg.
Monochrome), which are connected to the 3. The swing foot touches the ground
PC by video capture board. A Celeron based prematurely.
microcomputer (PC/AT compatible) is used to
control the system. Based on the parameters of the “Bonten-
The high number of dof gives the “Bonten- Maru” humanoid robot, the step length used
Maru” humanoid robot the possibility to realize in the simulations varies up to 0.55m. In the
complex motions. The hip is a ball-joint, per- following, we present the results for the step
mitting three dof; the knee joint one dof; the length 0.42m, while the step time varies from
ankle is a double-axis design, permitting two. 1s to 3s.
The shoulder has two dof, the elbow and wrist Figure 4 shows the Pareto-optimal trade-
one dof. The DC servomotors act across the off front after 1000 generations for different
three joints of the head, where is mounted the step times. We can observe the existence of a
eye system, enabling a total of three dof. The clear tradeoff between the objectives. In ad-
distribution of dof is similar with the dof in dition, the obtained reference solution set has
human limbs. a good distribution. Therefore, the humanoid
robot can select the appropriate gait based on
4.2 Simulation and
the environment conditions. For example, in
experimental results
a slippery environment, the gait satisfying the
Due to difficulties of binary representation stability objective (lower right corner) would be
when dealing with continuous search space the more suitable. Furthermore, the humanoid
with large dimension, real coded MOEA robot can switch to gaits that satisfy multiple
(Herrera et al., 1998) is used in this study. objectives, simultaneously. For example, the
The decision variables are represented by real walking speed objective solution is not a single
numbers within their lower and upper limits. gait but rather a set of optimal gaits distributed
We employed a standard crossover operator and from energy to stability objective. The upper left
the non-uniform mutation. In all optimization corner of the graph shows that the stability can
runs, crossover and mutation probabilities were be improved by a small increase in the energy
chosen as 0.9 and 0.3, respectively. The popula- consumption. Not surprisingly, the results show
tion size was selected as 500 individuals and the that the stability or the walking speed increases,
the consumed energy also increases. The step
Table 1. “Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot link parameters
Body Lower leg Upper leg Lower leg + foot

Mass [kg] 12 2.93 3.89 4.09
Inertia [kg m ]2
0.19 0.014 0.002 0.017
Length [m] 0.3 0.2 0.204 0.284
CoM dist.[m] 0.3 0.09 0.1 0.136
is prohibited.
Figure 3. “Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot
time of Pareto optimal gaits varies from 1.49s The humanoid robot motion generated by
to 2.13s, while the distance travelled by the the stability objective, the respective torque in
ZMP in the sagital plane varies from 0.13m to each joint and the area covered during by the
0.17m. In the following, we present the results ZMP trajectory are shown in Figure 6. The
of humanoid robot motion satisfying single and energy consumption of the robot is increased
multiple objectives. more than four times in order to restrict the
The results of humanoid robot gait satisfy- ZMP trajectory (0.13m) in a narrow region.
ing the minimum energy objective are shown The step time of humanoid robot gait satisfying
in Figure 5. The robot posture is straighter, the stability objective is 2.1317s, which is the
similar to humans (Figure 5(a)), while the swing longest one. A noticeable difference with the
foot remains close to the ground. energy objective gait is in the amount of upper
The step time of minimum energy gait is body excursion and the motion of the swing leg.
1.9794s. This is between the shortest and longest This is very similar with that of humans when
step time, which indicates that for each step walking carefully in slippery environments. The
length there is a specific step time for which step time of the humanoid robot motion gener-
the consumed energy is minimal. The results ated by walking speed objective is 1.4951s. In
show that in order to reduce the joint torque difference from minimum energy and stability
(Figure 5(b)), the ZMP has to travel smoothly objectives, there is not a unique optimal gait, but
from the toe to the tip in a large distance a set of optimal gaits. Therefore, it is possible
(0.161m), as shown in Figure 5(c). to select a fast walking motion that consumes
less energy at a cost of low stability (Figure
is prohibited.
Figure 4. MOEA results for different step times
7(a), Figure 7(d)) or increases the stability at The results of five different simulations
a cost of an increase in the energy consump- with different values of α ,β,γ are given in
tion (Figure 7(c), Figure 7(f)). Figure 8 shows Table 2. Although we utilized the information
that the difference of energy consumption of about the fitness functions generated by the
these two humanoid robot motions is around MOEA, the results show that it is very difficult
three times more. However, the stability can and time consuming to determine the best
be increased by around 30% for a very small weighting constants for a predetermined stabil-
increase in the consumed energy (8%), as ity and speed objectives. For example, the
shown in Figure 8. An interesting result is objective functions are different from what is
the trajectory of the swing leg (Figure 7(a)), expected when the weighting coefficients were
which is different from the gait that satisfies selected as α = 0.3 ,β = 0.3,γ = 0.3 . The
the stability objective. difference between the expected and actual
As already pointed out, other approaches results generated by SOEA is related to the
have combined different objectives into a nature of objective functions. A comparison
single objective using predetermined weight between the MOEA and SOEA results shows
parameters. Although this approach is advan- that in some cases, the SOEA performed
tageous because it applies traditional SOEA, slightly better.
the method requires some problem-specific In order to investigate how the optimized
information, such as the total range each ob- gaits in simulation will perform in real hard-
jective covers. In order to compare the relative ware, we transferred the gaits that satisfy
performances, we also ran new simulations in different objectives on the “Bonten-Maru”
which three cost functions are merged into a humanoid robot (Figure 9). The experimental
single objective. The values of O1, O2 and O3 results show that in addition of reduction in
are normalized between 0 and 1, setting the energy consumption, the humanoid robot gait
cost function fs as: was stable. However, we had some difficulties
on implementing the motion generated by
 min(O )  min(O )  min(O ) walking speed objective due to some hardware
3 
Os = α  1  
 + β 
2  
 + γ  
 O1   O2   O3  specifications.
The present work has mainly focused on
(8)
the application of MOEA for robot multiple
objective gait generation. However, in order
where α ,β,γ are the weighting constants to increase the ability to cope with a wide
restricted to [0, 1] and their sum is 1. range of environmental changes by switching
is prohibited.
Figure 5. Robot gait generated by energy objective
Figure 6. Robot gait generated by stability objective
is prohibited.
Figure 7.
Figure 8. Energy consumption of different gaits generated by walking speed objective.
Table 2. Results of SOEA
a b g O1 O2 O3 OS
1 0 0 312 0 0 0.96
0.8 0.1 0.1 380 1.71 0.1 0.80
0.5 0.25 0.25 490 1.76 0.15 0.73
0.33 0.33 0.33 725 1.92 1.6 0.65
is prohibited.
Figure 9. Video capture of robot motion
in real time between different gaits, various can learn to switch between different gaits
types of sensory modalities will be necessary based on visual and force sensors attached
(e.g., vision, reaction force from the ground, in each foot.
etc). Nevertheless, the multi-objective human-
oid robot gait discussed here will allow hu-
manoid robot to increase the adaptability. References
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view of evolutionary algorithms in multiobjective doi:10.1108/01439910110389407
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tem for multi-criteria, optimization. In Proceedings
Herrera, F., Lozano, M., & Verdegay, J. L. of the International Conference on Systems, Man and
(1998). Tackling real-coded genetic algorithms: Cybernetics-2 (pp. 1556-1561).
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Artificial Intelligence Review, 12(4), 265–319. Vukobratovic, M., & Borovac, B. (2004). Zero-
doi:10.1023/A:1006504901164 moment point-thirty five years of its life. Interna-
tional Journal of Humanoid Robotics, 1(1), 157–173.
Kagami, S., Nishiwaki, K., Kuffner, J. J., Okada, doi:10.1142/S0219843604000083
K., Inaba, M., & Inoue, H. (2003). Vision-based
2.5d terrain modeling for humanoid locomotion. In Vukobratovic, M., Borovac, B., Surla, D., & Stokic,
Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference D. (1990). Biped Locomotion, Dynamics, Stability,
on Robotics and Automation (ICRA’2003), Taipei, Control and Application. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
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Japan (pp. 913-914).
Genci Capi received the Ph.D. degree in information systems engineering from Yamagata Uni-
versity, in 2002. He was a Researcher at the Department of Computational Neurobiology, ATR
Institute from 2002 to 2004. In 2004, he joined the Department of System Management, Fukuoka
Institute of Technology, as an Assistant Professor, and in 2006, he was promoted to Associate
Professor. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Systems
Engineering, University of Toyama. His research interests include intelligent robots, multi robot
systems, humanoid robots, learning and evolution.
is prohibited.
Kazuhisa Mitobe received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Niigata University, Japan in 1986 and
1988, Ph.D. Degree in mechanical control engineering from Kyoto University Japan in 1996.
He is currently a professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Yamagata University,
Japan. His research interest include the mechanics and control of biped walking robotics and
application of mobile robotics.
is prohibited.
ERP Systems in Hospitals:

A Case Study
Bernabé Escobar-Pérez, University of Seville, Spain
Tomás Escobar-Rodríguez, University of Huelva, Spain
Pedro Monge-Lozano, University of Huelva, Spain
ABSTRACT
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrate information from different departments in one com-
mon database for an entire organization. They have demonstrated their efficacy in a number of companies
of different types. However, a problem arises in organizations with highly differentiated cultural areas; often
such areas have traditionally had independent information systems and control over the interests of their area,
such as hospitals. This case study analyzes the process of an ERP system implementation in a hospital. The
study’s objective is to identify, by means of this qualitative research technique, the principal technological
objectives that were set in the process of implementation, which of those objectives were achieved, and the
deficiencies that have subsequently become evident.
Keywords: Case Study, Enterprise IS, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems, Healthcare Industry,
IS Integration, Organizational Efficiency
INTRODUCTION and threats they face (Fan et al., 2000; Robinson

& Wilson, 2001).
Among the factors that have been character- The reasoning behind this decision is that
izing the business environment in recent years ERP is considered particularly appropriate since
are increased competitively between com- it brings together three properties essential for
panies, the rapidity of technological change, adapting to a business environment of this type
shortened product life cycles, increasing use (Chen, 2001):
of subcontracting, the flattening of traditional
bureaucratic structures in organizations, and − ERP systems provide a multifunctional per-
the growing importance of the communica- spective that encompasses the various
tions media as a result of the globalization of different areas of the company (Finance,
markets. Largely as a result of this situation Inventory, Sales, etc.)
many companies have decided to implement − Since they are integrated systems, the same
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems items of data can be shared by different
as one means of confronting the new challenges areas.
− ERP systems have a modular structure, which
DOI: 10.4018/jitr.2010100103 means that different combinations of
is prohibited.
modules can be utilized in function of tion in the hospital environment, and identifies
the needs of the company. the influence exerted by the different cultural
areas, especially clinical and administration,
These properties, together with the evo- since their personnel is habituated to using
lution of the technologies of information and independent information and control systems.
communication, and the need for integration, Specifically, the following sub-objectives
have led to increasing interest in ERP as a tool are established:
for coordinating the management of different
organizational units (Al-Mashari, 2001; Sikora 1. To determine what were the prior expecta-
& Shaw, 1998). tions of those responsible for the hospital in
Hospitals require integral systems which respect of the implementation of the ERP
permit the planning of procedures to be applied system.
to patients, while simultaneously analyzing 2. To analyze the system design and subse-
the required capacity (Merodea et al., 2004). quent implementation process to determine
In this area, several studies have already been if the terms, objectives, and initial expecta-
conducted, such as those of Rubin (1999), tions were met.
Trimmer et al. (2002) and McGinnis et al. 3. To evaluate the functioning of the system
(2004). Rubin (1999) analyzed the use of ERP once it was implemented, to check whether
systems for improving the process of materi- the heterogeneity of the various pressure
als management in hospitals, and described groups that coexist in every hospital, with
the success represented by the integration of their different visions in respect of the
the whole supply chain in one single system. hospital’s role influenced the implementa-
Trimmer et al. (2002) deal with critical success tion of the system, and how that influence
factors for small health-care organizations. The affected it.
results indicate that support for the continuing
use of critical success factors help focus on
the benefits of ERPs. McGinnis et al. (2004) BACKGROUND
present the case of a small, rural community
hospital that has successfully implemented a For Newell et al. (2002), ERP systems represent
sophisticated ERP system. a new class of information system designed to
Apart from the inherent complexity of help integrate all the key areas of activity of a
the service they provide, hospitals are an ex- company, particularly the financial, productive
ample of organizations with differing cultural and human resources functions. The appearance
functional areas; there are different groups of ERP marked a trend towards the acquisition
able to exert pressure during the set-up of an of standardized information systems, rather
ERP system (Canis & Lamarca, 1996). Should than tailor-made systems designed to meet
the organizational culture influence the ERP the specific needs of a particular organization
implementation (Palanisamy, 2008), it is worth (Burns, 2009).
carrying out going deeper into the study of orga- As a consequence of the division in func-
nizations with different coexisting cultures. This tional areas, traditional information systems
makes it more important to analyze the effects were focused on supporting each functional
of implementing the ERP system within the area, and only rarely did they ensure that data
hospital organization, as well as on each of the flowed smoothly between the different func-
existing groups, considering the differences in tional areas. This was aggravated by the fact of
user perception (Kamhawi, 2008; Subramanian that the information systems of each area had,
& Peslak, 2010). This study analyzes the role of in many cases, been developed independently,
the ERPs as facilitators of information integra- with data formats that were incompatible or
is prohibited.
did not meet the information needs of the rest process of implementation does not end
of the processes of the business (Scheer & when the system is first put into effective
Habermann, 2000). operation: in the post-implementation pe-
An ERP system overcomes these disadvan- riod it is essential to analyze the activities
tages by integrating the information from the that the system is intended to support, in
different departments and subsidiaries of the order to optimize the system and thus ob-
company in one single database accessible to tain the expected competitive advantages.
the whole organization (Shang & Seddon, 2002). • Management by means of the ERP sys-
When a datum is entered in the ERP system tem. These studies focus on considering
by any organizational unit, it is immediately the ERP system as a management tool,
available for use by the rest of company’s orga- describing the changes that take place in
nizational units. In respect of this key feature, the management of companies that install
Gattiker and Goodhue (2000) state that this an ERP system, against other aspects that
integration brings about an improvement in do not change as expected.
the flows of information between the various • ERP Software. These are studies that ap-
organizational units and reduces administrative proach the topic from the systems perspec-
costs, since fewer tasks have to be performed tive, in which various analyses are made of
to obtain any particular piece of information. the aspects associated with the processing
Thus, for a large multinational firm, an of information, the inter-operatives of the
ERP system essentially represents a means of ERP system with the other systems in use
homogenizing the work procedures utilized by in the organization, and the adaptation of
its units (Bock et al., 2009), which should lead standard systems to the individual needs
to greater agility in responding to market de- of the company.
mands and reduced inventory levels (Davenport • ERP and the management of the supply
& Brooks, 2004). However, it is necessary to chain. These studies analyze the use of
understand the impact that individual, group, ERP systems in the context of companies
organization and national culture variables that form an integral part of an existing
have on how the process of implementing ERP supply chain.
systems unfolds and what may contribute to its
final outcome (Kouki et at., 2010; Livermore Of the five categories of study identified, we
& Rippa, 2010). consider the aspects associated with the process
Botta-Genoulaz et al. (2005) carried out a of implementing the ERP system, particularly
review of the literature on ERP systems during in a large complex organization, to be crucial.
the period 1996-2004, in which they reported an Serious problems can arise in organizations with
increased number of studies published in recent highly differentiated cultural areas; often such
years, and identified different categories in areas have traditionally had a high degree of
function of the area of interest of these studies: autonomy, with independent information sys-
tems and independent control over the interests
• Implementation of ERP systems. This cat- of their area. Hospitals are one example of such
egory includes those studies associated with organizations. In these sectors, the success of
the various stages in the implementation the implementation process depends largely on
of an ERP system, the problems associated the top management giving continuous active
with the process of implementation, the support to the project, and on the commitment of
conditions necessary for the process to be managers to the concept of integrating functions
successful, and the reasons why the process and improving operating processes (Berchet &
sometimes ends in failure. Habchi, 2005).
• Optimization of ERP systems. The idea Achieving the participation, collaboration
underlying this type of study is that the and acceptance of all the members of the orga-
is prohibited.
nization is, without doubt, one of the principal fully understood in isolation of its context, and
factors that are critical for the successful imple- therefore a contextual approach is necessary.
mentation of an ERP system. Akkermans and Unlike other empirical research methods,
Van Helden (2002) state that, during the process the case study permits the analysis of a contem-
of implementation, interdepartmental collabora- poraneous phenomenon in its real-life context,
tion and communication will be reinforced if the when the boundaries between the phenomenon
top managers, the project managers and software and the context are not clearly differentiated,
suppliers all demonstrate a positive attitude. In and when numerous sources of evidence are
many cases the tasks of leadership are really utilized with the object of bringing the research
important and delicate (Zabjek et al., 2009), work into closer contact with the organizational
because the introduction of the ERP system in reality (Hopwood, 1983; Otley & Berry, 1994;
the company will modify procedures within the Scapens, 1990; Tomkins & Groves, 1983; Yin,
company and the job functions of some of the 1993, 1994). Further, the case study has been rec-
employees, at all levels, will change. ommended as the ideal research methodology
Thus, if the likely re-structuring that will for gaining a better understanding of complex
be required is not properly taken into account phenomena (Flynn et al., 1990; McCutcheon
in the process of design of the ERP (Molla & & Meredith, 1993), and the implementation of
Bhalla, 2006), when the time comes to carry an ERP system in an organization with sharply
out the campaign of awareness and training divided functional areas and professional cul-
needed the process of implementation could tures is a very complex phenomenon.
lead employees to adopt postures of resistance The case study was carried out in a public
to the change, for fear of the unknown or simply hospital with both administrative, economic,
due to the sensation of displacement that some and management autonomy; management
members of the organization will feel. sought an efficient decision-making system
However, difficulties arise when the (this hospital will hereinafter be referred to as
management wishes to extend the scope of the “HSP”). The hospital opening coincided with
information system to include all the informa- the implementation of the integrated system.
tion that is generated in the hospital. In effect, The support we received from management as
a hospital needs an integral system of analysis, well as the cooperation from all areas of the
planning and control that allows the procedures institution in order to develop the study was
that have to be applied to the patients to be invaluable.
planned and executed in parallel with the provi- In order to support the validity of the results,
sion of the capacity required (Merodea et al., data was amassed using various techniques and
2004). On this point, according to Khoumbati different sources of information. The techniques
et al. (2006), studies have to be carried out in used to obtain the necessary evidence to carry
hospitals to analyze how to increase the capac- out the study were the following (since the
ity of the existing information systems at the beginning of fieldwork in July, 2006, until
same time as reducing the costs of integration mid-2009):
of the information.
Direct observation of the hospital’s general
functioning and each of the specific areas,
THE CASE STUDY APPROACH
to become familiar with its installations,
Methodology personnel, casuistry, management, etc.
We carried out our observations mainly
It was decided to use the case study as our in the morning, when the hospital was
research method because the design, develop- most active.
ment and implementation of an ERP cannot be Analysis of internal documentation, especially
that provided by the company in charge
is prohibited.
of implementing the ERP, the report of each of the replies provided. Validity and
evaluating public bids presented, notes reliability are two key aspects of the studies
to the financial statements, bylaws HSP which must receive careful attention, as the
business plan, etc. This review provided analysis made by a researcher in this type of
an overall awareness of the processes study can be quite subjective. To this end, in
involved in implementing the integrated order to ensure that these two components are
system. achieved, data codification procedures have
One-on-one and group interviews were con- to be developed (Miles & Huberman, 1984).
ducted with the Heads of the Medical, The organization of this data must be done in a
Nursing, Accounting, and Economic- coherent manner, using previously-established
Financial Departments. These individuals questions and objectives, in order to obtain a
were active participants in implementing systematic structure to later facilitate analysis
the system, and enriched the work car- and the reaching of conclusions (Figure 1).
ried out, in that they provided awareness Specifically, these categories are identified
regarding whether we were on target with from the results of evidences complied from
expectations and objectives regarding the empirical study. The categories are obtained
the system. from research triangulation, after having indi-
Informal conversations away from work al- vidually read the transcription of the interviews
lowed us to create a relaxed environment, and analyzed the available documentation, in
to therefore avoid formal situations which order to reach a unanimous agreement. They
might affect the integrity of the data (such are the following:
as short or insincere replies).
− Factors influencing the choice of ERP system
Data was obtained over a three-year pe- − Stipulated prioritized criteria for choosing
riod. We had frequent telephone conversations an ERP system
and communication via e.mail with all the − Implementation
participants in the case study, which allowed − The role developed during the implementa-
for regular feedback on the research underway. tion process
Questionnaires were also created, including − The selection process
open questions on hospital services; these − System integration
were distributed to the heads of these depart- − System advantages
ments. Those interviewed responded freely to − System drawbacks
the questionnaires, following the order of the
questions. In order to avoid skewed responses, Description of the HSP
we limited our involvement to a bare minimum:
in cases in which the answers were unrelated The HSP was constituted in 1990 as a Hospital
to the questions being asked, or when we were Foundation. The project plan for the construc-
interested in probing further. The replies were tion of the hospital was approved in June 1992.
recorded as well as taken down as notes. Before However, the building work did not begin until
each interview ended, time was spent having June 1993. In December 1996, the legal basis
a relaxed conversation to share ideas (Burns of the constitution of the HSP was changed,
& Kaplan, 1987). In this manner we became and it was brought under a new normative
familiar with the personality of each of the in- framework dealing with the creation of new
terviewees, in order to analyze their responses, forms of management of the Spanish National
and further understand them. Health system.
To be able to analyze the compiled informa- The HSP has its own corporate personal-
tion, the content of the interviews were literally ity, which gives it considerable autonomy in
transcribed to be able to interpret the meaning decision-making. Thanks to this autonomy it
is prohibited.
Figure 1. The case study methodology
is allowed to have its own budget which it can Thus, in the HSP it is understood that the
administer independently. In accordance with management of information is one of the bases
its degree of autonomy, it can therefore not only of how the organization operates (in addition
meet its own currents costs, including those for to the human and financial resources), and that
its personnel, but it can also make fixed invest- the incorporation of technology is essential in
ments, contract personnel, and set their salaries. order to handle the information adequately,
Once constituted, the HSP’s governing not only on the strategic and tactical levels, to
body authorized the preparation of a Business serve as the support for decision-making, but
Plan, which was approved for implementation also on the operating level, to facilitate the daily
in September 1997. When the HSP started clinical activity.
operating as a hospital, one of the basic prin- For those responsible for managing the
ciples established was that the specification and HSP, the information systems are a set of proce-
installation of technological equipment should dures and functions directed towards the collec-
be carried out in a properly planned way in ac- tion, production, assessment, storage, recovery,
cordance with agreed criteria of safety, efficacy, and distribution of items of information within
and efficiency. Thus, in its Business Plan, in the organization, oriented to promoting the
the part describing the organizational model flow of these items from the points where they
of the HSP, there is considerable reference to are generated to the final intended recipients.
information technologies and systems. Among Therefore, the information systems should be
the general objectives established, it is stated an integral part of the corporate strategy, since
that information systems constitute the key today all organizations are information-based.
factor in this process of strategic development; A series of criteria were set for the man-
in fact, the viability of the hospital model to be agement of the information systems, such as:
put into operation, particularly in respect of its
internal relationships, at both the functional and − The systems will be managed by contracting
strategic levels, is crucially dependent on the the services required from an external
development and implementation of informa- company (i.e. by outsourcing).
tion systems. As an unalterable objective the − To avoid technological incompatibilities and
Plan stipulates that the nucleus of information obsolescence, and to avoid the outlay
must be the interaction of the patient with the of funds without being able to take full
organization and, following from this, the in- advantage of resources, the HSP will not
tegration of the clinical with the financial and invest in either hardware or software. The
cost information. supply contract will specify the services to
is prohibited.
be provided and the results to be obtained. as a step towards the definitive integral
By this means the technology and the solution.
personnel will at all times be appropriate
for the needs of the HSP. The competitive bids must take into ac-
count explicitly the following criteria, all of
Contracting and Implementation them essential:
of the ERP System in the HSP
− Uniqueness of data. The capture of each datum
The management of the HSP prepared detailed will be unique, as will its storage. The
technical specifications for the contract to design should be relational.
provide the ERP system, based on the require- − Total integration of all the modules.
ments stipulated in the Business Plan. Given the − Operative solutions must be provided. The
imminent entry into operation of the HSP, the adaptations required to meet the special
fundamental premise was the need for it to be requirements of the HSP should be kept
equipped with an integrated system that would to a minimum.
enable all the appropriate health-care functions − There must be uniformity in the operating
to be carried out, and that would constitute the environments.
principal tool for the financial and administra-
tive management of the hospital.
The winning bid was selected in September
Competitive tenders were invited with the
1997. The decision went in favor of a central-
object of selecting a single systems integrator
ized solution for the implementation of the ERP
capable of providing a solution for managing
system, presented by a company, who would be
the information needs of the HSP. The suc-
responsible for its management and integration.
cessful bidder would be constituted as the only
The contract specified, among other matters,
interlocutor of the HSP for all matters related
the final product to be supplied, comprising
to its ERP system, and should present its offer
the implementation of 3 modules and 11 ap-
with the following requirements:
plications (all included under the name of the
GENESIS Program) (Figure 2).
− Listing of all the subcontracted suppliers In the standard version of each module
and the products that they are supplying, there is a set of interfaces for the exchange of
including the bidder if it will be providing information between them. However, this is
any product that would form part of the not the case with the different applications
global solution. acquired; for this reason it was necessary to
− Details of the way in which the various mod- incorporate up to 11 interfaces, which are de-
ules are going to be integrated. scribed below:
− Any additional programming that will be
needed to ensure the complete adaptation
− Interface I-1: This is the interface between
to the needs of the HSP. Human and mate-
the Personnel Module and the Library
rial resources necessary, and the delivery
Management. Its objective is to load onto
terms to be met.
the database of the Library the data of the
− Detailed plan of implementation: phases
hospital personnel that are considered
and timetable, with terms linked to the
necessary for managing borrowings of
achievement of levels of operationally.
publications.
− On a complementary basis, the systems inte-
− Interface I-2: This interface exchanges data
grator will provide a contingency solution
between the Payroll Module and the
during the transition stage, complying
Financial Accounting Module, with the
with the minimum coverage required and
is prohibited.
object of recording the accounting details The process of implementation of the ERP
necessary for each Payroll payment. system began at the end of 1997 and lasted
− Interface I-3: This is similar to the previously approximately 6 months. According to the
described interface; its purpose is to ex- evidence obtained, the involvement of the top
change data between the Payroll Module managers was continuous, and they kept up
and the Analytical Accounting Module, the pressure to complete the project on time.
assigning the costs of each payroll item
to its corresponding cost centre.
− Interfaces I-4 and I-7: The Patient Care Module DISCUSSION
is generated in function of the data obtained
For the analysis of the evidence obtained, the
when the patient is admitted to hospital.
information is grouped according to the fol-
Therefore, it is necessary to transfer in-
lowing three phases (Escobar et al., 2004): (1)
formation corresponding to each patient.
prior or preliminary, (2) implementation and
− Interface I-5: From the data of the invoices,
(3) operation. Therefore, in accordance with
which reflect the cost of all the services and
established objectives, the compiled evidence
products that each patient has consumed
was analyzed in three main blocks:
during their hospitalization, the total costs
of each hospitalization are determined
and these costs are assigned to the cor- Determine what the prior expectations were.
responding units. Analyze the system design.
− Interface I-6: In the same way as in the previous Check whether heterogeneity has influence on
interface, the costs of each period of hos- the implementation of the system.
pitalization are assigned the correspond-
ing units; the interface of Invoicing with Prior Expectations. Determine what the
Financial Accounting allows the invoicing prior expectations were
to be assigned to the account of each unit. As a preliminary observation, the HSP had,
− Interfaces I-8 and I-9: Among their functions, from the very beginning, been conceived of as an
the Nursing and Pharmacy Modules sup- organization which would operate with an ERP
port the control of the ward sub-stores and system that would facilitate the performance of
orders for supplies placed on the central its patient healthcare activities, its administra-
warehouse; therefore interfaces are created tive management and its decision-making. Its
that enable both the completion of orders philosophy is to seek the maximum satisfaction
placed automatically in function of the of its users, in both the scientific-technical
level of stock of certain materials, and the and human aspects of its activities. It could be
generation and shipment of orders placed described as a young hospital that aims every
manually to the Supplies Module. day to offer high quality healthcare, where the
− Interface I-10: This allows modifications to professionals who work in it are considered to
be made to the planned capacity of the be its greatest capital asset. Thus, in the Business
External Consultations, in function of the Plan formulated when it was created, a part was
periods of time that the equipment of each included referring especially to systems and
Service is not available due to maintenance information technologies; in this part, it was
or repair work. stated as a general objective that the nucleus
− Interface I-11: This interface allows the local- of information must be the interaction of the
ization of the electronic file of documents patient with the organization, and that, on the
associated with each medical history from basis of this source, both the clinical and finan-
the application that manages the Clinical cial/cost information would be integrated. This
Records. stipulation was accepted by all the employees,
is prohibited.
Figure 2. Diagram of the implementation of the ERP modules
as demonstrated by the following statement of “…When I joined the company, the HSP was
the Sub-director of Nursing: clear that it wanted an integrated management
system; they were convinced from the start”
“The integrated system (…) was an objective for (Economic-Financial).
this hospital; we wanted to have an integrated
system of management to provide us with infor- This decision was justified by the fact that
mation. In the large hospitals the problem they the original members of HSP firmly believed
had (…) was the topic of information; that is, that it would be very positive to integrate all
at the level of the administrative management, available information from every department,
the information was being received piecemeal and therefore agreed unanimously to take this
from the different departments”. step.
Factors influencing the choice of ERP
From the start, HSP was conceived as system
a modern organization providing a system Three factors influenced the choice of this
integrating clinical and economic-financial ERP system:
information.
is prohibited.
• To cease using independent information “…The deadlines had to be met, since the hos-
systems. “The HSP members were a bit pital had to open on time, which meant that all
tired of using independent information its personnel had to give their best efforts...”
systems, each managed by independent (Management).
persons or companies, with no contact or
very difficult communication between them
(Economic-Financial). Implementation. Analyze the
• Obtain involvement from the clinicians in System Design and Subsequent
management. “…Clinical management, or Process of Implementation
the participation of the clinic in manag-
ing the hospital, with goals not related to Although the process of implementation of
executive management such as a Director, the ERP system had the support and active
but rather allowed for active participation participation of the top management, there
in achieving these goals, mandated from was a need to bring together the interests of
above…” (Nursing). functional areas with different cultures. The
• The hospital used as a political reference fundamental concern of the doctors and clinical
point to demonstrate that it is possible to practitioners is to return their patients to good
achieve self-management “…HSP was health, whereas the managers are responsible
the government’s flagship at that time, for obtaining efficiency in the utilization of
and I think that after 10 years, even the limited resources. The effect of this was that the
government has changed, and here we are, design of the ERP system was oriented towards
so they must not have been on the wrong ensuring the good functioning of each of the
track…” (Nursing). functional areas, separately, rather than towards
establishing an information system in which the
Stipulated prioritized criteria for choosing source data only needed to be captured once,
an ERP system in which all the modules were fully integrated
Implementation and later use of the ERP with each other and the system as a whole, and
system took place based on the following cri- in which all the operating settings were uniform
teria: contracting the services of an external (the original objectives). Despite a total of 11
Outsourcing company, without investing in interfaces having been designed to inter-connect
hardware or software, but hiring their services the different modules and applications that
and the results, to then terminate implementation comprise the HSP’s system of information, in
within established periods, as the hospital had the opinion of the Assistant Director respon-
to begin operations in December 1997. sible for financial and cost control, “if we are
speaking of integration of all the systems, what
has failed most is the integration between the
“The Project was outsourced to an integrating
patient care system and the rest of the systems
company, and was then subcontracted to each
not directly related to patient care.”
of the suppliers of hardware and software (...).
Implementation
We supervised all along, starting from scratch;
The implementation process was not a
the program had to be up and running within a
complete one, but rather was done in segments.
few months or the hospital would not be able
This partial integration consisted in using the
to open its doors on time. Since we didn’t have
ERP’S administrative and financial modules,
anything else to do, we spent a lot of time on
connecting them via a series of specific ap-
this, as it was fundamental to our success”
plications.
(Economic-Financial).
is prohibited.
“The portion related to the laboratory request The selection process

manager worked from the beginning, as did the HSP is a public entity, so public bids were
anatomical pathology segment; later, others admitted. Technical Services Clauses were set
were developed...the final one included was out, so bidders would have a point of reference
radiology” (Medical). when preparing their bids regarding the objec-
tives, services supplied, technical specifications,
timelines, etc. However, the HSP’s priority
“The truth is that our version of the SAP is not criteria were not met by the modules or the
the same one we had before. I think we used system in general.
two custom programs, the more important being
that related to research projects.” (Economic- “The integration between modules failed”
Financial)
The supervisors of the economic-financial “The warehouse is integrated into SAP, but
area were not proponents of custom-developed the pharmacy is not - it still uses independent
programs, as they thought they could lead to software (...) We have a partial system which we
data integration problems. have used through a series of SAP tools, which
is not exactly what we should be using; we have
“…I am against custom-designed programs, fooled the computer to be able to manually
since later versions are are hard to adapt, and control invoice when they are acceptable and
that is what proved to be the case” (Economic- when they are not” (Accounting).
Financial).
The role developed during the implementa- “When we started out, the system was different
tion process from the one we have now, and had problems
The program was implemented through functioning and was hard to understand. In
sub-projects (modules), with a team monitor- other words, right at the beginning this part of
ing and controlling the process, made up of the integration was missing (...) we are work-
representative of the outsourcer and hospital ing towards improving the system, especially
personnel. Each assumed a different role, de- with an eye to integrating all that we can,
pending on the work to be carried out at a later since there are some applications that although
date when the hospital was running. they are still connected to the system, are not
integrated within it (...). Teams are going to be
“From the beginning...my role regarding imple- created in order to design the entire project, to
mentation remained unchanged, all document- materialize the integration - it’s just a question
related work generated, its importance regard- of time” (Medical).
ing privacy protection laws…” (Medical).
Operation. Analyze the

System to Check Whether
“Not as much regarding assistance, although
Heterogeneity has Influence on
it is true that I participated in quite a few of
the Implementation of the System
the project development meetings (...). As I said
before, I participated in assistance, but I did not Consequently, not all the users were equally
add very much. This is not true of the integra- satisfied with the results of the process of imple-
tion with the system...” (Economic-Financial). mentation and with the way the information
is prohibited.
system operates. In this respect, we can identify management control, because we have not fully
two large groups of users: clinical practitioners developed all its possibilities, and to do that, we
and administrative managers. now have to take advantage of the change to a
The clinical practitioners have ensured that new version. Not because each of the tools is
the part of the system that they utilize (Modules not implemented but because, in order for the
1 and 3) cover all their needs. In general terms, information to come out as you want; you have
those responsible for Patient Care Management, to enter it in the correct way. At the time, other
Clinical Management, Human Resources, and items were given priority, and now is the time
Payroll are fairly satisfied with the perfor- to change this.” Lastly, in an attempt to find an
mance of the system, according to the views explanation for this situation, he stated that “the
expressed by the Medical Assistant Director, integration with the patient care information is
who stated that “having an Integrated System a failure for us because each system in its part
of Management in this case, in the part of the (package) functions well.” As can be observed,
patient care area, enables you in principle to in this statement the Assistant Director tacitly
have everything close to hand; in other words, accepts the balance of power in the hospital
to have clear, up-to-date information rapidly at between the clinicians, who are preponderant,
your disposal, which is also directly connected and the managers.
with the management of the patient”. The As- For his part, the manager responsible for
sistant Director of Nursing stated: “I believe the Accounts Department stated that “now
that we have one of the best integrated systems everything is much more stabilized, but there
because, despite some of the interdepartmental have been many disputes with the departments,
aspects remaining to be done, it is perfectly and we have basic problems that have not been
integrated, or practically integrated. We only solved because at the time they were not put
have very little still to do, very little.” forward correctly.” In particular, he complained
However, the managers (the users of that “every time that I have to finalize accounts
Module 2) appear rather unhappy given that with Pharmacy, complications, and many years
they do not correctly receive the information have gone by like this. When I have any dif-
generated in the other modules. On this question, ference and have to investigate, I have to go
the Assistant Director responsible for finances to their program, extract data, cross-check the
and cost control emphasized that “the integra- figures with mine, see what they have charged
tion between patient care information and cost to me and what they have not charged to me,
information did not function as we had hoped. trust in what they tell me and then check it. It’s
An ABC system of costing and an advanced not easy, it’s not easy, and then there is a slip, a
system of clinical guidelines, in which each gap of information, also very important, between
step was associated with its cost, were tried one module and another. (…) In the case of the
and failed. These failures were due to the fact interfaces there is information that we are not
that, it was very difficult to collect information; picking up, and that also is not good.” Lastly,
that is, the guidelines were so detailed that there there is also the complaint that “the interface
was no way the data could flow towards the is not transparent. A payroll is transferred to
SAP, no way all this could be handled with the me, but I don’t get to see the concepts of the
patient care information in detail and was not payroll, I do not see the number of persons. They
being received. That was where a lot of effort transfer them to me grouped by cost center.”
was put in, with nothing being achieved. The System integration
guidelines were prepared, they did not get to The system is not integrated. It is not a
be implemented, and there was no way of col- three-module SAP program, but three separate
lecting this information.” He also stated the modules which download the information to
following: “Well, the financial system is well SAP through interfaces. The main problem with
implemented, but perhaps we lack something in interfaces is that the accounting parameters must
is prohibited.
be defined, and this process must be carried “For a new user, SAP is hard to understand,
out periodically. since it rigid and not very intuitive”
We don’t have a single system: we have three Change in the work system
main ones, and certain additional ones (...) The The integration of information requires
idea original is to have a single system managed clinical practitioners to dedicate part of their
by one company, as well...later any other data time to inputting data into the system. This
processing system can be added - this never requires a change in the working system which
happened (Economic-Financial). they are not easily able to accept. Adequate
conditions do not exist in order to correctly
implement the ERP.
“The interface connects the information you
desire into a module, a different program, SAP, “When we talk about integrating all the sys-
to a different application, and then to SAP and tems, the part failing the most is the integration
integrates it into the accounting parameters between attending and non-attending. There is
you select. These parameters are not defined a resistance from the attending staff to dedicat-
within the interface; they have to be defined. ing time to collecting data. Clinical staff stated
In other words, the data to be absorbed has to the following: “I am paid to see patients!”
be defined periodically (...) Using interfaces (Economic-Financial).
means that there is integrated accounting, but
not integrated management “(Accounting). CONCLUSION
System advantages It has been shown how the very same decision
From a technical point of view, the system regarding the type of ERP system to implement
is reliable and safe, since SAP can detect er- has reflected, from the first moment, the orga-
roneous data and reject it - it simply won’t go nizational complexity over which the system
any further. had to be implemented. As can be confirmed
in the choice of the design of the system and
its modular structure, these factors demonstrate
“The ERP detects when data is wrong (...)
the not-always coincident interests of the two
The SAP system cross-references everything:
groups of personnel, clinical practitioners and
invoices, delivery orders, and purchase orders”
managers, previously mentioned.
(Accounting).
In the case analyzed, evidence is obtained
on the attempt made to resolve this complexity
from the technological perspective, by means of
“SAP is very complicated for making changes the sophisticated set of interfaces described here.
within the system; one requires very technical Although all the interfaces were developed, not
knowledge to be able to change the data base. all are utilized. In particular, interfaces I-5 and
SAP, however, would detect this and send a I-6 are not currently utilized. These interfaces
message (Economic-Financial). would allow the Invoicing module to be related
to the General Accounting and Analytical Man-
System drawbacks agement, and are fundamental for the correct
It is not easy to use a SAP system; previous integration of information between Modules 2
training is required. It is a rigid and not very and 3. The fact that the information generated in
user-friendly program, unlike others, which can the clinical areas might be used by the financial
be used with very little computing knowledge. area in order to establish control mechanisms
is prohibited.
rejected the requested information, so that the In summary, during the implementation
necessary data to make the interfaces work are process, a main priority was forgotten: a single
not currently included. The main problem with system should have been implemented, rather
the interfaces is that the accounting parameters than various systems connected through in-
must be defined, and the process has to be carried terfaces. Once the system was set up, it began
out periodically, with everyone collaborating. functioning at the same time the hospital began
Despite this, on analyzing the degree of its activity. This was the cause of the segmented
satisfaction of the users of the ERP system, implantation and the corresponding problems.
in the case of the clinical personnel it meets As far a functioning was concerned, the tech-
practically 100% of their expectations, whereas nical aspects satisfied the clinicians more than
those responsible for the management of the those in management, since the system uses
hospital are found to be rather less satisfied, interfaces. From a clinical point of view, the
as they have not seen their initial expectations information was integrated, although managers
fulfilled in respect of the system. did not agree. These problems made it necessary
A plausible explanation for this situation to evolve, that is, to change to a newer system
could start from recognition of the heterogene- designed to resolve the indicated problems and
ity of these two pressure groups, which exist incorporate new technical tools to improve
in some form in all hospitals; this heterogene- management.
ity is encapsulated in their respective general
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doi:10.1108/14637150910975552
Bernabé Escobar-Pérez, PhD, is a Full Professor of Accounting at the University of Seville

(Spain). His research focuses on information technologies and business reporting. In addition,
he participates in international research projects in the European Union (Management Account-
ing in Europe -Engaging Research and Practice, A European Research Arena on Intangibles
-E*KNOW-NET, High Performance Manufacturing…). Dr. Escobar-Pérez is member of the New
Technologies and Accounting Committee of the Spanish Accounting Association. His work has
appeared in numerous conference proceedings. He has published in leading academic journals
including the Journal of Accounting, Business and Management, the Journal of Petroleum Ac-
counting and Financial Management, the European Journal of Information Systems, and the
International Journal of Digital Accounting Research.
Tomás Escobar-Rodríguez, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Management Accounting at the

University of Huelva (Spain). Dr. Escobar-Rodríguez is also the Executive Editor of the Inter-
national Journal of Digital Accounting Research. His main research interests are information
technology applications in accounting and management control systems. He is member of the
New Technologies and Accounting Committee of the Spanish Accounting Association. He is
widely published in international journals, including the International Journal of Accounting
Information Systems, the Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting, Online, and the
International Journal of Metadata, Semantics and Ontologies.
Pedro Monge-Lozano, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Business and Accounting at the University
of Huelva (Spain). His research focuses on information technologies and hospitals administra-
tion. He has published on the causes and consequences of using accounting information for
hospitals management. Dr. Monge-Lozano has published two books on Financial Accounting
and articles in numerous leading scholarly and practitioner journals. He has also served as an
Erasmus coordinator at several universities in Europe. He also participates in public debates
on topics related to his research.
is prohibited.
The Four Paradigms of

Archival History
Iván Székely, Open Society Archives at Central European University, Hungary
ABSTRACT
With an information-centered approach, four successive paradigms can be distinguished in the multi-millennial
history of archives. Alongside enduring elements of continuity, new key features, functions and impacts ap-
pear, which fundamentally change the role and ideology of archives. In the archival systems designated as
entitlement-attestation, national, public, and global, their primary and new objectives, key institutions, spe-
cialists and target audience as well as applied information technologies and characteristic problems show
significant differences. This study includes the most important characteristics of these respective archival
paradigms in one coherent system, with brief reference to the evolution of two major memory-preserving
institutions: the library and the museum.
Keywords: Access, Archival Systems, Archives, Information Operations, Paradigm Shift
Introduction specific tasks in the accumulation of informa-

tion, knowledge and scholarship: in general, in
Archives, besides libraries and museums, the preservation of important segments of our
represent one of the three prominent types of cultural heritage.
institution dedicated to the preservation of the According to the superficial distinction of
past. Obviously, other important techniques and the lay (and, precisely for this reason, valuable)
genres of ensuring the survival of the past also public, museums collect objects, libraries hold
exist, but what these three types of organiza- books, and archives store documents. Neverthe-
tions have in common is that they have evolved less, this distinction fails to work in a variety
into institutions (and in the era of their modern of cases. The fragments of Mesopotamian
development, typically into public institutions), clay tablets or the Rosette Stone are held in
creating in the process their characteristic func- museums, rather than in archives or libraries;
tions, branches of science, professions and even and several libraries have extensive collections
specific languages. In most parts of the civilized of manuscripts. On the same token, archives
world, these three institutions have happily often complement their holdings with publi-
coexisted side by side, each taking its place cations or even physical objects, while some
in the public conscience and carrying out its of the museums hold hand-written letters or
manorial inventories. To top it all, documents
also have valuable physical features (material,
DOI: 10.4018/jitr.2010100104 texture, technique and aesthetic value of their
is prohibited.
production), just as objects have documentary in the original only or in no more than a few
value (their manufacture and use are proof copies – such as documents about the visitor’s
that certain events did take place and certain own property), while libraries keep secondary
practices did exist), irrespective of the type of sources (typically copies of works based on
institution that stores them. As for the more primary sources – such as a monograph about
recent developments, the new information and the visitor’s hometown, for example). And
communication technologies (most notably anyone who has already searched the catalogue
digitization and Internet access) go way beyond of both a library and an archive will confirm
the already existing phenomena of convergence that in a library every single book is treated as
and tend to confuse the picture even further by a separate entity (regardless of the existence
concealing from the Internet user the institutions of serial publications and shared elements of
and functions behind the objects to be digitized. classification), while the same is far from be-
Still, today’s lay public usually have some ing true in the case of documents held in an
notion of when and why to visit a library, an ar- archive: certain background knowledge and
chive or a museum. While touring some cultural some familiarity with the context is necessary,
attractions, they might even discover that the as we need to know who produced or used the
previous owners also had no problem separating document, in what context, in what organiza-
the three functions: in Forchenstein (Fraknó) tion and in the course of what activity. Without
Castle under the Esterházys, for example, the this context the individual document cannot
three functions coexisted side by side (and be interpreted, even though that context might
two of them can still be studied in the original exist in the mind of the researcher or even in
milieu and context, thanks to the good fortunes the public conscience.
of history): the museum, which combined the Of course, nothing can stop a person from
functions of a treasury, an art collection and using a document outside its original context, or
a natural science museum, served to demon- even from placing it deliberately in a different
strate the family’s wealth, discerning taste and context, whether as a mere illustration, or as
network of connections, while also presenting part of an intellectual montage. In other words,
interesting and exotic pieces of information; one could use any document in a different way,
the library was meant to accumulate knowledge for purposes fundamentally different from the
handed down through history in printed form originally intended one. To cap that, “using
(its later removal from its original setting and differently, for a different purpose” – irritating
its transportation to the family’s subsequent as it may be to the value system of the expert
place of residence was decided only for reasons professionals and their communities – is not
of convenience); and its archives served the something that is fundamentally new to the
purpose of keeping track, as well as providing nature of the institutions of memory-preser-
evidence, of the changes in the proprietary vation. What all these three institutions have
rights and economic circumstances of the estate. in common is that none of the materials they
In this regard, it is perhaps the archives respectively store were originally conceived
that are the worst off: their function is the least for the purpose that the visitors of these three
understood by the public in most countries. institutions use them, or will be using them in
But as soon as the need arises to use them, a the future. This is especially true in the case of
layperson, even without being able to express the archives, which have basically been set up
it in expert terms, will easily understand the for storing documents related to everyday life,
main difference between the holdings of an rather than for keeping intellectual products
archive and the collections of the more familiar originally intended either for the preservation
environment of a library: archives hold pri- of the nation’s past, or for the dispensation of
mary sources (i.e. documents that exist either knowledge. Not even the paintings were origi-
is prohibited.
nally meant for being displayed in museums, not ARCHIVES AND OFFICES
to mention the tools, cloths and other exhibits. OF RECORDS, RECORDS
As for the books, they were intended for the AND DOCUMENTS
bookshops and the bookshelves, or perhaps for
the Internet, not only for the libraries – although While up to this point in our discussion, by
the publishers are today under obligation to archives we have meant the institution, we
send a copy of each of their publications to cannot overlook the fact that the same word
the national library. Another characteristic is also used to refer to the material collected,
that the objects and documents held in these preserved and organized for easy access by
three institutions have in common is that they archivists. However, since most of the European
allow the audience, lay and professional alike, languages do not have separate expressions
to draw conclusions that are very different to distinguish between the two notions, in the
from those that people drew from them during age of the global archive it was inevitable that
their primary existence. In fact, the amount of the need to find a universal notation making
information and the multitude of contexts, which that distinction clear should sooner or later
can be combined to give new information and arise. Pursuant to the recommendations of the
new contexts, can be expanded almost without International Council on Archives (ICA), which
a limit. A further shared characteristic is that was seconded by the Council of Europe, the
their existence – together with their secondary word Archives (when spelt with a capital ‘A’)
use, which is more or less disconnected to the should be used in reference to the institution of
original purpose and can be expanded almost memory preservation, while the form archives
without limit – serves as one of the important should stand for the collection of documents
guarantees for the survival of various com- held by the institution (or its creator, owner,
munities, large and small, as well as of human or any other person).
culture as a whole. It is also the source of their While the scope of the present study will
vulnerability: history has repeatedly shown that not permit the author to give a detailed analysis
dictators and conquerors have a predilection for of archival terminology, nor will it allow him
burning or demolishing institutions established to offer an exposition of the existing contradic-
for the service of memory preservation (but tions and incongruities within it, there are two
only after stealing the most precious items so important conceptual problems, which he feels
that they can remove them from their original obliged to address.
context and reuse them as proofs of their own The first problem concerns the archival
wealth, power and ability to conquer others). holdings as a whole. Can we rightly refer to
Interestingly, the other group of people that a place as an “archive”, if it holds the “live”
has problem with the preservation of memories documents of a given organization in their
is formed by the revolutionaries. In Charles primary function (for example, government
Kecskemeti’s words proposals or business transactions), or if it
stores documents, which, although no longer
Burning documents in the name of progress necessary for the organization’s day-to-day
was a matter of routine during insurrections functioning, may become important at some
and revolutions, while the burning of books future stage (for example, a former business
was a favorite tool of dictatorships to hinder partner’s documents, which may provide crucial
progress. Posterity undoubtedly stands to lose evidence in a court procedure)? Or should we
more from the burning of documents. Because reserve the word “archives” for an institution,
of their uniqueness, the burning of every docu- where the documents are stored merely in their
ment causes irretrievable loss. (Kecskeméti, secondary function, as the means of historical
2005, p. 27)1 research, perhaps? In other words, where does
is prohibited.
the borderline between current, semi-current preserving, processing and communicating their
and non-current documents lay vis-à-vis the archival material – is the contextual preservation
rules of handling and accessing documents? of both the documents and the organizational
The archival theoreticians and practicing history of the state administration agencies
archivists have come up with two mainstream (the economic organizations coming in as a
solutions for this dilemma. In the United States poor second), thus maintaining a high regard
the notions records and archives have distinct for provenance and the original order within
meanings, with the former referring to current document files, while regarding the science of
and semi-current documents (although these, archiving (together with the likes of heraldry
too, are held in the archives of the originating and diplomatics) as a branch of government
organization). As a direct consequence, the sciences. According to this concept, the archives
field of records management has become a admit and preserve records, which mean docu-
recognized profession, practiced by records ments of a special class, rather than the current
managers, who are in charge of handling cur- and semi-current documents of the American
rent and semi-current documents.2 categorization in general. And as for the specific
The other solution to the problem is as- characteristic that sets apart records from other
sociated with the Scandinavian concept, which documents, it is can be defined by the quality
is summarily described as document lifecycle of recordness.4 This incorporates all the quali-
management. Since this concept treats every fications that a record needs to possess, such as
document as a potential candidate for the the existence of a known originator or a date
Archives (even though only a fraction of them of origin. These criteria should not be difficult
will become permanently archived), the same to meet in the categories of public documents
principles and rules should be applied to all the and documents belonging to business organiza-
documents.3 In countries where such a concept tions, as these usually provide such information;
is combined with a strong and centralized however, they are not applicable to several other
archival administration, as it is the case with types of documents held in archives.5
Sweden, the national archive has supervisory
authority over the organizations originating and
handling the documents and it also has some ATTEMPTS AT
influence over the classification, cataloguing RE-INTERPRETATION
and discarding of documents. In the course AND RENEWAL
of document life cycle management, the ap-
Some of the most momentous developments
praisal of potential archive materials – wittily
witnessed over the past quarter-of-a-century
described by a German scholar as “destruction
– the rapid spread of new communication
in the interest of preservation” (Menne-Haritz,
technologies, the emergence of the “information
1998, p. 15) – becomes a joint planning operation
society”, the shifts in institutional boundaries
between the Archives representing the national
and functions, and the effects of globalization
community and the organization originating
– have posed serious challenges in the world of
the documents. In a democratic state based on
archiving, too, urging theoretical and practicing
the rule of the law, the scope of such authority
archivists to re-interpret the existing roles and
must obviously be limited to the documents of
functions (actually, the same also applies to
the public service organizations.
libraries and, to a lesser degree, museums). On
This conveniently takes us to our second
top of that, the meaning, and also the applica-
problem, which affects only the basic units of
bility, of certain principles and notions, which
the archival holdings, rather than the holdings
right until recently were generally accepted and
as a whole. According to mainstream archival
taken as self-evident, have become question-
theory, the primary, or even exclusive, task
able, and most notably so in connection with
of the archives – beyond the general tasks of
is prohibited.
electronic or digitized documents: original and d) in the area of the memory to be preserved the
copy, document and record, provenance and organizational structure has been replaced
context, are notions that no longer fit into the by the functional context – in other words,
same conceptual box as self-evidently as before. the business transactions.
There have been numerous signs that the
members of the archival community in the more In one of his writings analyzing the devel-
advanced countries of the world have warmed opment of archival theory in the past century,
up to the idea of reforms. The guiding principles Terry Cook saw new developments in five major
and rules of the profession are changing, or at areas (Cook, 1997, pp. 21-23):
least expanding, and even if the practical as-
pects have not changed noticeably, the way of a) in the raison d’être for the archives (mov-
thinking and the attitude of archivists have been ing away from the juridical-administrative
showing the signs of a general fermentation. viewpoint of public institutions financed
Also on the move is archivistics: a discipline by taxpayers and dominated by historians,
that attained the status of an independent branch towards the idea of socially legitimized
of scholarship in the second half of the nine- archives offering services to the general
teenth century but started its spectacular career public in the areas of identity, locality, his-
only in the last decades. As early as the 1990s, tory, culture and personal and communal
the era marked by the patronizing attitude of memory);
“much ado about shelving”6 was replaced by b) in guaranteeing the provenance and
the period of scholarly conferences7 address- authenticity of the documents (from the
ing the fundamental problems of archivistics, problems of handling paper-based docu-
and while the literature on libraries itself could ments towards the problems of processing
fill a library and the same on archives would electronic documents);
only occupy a few shelves, those few shelves c) in the area of archival theory (from de-
have acquired a number of valuable volumes. scriptive archivistics towards functional
Although the comprehensive monographs have archivistics);
not yet come out, the conceptual diversification, d) in the archival profession (from the role
along with the ascendancy of information- of impartial custodian of inherited records
biased approaches, has undoubtedly enriched to that of an agent actively involved in
and fertilized the special literature on archives. the processes of originating and handling
About a decade ago, Hans Hofman iden- documents);
tified fundamental shifts within the archival e) in the social embedding of archivistics
paradigm in four areas (Hofman, 1998, p. 24): (from a sterile science towards cross-
fertilizing debates in social theories).
a) the re-active approach has given way to one
that is more pro-active – see the concept Charles Kecskemeti (Károly Kecskeméti),
of document life cycle management; one of the defining figures of archivistics and
b) in the intellectual paradigm of archival a leading contributor to the international pub-
theory, the emphasis has shifted from the lic discourse on archives for many decades,
document remnants of organizations to the recently wrote about the emergence of a new
original purposes and context of document archival paradigm,8 the origin of which he
production; traced back to the 1950s, affecting almost every
c) the organizational monopoly of archives is essential elements of the theory and practice
a thing of the past – the documents can be of archiving. By contrast, while constructing
archived at the originating organizations the theoretical framework of the long-term ar-
or even in a distributed system; chiving of electronic documents, other authors
is prohibited.
have tried to prove the very permanence of the PRIMARY PURPOSES,

paradigm by demonstrating the adaptability of NEW FUNCTIONS
both the profession’s guiding principles and its
basic rules to the new digital environment (see From the earliest Mesopotamian clay tablets to
Gilliland-Swetland, 2000). After the Austra- the archives of ancient and mediaeval times, the
lians had revived the principle of provenance, two main ideas behind preserving documents
Canadian theoreticians9 proceeded to extend- were the administration of current affairs on
ing it, both to the preservation of the physical the one hand (for example, the production
environment in a manner that verged on the and distribution of the goods, the collection of
archaeological, and to the principle of territorial- taxes), and the attestation of entitlements and
ity, which recommends the continual storage of the safekeeping of official deeds on the other.
the documents where they were originated, in At a superficial glance, it may appear that the
preference to their transfer to an archive. Ana- archives have not changed with regard to these
lyzing the relationship between “heritage” and functions: every office of records, traditional or
“history”, Gábor Sonkoly writes both about the electronic, still continues to store the documents
dilution of the “evidence-based” archives used of current affairs, before handing them over to
by historians in their research, and about the ap- the archives for secondary utilization. It is the
pearance of the documentarians and documents same with the attestation of entitlements: in the
of subjective memory (Sonkoly, 2006, p. 18). course of the legal compensations that followed
Meanwhile, the postmodern theories of en masse after the democratic transition, the
recollection, of both the reflexive and the former proprietors of confiscated property, or
self-reflexive kind, are thriving on the organic their descendents, stormed the archives of the
matter of the primary and secondary intellec- new European democracies in order to obtain
tual material accumulated over the past, both documentary evidence for their legal claims.
decomposing and reinterpreting it, and even However, the attestment of entitlements
competing against one other on the volatile and the preservation of official deeds no longer
market of attention. All these together make a constitute the core function of the classical
favorable soil, and also a fortuitous moment, for portfolio of archives: these are but one element
an analysis of what these intellectual products in a host of other functions. In the first great
usually tend to overlook: i.e. whether the past period of archival history, the attestment of en-
to be decomposed and reinterpreted can truly be titlements played a crucial role: the documents
regarded as homogeneous. However, regardless certifying family descent and titles, along with
of the seductive power that the idea for such the contracts, title deeds, decrees and letters of
a discourse may hold, with its sophisticated donations and privileges legitimizing people’s
and intellectual conceptual apparatus and with control over towns, countries and empires, as
its meandering, Baroque line of thoughts, it well as the various proofs of either ownership
seems prudent that for this analysis we should or lease of landed property, constituted the
first try to find those fundamental criteria and fundamental guarantees of the preservation of
key factors, the constellations of which may, the existing order. And while the violent modi-
according to our current approach, lead to the fication of this order through uprisings, wars,
emergence of new qualities – in our hypotheses, conquests and assassinations was all too familiar
new archival paradigms – in the history of ar- down through history both at the macro and the
chives. And since one of the originating factors micro level, the power of the written word still
in the search for new approaches is the spread proved strong, and continued to grow stronger
of new information technology, it would seem alongside the myths invoked in support of these
natural if we dedicated appropriate attention rights. In fact, so strong was the power of the
to the viewpoints of information management. written word that it endured even through the
is prohibited.
most turbulent times, such as wars, the deposi- professional regulations had both been firmly
tion of kings and violent land seizures – periods established, as codified by the famous Dutch
of various duration, when the realization of the Manual in 1898 (Muller, Feith & Fruin, 1920),
rights recorded in the documents proved impos- which became generally accepted in the first
sible. Even the Jacobins of the French Revolu- half of the 20th century.
tion came to the conclusion that beheading the The next major change in the declared
privileged elite of the Ancien Régime would not objectives of archives became noticeable in
be enough for effecting a definite break with the the period following the Second World War,
past: the documents legitimizing the privileges primarily in the United States, which was left
would also have to be destroyed. Passed in the out of the main stream of the 19th-century ar-
first year of the Revolutionary Calendar, the chival revolution. The emergence of American
same law that abolished all feudal privileges national identity, which was the product of a
also ordered the burning of all the documents quasi-secondary national development, in con-
recording these privileges. This decision then junction with the realization and development
led to a wide-scale destruction of documents of democratic legal principles as codified by the
that lasted for years and resulted in the loss of Founding Fathers and the rapid expansion of the
an enormous volume of documents. modern state’s institutional framework and pub-
Nevertheless, the French Revolution broke lic administration, formed favorable grounds for
new grounds not only in the burning of old the post-war development of American archives,
documents, but also in the formulation of new which was accompanied by the growing prestige
archival politics. To this effect, it institutional- of the conscientious and influential archivists.
ized an idea born in the 18th century, whereby The liberalization campaign launched by the
the nurturing and preservation of the national American archivists in the interest of easier
memory was the duty of the state, while the access to the archives came to exert a profound
instruments of achieving this were the national influence on the European concept, which in
archives and the network of local archives placed the decades following the Second World War
under central direction. The preservation of finally grasped the significance of the idea that
national memory and the representation of the a public office of records should serve not only
state’s inalienable claim to public documents the state, the qualified and privileged academic
thus became the decisive archival functions of researchers, historians and the “official elite”
the new era. In addition, however, the French of the national memory, but also the public at
also enacted an important legal principle, that large, and in principle it should do so by of-
of public transparency, and while it is fair to say fering to the public the same range of services
that their primary motive was to demonstrate that it had previously offered to a select group
the government’s breaking with the previous re- of researchers.
gime, rather than to support historical research, Beginning with the 1950s and 1960s,
it nevertheless also revealed the emergence the Western European countries one after the
of a new demand, that of accountability and other produced laws specifically dealing with
transparency in public affairs.10 archives. These laws codified the handling
The liberal transformation of archival of public documents and the tasks and the
principles took roughly one hundred years institutional system of archives on the one
to complete in Europe. By the end of this hand, while enacting regulations on the use
period, the archival practices had gone from of archive material in a manner that was more
the stage of declarations to the establishment democratic than the earlier ones on the other.
of an infrastructure placed in the service of (Paradoxically, a uniform and complex legis-
researchers; parallel with this – and with the lation is still lacking precisely in the United
active participation of historians – the sys- States. The various provisions regulating the
tem of archival principles and the system of handling of documents, their preservation and
is prohibited.
ways of accessing them, are scattered around purposes and viewpoints of assessing the justi-
in different pieces of legislation and regula- fication for their existence with new, essential
tion.) In the archival regimes of liberal spirit, elements, was sparked off by the spread of the
the legal distinction between researchers and new technologies. And although the demand to
lay users were effectively abolished. From the archive electronic documents already emerged
status of a conferred privilege, getting access in the last decades of the 20th century (first as
to documents, together with the ability to read an exotic novelty heralding new theoretical
and copy them – in other words, the opportunity problems, and then – with the spread of the idea
to discover one’s personal, family, institutional of paperless office – as a source for massive
and national memories – became a right.11 archival problems, both short-range and long-
While it may seem as an anachronistic range), it was not until the turn of the millen-
reversal in the evolutionary process of archival nium that the capacity for processing, storing
legislation, the provision in the Archives Act and transferring information (a technology by
of Hungary, the author’s home country, which then sufficiently advanced to safely meet the
again creates a distinction between research- massive demand for handling data and docu-
ers and laymen, can be justified, or at least ments regardless of location) actually reached
explained, by the specific historical aspects of the level of development, where it was able
the country’s democratic transition. According to present the archivists with a new vision, as
to this Act, those researchers, who can prove well as with other phenomena of cultural and
their qualification by producing some evidence economic globalization.
of their institutional backing, will have access This new vision was making the archives
to documents containing personal information universal – first, with respect to the format,
even in cases when the period of protection medium, genre and content of the documents
have not yet expired.12 Another provision of stored or to be stored,14 second, regarding the
the law sets a different protection period for place and responsibility of storage, and third,
archival documents (not containing personal with respect to the accessibility of the archived
data), depending on whether they originated documents.15 The latter meant that the archived
before or after the democratic transition: the documents (or more generally, data) must be
documents of the old regime become accessible continually accessible on the Internet or its
to researchers after 15 years, in contrast with future successors in such a way that anybody
the documents of the new administration, where can access and use them, anywhere and at any
the corresponding time limit is 30 years.13 time. All those ambitious projects concerning
(Actually, the first category has already become either the digitization of traditional documents
irrelevant, as more than fifteen years elapsed and other intellectual products (books, works
since the democratic transition.) Both regula- of art, etc.) or the archiving of the growing
tions are typical examples of transition rules. volume of documents already produced in a
Designed to speed up the investigation of the digital format – projects envisioned on a scale
past, and also to offer some form of informa- that often seemed startling – in the long run
tion restitution, these provisions have been were all aimed at the idea of making digital
passed on the assumption that the “licensed” information globally accessible.16
scholars, who enjoyed special concession on In summary, therefore, if we were to des-
having access to the sources, would handle ignate the main chapters of archival history
the information thus gained in a legally and outlined above, according to their respective,
ethically more responsible manner. most important or new, archival function,
The last, still ongoing major change, which mission or vision – on the basis of which the
originally compelled archivists to reinterpret archival paradigms, at this point existing as
the principles and rules of their profession working hypotheses, could be built –, the first
and, at the same time, enriched the archives’ chapter would be named the period of legal at-
is prohibited.
testment archives, the second would be called documents that registered and proved these
the period of national archives, the third the increasingly complex relations. According to
period of public archives and the forth, that of the archaeological finds of unburned and burned
global archives. clay, or papyrus paper in the case of Egypt, the
archives continued to fulfill these functions
throughout the ancient history of the Orient
THE KEY INSTITUTION and the Mediterranean.
AND ITS OWNER The owners of the ancient archives were
the emperors and, after the emergence of in-
In order to verify the specificity of the archival
dependent economic units and power centers,
paradigm associated with each of the above-
the local rulers. Throughout ancient history,
mentioned periods, i.e. to see if they essentially
administrative systems governed centrally but
differed from both their predecessors and their
based on common property alternated with
successors, we must study further aspects of the
royal rule concentrating all power and all the
problem, along with their interconnections and
properties; the independent city-states with the
joint impact. Besides the functional changes,
empires founded either on conquests or on the
we must first consider the various stages of the
alliance of cities; systems of state governments
institutional development: What organizations
based on religious power with regimes based
played a key role in the history of archiving; in
on the separation of state and religion – and the
whose – real or symbolic – ownership they were;
management of the early archives had to fall in
and also, who their users were and under what
line with all these changes.
conditions they were able to use the holdings
Private ownership was established very
of the archives.
early on, and the management of private prop-
The earliest archives were presumably
erties required the maintenance of registries,
established for the purpose of carrying out the
while the legality of property transfer neces-
current administrative tasks associated with
sitated the preservation of deeds. And while
the production and distribution of goods in
the various forms of public ownership survived
Mesopotamia, as well as in the lands that now
(mainly for the benefit of the master nations
form the territories of Turkey, Syria and Iran.
and the free individuals making up their social
In current terminology, they would probably
elites), public affairs as we know it today – the
qualify as records offices, rather than archives.
res publica – only existed for a relatively brief
With the passing of time, however, the status
period in antique democracies, and it only af-
of documents changed, first into that of semi-
fected a small fraction of the population and
current documents, and then of non-current
a limited geographical area. It was in these
ones; to the areas of production and distribu-
republics of lively public involvement that the
tion, the branch of treasury management was
community-owned public archives and their
added, the chronological dimension of which
system of symbols appeared, on which the
served the economic interests of retrievability
regime based its fundamental legitimacy and
and reusability alike (and also, the interests of
legality. The word origin is derived from the
information and knowledge management), as
Greek word archeion, while the more practi-
well as the measurability and demonstrability
cal expressions tabularium, conservatorium
of power and wealth. Then, in step with the
and scrinium, along with similar designations,
growing complexity that characterized the
referred to the function of preservation and the
diplomatic and commercial relations externally,
medium of this preservation, the written word.
and the public administration and the increas-
Nevertheless, in most part of the ancient
ingly interrelated and interacting economic and
world – to use a modern terminology – the
political entities internally, the archives had
private archive was the prevailing institutional
to meet the demand in storing and managing
form of archiving, not only with respect to
is prohibited.
the form of ownership but also regarding its quired by the principle of popular sovereignty, in
management and use. This trend continued practice they established systems of institutions
in Europe in the mediaeval period of reviving and procedures, which were not even remotely
demand for written evidence for privileges and connected to the idea of the people’s direct
entitlements, after the turbulent centuries of the ownership and access; in fact, individual access
disintegration of the Roman Empire and the was often limited, or even denied, precisely
formations and falls of various empires during in the name, or under the pretext, of “public
the Migration Period, and even in the age of interest”. Although the communalization of the
early modern archives. archives (on the analogy of the communaliza-
The mission and the role that states came tion of the land) was not proposed in the course
to play in the preservation of documents (and of the “liberal revolution of the archives”, the
also, of the national memory) emerged from symbolic transfer of the archives’ ownership
the deliberations of the philosophical, political from state to “public” was expressed more as
and archival movements of the 18th century. In a demand or a goal.
conjunction with the need to meet the growing Parallel with the existence of the archives
demands posed by public administration, the owned by the “public”, some of the archives
efforts to concentrate documents and to central- that remained privately owned (i.e. company,
ize the archives intensified, in many cases even family, foundation, and church archives) also
at the cost of ignoring the logic of the original became – formally or in practice – public,
Fonds and setting up cataloging systems that operating according to the same kinds of prin-
were artificial regarding content and form. ciples and research policies that applied to the
The birth of the French Revolution’s archival public archives. Several archival laws still in
politics was the crucial and symbolic moment in effect contain provisions on the regulation of
this area, too: the Revolution referred the issue private archives in the public interest, partly to
of archives to the authority of the legislature, protect the cultural heritage – by limiting the
establishing the public archives (the National commercial dealing of documents of permanent
Archive and a network of county archives), historical value, for example – and partly to
whose tasks would be the preservation of docu- act in the interest of public transparency, thus
ments belonging to the Republic. introducing the institution of “privately owned
The 19th-century history of archival de- archives open to the public”, in other words,
velopments showed two different tendencies: by encouraging private archives to follow the
the British track was the establishment of the public archives’ code of practice in their own
central Public Record Office for the preserva- policies.18
tion of public documents (ignoring private While the typical archival institution
and regional archives), while the French track throughout the period of national archives is
was characterized by departmental archives the public archive, the corresponding institu-
established and independently managed by tion in the period of public archives is the
the ministries of strong influence – the Foreign “public-access archive”: the combination of
Ministry, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry public archives and privately owned archives
of Colonial affairs. (At the same time, France open to the public. For the customers, these
also developed a uniformly designed national “public-access archives” constitute the inter-
network of archives, which also paid attention face, through which the archived documents
to private archives.)17 become accessible.
The declaration of the archives’ nation-state As for the global archives of the most recent
responsibility did not automatically guarantee era, the key institution that guarantees access
equal service to each member of the nation. is no longer the archive: it is replaced by the
Although the modern republics derived their information/communication service provider.
legitimacy and powers from the people, as re- The pool of such service providers is very large,
is prohibited.
and the services they offer are very broad, rang- customs, as well as the shortages of various
ing from the technological aspects of network lists and tools in the aid of archival research.
access, through the use of storage space and Right until the last couple of decades in the 19th
software applications, right down to the provi- century, the institution preferred by those doing
sion of content and information brokering, with historical research was not the archive but the
various measures of added value. In the case of library. Similarly, for historians accustomed to
today’s lay users of the Internet – unless they the freedom of research (and also, to the ready
start out surfing the Internet from an institutional access to historical studies of often dubious
homepage – the search engine and the Web reliability), the positivist approach with its ap-
surface conceal from them both the source of preciation of archival material as primary source
the documents that are available on the Internet documents was both a novelty and a challenge,
and the identity of the institution holding them while the slow and restrictive archival practice
or providing access to them, while the opera- came as a bitter disappointment.
tion of the service providers is for the most part After the Second World War, the appear-
transparent from the start. As for the intelligent ance of a large new population of archival users
agents that help the users resolve the issue of and the diversification of the traditional type of
context – these are among the most controversial researchers came to characterize the clientele of
and, regarding their impact on the individual the (genuinely, rather than just nominally) public
user, potentially most dangerous components of archives. One of the new groups was formed by
the cyber world19 – these identify and present those personally involved private individuals,
the filtered and interpreted representation of who were already independent and informed
reality as the existing reality itself. enough on the one hand, and who had the nec-
essary legal acumen to feel confident enough
to obtain the relevant archival documents and
THE USERS OF THE ARCHIVES manage their current affairs by themselves,
rather then through their lawyers. Another group
The potential circle of users – the target audience
was made up by the amateur genealogists: some
of archives – was formed in mutual interaction
of its representatives wished to discover the his-
with the above-mentioned institutional and
tory of their own family, while others wanted,
jurisdictional changes. In the first major period
either out of curiosity or on behalf of their com-
the sovereign, the landowners, and/or the reli-
missioners, to find the documents of families
gious leaders, along with their literate servants,
other than their own. These people occasionally
stewards and officials, were the users of the
demonstrated considerable expertise in handling
archives. With the establishment of national
the documentary sources. Yet another group
archives, or public archives in general, and also
was formed by the “amateur” archival users,
in conjunction with the state’s assumption of the
who either wished to study the documents of
task of memory preservation, a two-fold circle
their personal past and their family’s past, as
of archival users formed, which constituted a
compiled by the successive political regimes
significant departure from the previous practice:
of the former dictatorships (including materials
the new public archives served the state on the
such as their employers’ ratings of their work,
one hand and catered to the researchers (his-
which greatly influenced their personal career,
torians) on the other. There were no principal
or the reports that secret police had compiled
difficulties as far as services to state agencies
on them), or tried to discover and publish the
were concerned: however, non-governmental
inner workings of the past regime, out of a sense
researchers were often faced with delays or
of civic duty. Members of the former group
limited access, partly because of the arbitrarily
wished to exercise their rights of informational
imposed restrictions or even bans, and partly for
self-determination20 (an individual right) in
the lack of appropriate procedures, professional
is prohibited.
retrospect, while members of the latter group regulations it reserved the right to grant access
wanted to promote the idea of information to documents pending on the person of the re-
restitution21 (a quasi-collective right). searcher. (In other words, researchers who took
The diversification of the circle of research- a favorable view of the historical personality
ers also produced some spectacular changes in in question received broader access than those
the composition of archival users. On the one who were critical of him.)22
hand, the fields of scholarship diversified, and Having said that, it is not the lay public
on the other, the representatives of such aca- in general that makes up a large percent of the
demic fields, who previously had had no need clientele of the archives, but certain specific
to use archival documents, suddenly decided to groups within them or rather – in a symbolic
visit the archives. In addition to the traditional sense – their representatives. In Charles Ke-
historians, there appeared the researchers of cskemeti’s words, democracy in libraries is
music history, art history, literary and legal direct, while democracy in the archives is es-
history, geography, linguistics, economy and sentially indirect. While a researcher working
political science, sociology and many other in a library may be in need of help from the
disciplines, whose study concerned not just the reference librarians behind the desk, and while
“historical” documents of the remote past, but an archival researcher, lay or expert, may find
also the documentary evidence of recent and what he or she is after without any help, making
semi-recent history. Members of this group a distinction here reveals an important differ-
included the – mostly retired – researchers of ence: with respect to the public transparency
the welfare states, people who carry out their of archived materials, the research activity is
research of local history or company history of an intermediary character, implying that
with great determination and occasionally at a the guaranteeing of access is in the interest of
considerably high standard, even though they not only the academic elite, but, through the
have no relevant academic degree or previous publications, also of the “secondary users”: the
professional experience. A separate category is general public.
formed by the “experts” who are not “research- In the archival paradigm of global/universal
ers” in the strict sense of the word (meaning access, the role of the intermediaries seemingly
they do not conduct academic research), but they disappears and, similarly to so many Internet-
search for answers to their specific questions based services, the process of disintermedia-
concerning their own work and professional tion gains in importance in the case of online
field in the archives: for example, diplomats, archives, too. (Disintermediation is, of course,
functionaries, journalists, architects, exhibition merely apparent: while the archivists may have
curators, etc. disappeared from the picture, along with the
The new groups of visitors showed up source publishers or disseminators, a host of
both in public and “public-access” archives. Internet mediators popped up instead.)
However, once they have registered as public- The appearance of lay Internet users as
access archives, private archives are no longer potential archival visitors has created a new
in the position to pick and choose from the situation, in the sense that context-independent
researchers: they cannot discriminate, positively or “atomic” access to, and re-use of, knowledge
or negatively. One of the early statements of has now become possible on a large scale.
the Hungarian Parliamentary Commissioner It would not be the first time, if somebody
for Data Protection and Freedom of Informa- stumbled upon a book or a document in an
tion was about such a case. To propagate the open-shelf library or archive by chance and
views and works of a certain person from the deduced far-reaching conclusions, or even
country’s recent history, a private foundation academic discoveries, without knowledge of the
set up an archive and registered it as a public actual context. If the context had already been
one. However, in its proposed research policy in the head of the reader, or if another context
is prohibited.
had been there and the “atomic” discovery tual elite. And while it is precisely the demoli-
actuated it, creating new values in the process, tion of earlier contexts (in new democracies
then such a development could not be faulted. complemented with the demand to erode the
Short of that, however, the actual usefulness of fossilized structures of the past regime) that
such research would become rather dubious. such theories aspire to, in order to establish
By contrast, context-independent learning is their own range of validity (and also to ensure
now complemented by a large number of ar- the survival of the “genes of their own logic”),
bitrary elements (one particular aspect of this they nevertheless need to rely on the familiar-
phenomenon is experienced by lecturers, who ity and compliance with the context, with the
are obligated to read essays en masse produced rules of the game (such as language, semantics/
by the method of Internet copy/paste).23 This thesaurus, metaphors, rites, value systems, etc.).
is accompanied by the superficiality of today’s In other words, context-demolishing has its
mass-scale Internet use (anything that fails to own context, denial of rules has its own rules.
download in three second will be aborted; we Nevertheless, the theories of archival
rarely get to the second page of Google hits, reform, which had an entropic effect in de-
and practically never bother checking the tenth composing both the earlier state of orderliness
one, regardless of the actual criterion, which and the possibility of context-independent
determines the ordering of the hits) and this global access (or at least the illusion of it),
phenomenon is gradually losing any value could conceal neither the demand for quality
content: this way of processing information is nor the need for knowledge communities. No
becoming the standard mode of operation of one is a born expert in everything at all times,
our biological and intellectual survival machines which implies that anyone who believes that
in the present environment of the “information the experience of non-contextual Internet use,
society”. despite its joyful and positive effects, can
We can illustrate the importance of con- deliver intellectual products of the same value
text precisely through the range of validity and applicability as the far-from-ideal “indirect
that context-deconstructing theories have. In democracy” of archival institutions, is deluding
post-modernist intellectual circles there exists himself or herself.
a fashionable view, whereby anyone could Concepts and ideas, which predict that
become an artist, scientist, historian or archi- “folksonomy”24 will replace taxonomy, and
vist: one does not have to earn a degree, or to tagging by the users will replace processing
become a qualified member of an institution, by the archivists, are the misleading fantasies
or to master specific knowledge at a required of those archives, which are fighting a losing
level. With some oversimplification, our free battle against the ever growing task of archiving,
choice of identity – or even multiple identities processing and making available of documents
– gives us the freedom to become anybody or in electronic format. Both folksonomy and
anything; in any case, the labeling of categories user-initiated tagging explore important new
is nothing more than an empty convention: we contextual aspects, connections and interde-
are free to give any name to anything. These pendencies in the (secondary) use of archival
thoughts constitute an important and organic documents, thus they represent an important
chapter in the history of ideas (similarly to the collective dimension in research – completing
archival ideas from a century ago) and form but not replacing traditional archival processing.
fully justifiable elements of the individual and Uploading, tagging and commenting documents
group level intellectual arsenal. Such views, of interest are no substitutes for creating a Fonds
however, will only “hold water” within a spe- structure, just as “googling” is no substitute for
cific knowledge community and value system: conducting serious (online or offline) research.
without their context they will appear nothing From the above, we may draw the conclu-
more than the esoteric humbug of the intellec- sion that from the viewpoint of the archives’
is prohibited.
social impact, the statistics relating to the portraits kept as talismans, erotic art or esoteric,
visitors of the archival reading rooms are ritual objects meaningful only to the initiated,
hardly relevant; far more telling evidence can which, thanks to their original function and
be derived from the number and accessibility themes, were accessibly only to a closed circle
of the researchers’ publications, as well as from of people. Naturally, these personal objects,
the number of their actual readers. Similarly which also ended up in museums, were used
misleading are the statistical figures relating in their original function only by one particular
to the number of visitors of Internet sites.25 person and his or her immediate relatives and
All these together also mean that while it friends. Similarly, when it came to the mass-
was already difficult enough to measure the produced domestic objects or the individually
direct social impact of archives within the frame- manufactured yet, in terms of functionality and
work of the public archives’ paradigm, when it production technology, standardized peasant
comes to the paradigm of global archives, the tools, such as scythes, hand-rakes or saddlery,
phenomenon becomes even more difficult and these – along with the related information – were
more controversial. intimately knowable as individual items only
to their owners or users, which was in contrast
with the superficial knowledge the public at
ACCESSIBILITY, KNOWABILITY large had about their general purpose.
The rather broad scale of documents with
The issue of accessibility regarding information
archival potentials ranges from the privately
and knowledge stored in objects and, more im-
used mnemonic tools, such as the shepherd’s
portantly, in written documents, deserve special
staff inscribed with symbols to help him with
attention: the issue on the one hand concerns
his administrative tasks, through the documenta-
the extent to which accessibility forms part
tion of various production units, right down to
of the primary use of the objects, books and
the public documents created in the process of
documents held in the memory-preservation
running an entire state: at a later stage of their
institutions and, on the other hand, it concerns
history, all these items could be transferred to
who, under which conditions, for what pur-
archives, libraries, or museums. And as for the
poses, can have access to the collections held
most recent era, in view of the public function
in libraries, museums and archives during the
of their originators or users, some of these docu-
secondary use.
ments may, still during the life cycle of their
To various degrees, the question of limited
original (non-archival) use, be assigned to the
or unlimited public access – i.e. public access
category of public documents, as it was the case
for a definite or indefinite audience – already
in Sweden, where this practice was codified into
appeared among the original purposes. For
law and became one of the pillars of the Swedish
example, in principle at least, the printed books
constitutional system.26 In this way, the fact
have always been meant for the public, even in
that these documents became accessible to the
cases when they were accessible only to a limited
public did not derive from their transferal to an
public (the initiated, the literati, those in power
archive (in practice, the opposite: documents
or those deemed ideologically trustworthy). The
can temporarily become inaccessible precisely
works of art, which constitute an important cat-
because of their transferal to an archive).
egory within the museums’ holdings, were often
The history of the accessibility of archival
meant for the general public – these include the
documents already forms part of the next stage
public sculpture and paintings, although here,
of their life cycle: the period of secondary use
too, the “public” was sometimes also limited to
– regardless of whether this secondary use is in
the family of the commissioner or the art collec-
harmony with their primary function (e.g. legal
tor. At the same time, there were works of art,
evidence of propriety rights and entitlements),
such as individually commissioned miniature
or not (e.g. linguistic research). For centuries,
is prohibited.
or millennia even, the archives acted as safe Except for the Swedish law of 1766,
deposits for secrets, information monopolies which laid the foundations of what is today
and the information replica of other monopolies: known as the legal institution of the “freedom
their use was reserved for the privileged (the of information” – and for this reason, it mainly
beneficiaries of information monopolies or other applied to current documents –, the earliest
powers). Under certain conditions, the privi- legislative act making the deposition of every
leged may have shared – out of interest, under public document in the National Archives
duress, or as a reward, but in any case always mandatory, and at the same time giving every
subject to limitations – some of their privileges one of its citizens the right to demand a copy
with the outsiders, but they always made sure of any document deposited in the Archive, was
that their information monopoly survived. passed by the French National Convention in
Actually, in a symbolic sense this information the second year of the Revolutionary Calendar
monopoly has survived even in the case of (1794). Nevertheless, it took another forty-eight
the public archives of those – otherwise open years before the Reading Hall of the National
and democratic – countries, where research- Archives actually opened its doors to the pub-
ers are formally required to ask permission. lic, while the road from the birth of the liberal
As a reminder of the fact that their task was to research regulations through the provision of
provide effective and exclusive service either openly accessible finding aids, to Internet ac-
to the proprietor or to the sovereign ruler and cess has been (and continues to be) very long,
his or her administration, numerous archives indeed. When the Council of Europe found it
preserved in their names the adjective “secret”: necessary to publish its Recommendation at the
from the imperial and royal secret archives of the turn of the 21th century, it was in fact an indirect
Viennese Court, through the Scritture secrete of admission of the incompleteness and faltering
Venice, to the Prussian Geheimes Staatsarchiv. pace of the process.29
It was in connection with the latter that, as late
as the mid-19th century, a secret archivist wrote
a secret book, the inaccessibility of which was THE DOMINANT
bitterly lamented by Elek Jakab in his inaugural INFORMATION TECHNIQUES
speech at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences AND TECHNOLOGIES
(1877, p. 26). And although Leo XIII opened
In the era of the first great archival paradigm,
the Vatican’s archives to a small group of lay
writing was the dominant technique of informa-
researchers at the end of the 19th century, to this
tion management – and also of the establishment
day the institution goes by the name of Archivio
of the archives. The demand to make marks,
Segreto Vaticano.27
which led to the emergence of the earliest
The element of secrecy partially continues
systems of writing, probably arose from the
to this day, even in the case of public documents,
expansion and growing complexity of the activi-
regardless of the fact that, according to the
ties related to the production, accumulation and
legal principles of modern democratic states,
distribution of goods. Recorded, structured and
the basic requirement of sharing of information
retrievable information was stored with the help
power would have to be extended to offering
of various systems of marking, which gradually
public access to documents of public concern,
acquired a more and more standardized form,
past and present, and this in turn would require
as well as a more and more general-purpose
that, with the exception of a small class of thor-
character. Originally invented to keep track of
oughly justified cases, public access should be
the variety and quantity of material goods, these
guaranteed to the documents held in archives.
systems of markings eventually became suitable
However, the continued existence of secret
for recording and preserving abstract notions
materials held in archives mostly results from
and relations, such as individual rights, in a way
political decisions or lobbying.28
is prohibited.
that also reflected the syntax and semantics of French Revolution (regardless of the fact that
various languages. its components had already appeared decades
The recorded units of information or data earlier), then the systematic use of meta-data or
blocks to be handled together with regard to meta-information, as well as the public access
content and purpose, eventually became struc- to these meta-information, would constitute the
tured: in today’s usage, they were organized definitive novelty of the related developments
into documents. The separation of documents in information technology.
into individual units was aided by the structur- The question of meta-information came
alization of the data carriers (tablets, scrolls, to acquire crucial importance for two reasons.
etc.). With the development of the document First, the extensive merging of archives, along
preservation function of the archives, the docu- with the accompanying concentration of docu-
ments had to be organized for easier handling; ments, required the creation of new, artificial
in today’s words, they had to be arranged into systems of registry and classification. One
series and document folders according to the well-known example of this was the concept
documents’ originator, type or date of origin. of centralized classification, formulated by
Archival historians have recorded, for example, the French National Archive after the large-
that chronological lists arranged by type were scale burning and discarding of documents,
compiled in England as early as the begin- which brought along the artificial creation
ning of the 13th century; in the 16th century the of series formulated according to criteria of
deeds and diplomas were stored in sacks and both content and form. A few decades later,
strongboxes color-coded according to country the archival concept based on the principle
of origin in the Vatican’s secret archive in Castel of provenance was born, mainly as a critical
Sant’Angelo (by the time the hundreds of deeds reaction to this earlier concept. Secondly, as a
and diplomas were shipped to Paris in 1810 on consequence to the Enlightenment (and at the
Napoleon’s orders, they had been re-sorted into same time, against the history concept of the
chronologically arranged boxes); and under Enlightenment’s philosophers), the positivist
the reign of Maria Therese, the compilation of historiographers whose new approach helped to
repertories by chronology, as well as by “item discover the value of primary sources, were ea-
and materials”, was standard procedure in the ger to study all about these sources – including
Imperial Secret Archives of Vienna (Jakab, information about their existence, whereabouts
1877, pp. 2-13, 16, 34). and nature. This eagerness provided a new
In the case of such broad-scale periodiza- impetus to source publication, which had been
tions of information history, where the first around since the end of the 15th century. It also
“revolutionary change” is linked to the emer- energized 16th and 17th-century source criticism
gence of literacy, the second stage is usually tied and, in addition to boosting the publication of
to the invention and spread of printed books. narrative sources on historical events, it also
With regard to the archives, however, the in- encouraged the publication of document lists,
vention of printed books (i.e. the standardized monographs and source catalogues, irrespec-
mass-production of materialized information tive of the place and institution of document
goods) failed to become a decisive factor of storage. However, both the catalogues, which
information technology, for the simple reason are compiled to help archival users find their
that archives store primary sources, in which way within the institution and locate the docu-
case originality, or at least individuality, is a ments, as well as the source publications, which
necessary requirement – in other words, they are meant to provide general orientation for
must be unique, or if not, there should not be researchers, target only a limited circles of us-
more than a few copies of them. If we were to ers: the educated public, who are aware of the
single out the formulation of modern archival context that is necessary for the interpretation
politics, as spectacularly announced by the of the documents.
is prohibited.
Increasing archival openness after the document catalogues. The next major change
Second World War, together with the widen- concerned the provision of remote access to
ing of the circle of researchers, the opening up meta-information, first via internal networks,
of specialized archives to researchers and the and then through open networks. This was
American archivists’ liberalization campaign followed by mass-scale digitization, which
to further increase archival accessibility, cre- implied the technical convergence of various
ated the need for a new generation of (meta) genres and formats (in conjunction with the
information about the archived documents: growing data storage capacity and declining
the “user-friendly” finding aids. The aim of prices). This coincided with concerted efforts
these finding aids was to guide those lay users by the archives to handle documents originally
and potential users of unknown professional produced in electronic format. Finally, the ready
competency in finding their way around in the availability of terminal equipments (PCs, mobile
archival collections, who do not belong to the equipments) among potential archival users,
knowledge community of archival researchers, along with the establishment of the de facto
and to make it easier for them to locate and use standardized user interfaces and the arrival of
individual documents and complete archival broadband Internet access, opened the way to
material on specific subjects. In other words, accessing this Gargantuan mass of digital in-
such tools apparently rid archival visitors of the formation and meta-information significantly
burdensome requirement of prior knowledge of reducing spatial and temporal limitations.32
context. However, these tools have a double- These new techniques have been designed
edged effect: they make access easier (or faster, to serve members of the knowledge community
to be more precise) on the one hand, while at of professional users and the army of potential
the same time making it more difficult, also, as lay users alike, although the latter group seems
they offer less assistance in interpretation.30 to be the preferred choice, judging by the
There are a number of contributing factors evidence of genre and stylistic characteristics.
that facilitate the creation and dissemination of The most promising solutions in this area are
user friendly information about documents: lo- represented by the combination of different ac-
cal assistance by reference archivists31 trained cess routes, i.e. the context-dependent linking
not just in their own profession, but also in of the “professional” and “lay” finding aids
inter-personal communication; the preparation and research methods. Still, when it comes to
of cross-references between the holdings of getting the most out of the archival services,
various archival institutions; the organization these multi-level tools are no substitutes for
of exhibitions presenting archival materials and/ having a full grasp of the context.
or related events, information and art works;
the publication of information materials; the
organization of public debates; the preparation KEY MOMENTS AND
of teaching materials; invitations to hold his- PROBLEMS
tory or other classes in the archive – in other
If we were to look at the evolutionary history
words, all forms of outreach activities, which
of archives again, and if we were to select the
have also grown in importance since the end
most characteristic key moments of their opera-
of the Second World War.
tion, as well as the most important impact of
The crucial, still ongoing developments
their existence from today’s perspective, then
in information technology of the most recent
in the case of ancient and mediaeval archives
period concern automated data processing,
the element of secrecy would most probably
or more specifically, certain characteristic
feature very high on the list. Secrecy – or to
computer applications. The initial impact of
be more precise, the severely limited access
computerization opened new possibilities
to archival documents and the information
in setting up and searching databases and
is prohibited.
contained within – was in direct consequence physically concentrated in either one a single
to the archival ownership and privileges. building or one group of buildings. This was
The right to having access to the archive, also the cause of its fundamental weakness,
together with the archival practice pursuant to its main vulnerability – meaning not just the
this right, faithfully reflected (and partially still flimsiness of the contemporary data carrying
continues to reflect) the aspects of power rela- media (the fading of texts or the disintegration
tions in information ownership. These include of parchments), but also all the security risks
the following: concerning the archive as a whole. A natural
disaster, a devastating war or a single act of
• the mere existence and availability of re- sabotage was all that was needed to destroy
corded information (it guarantees exclusive all the documents held in the archive, together
use of the information necessary for making with their functions to retain the past and to
decisions and, indirectly, holding onto, and preserve deeds and entitlements.
increasing, power); The idea of public access to archives – in
• the documentation of the origin and spe- today’s terminology: Akteneinsicht –, as it was
cific circumstances of economic, political, conceived at the birth of the modern, national
religious/ideological power (it is meant to archival politics, followed directly from the
justify the rightfulness and legitimacy of intention to do away with the privileges and
the existing order or certain demands); secrecies of the old regime. Nevertheless, the
• the permission to share the information open-access policy essentially remained decla-
and to study the documents held in the ration; instead of implementing the principle of
archive (it guarantees the gracious offer of public access, the key activities of the national
voluntarily granting a privilege); archives were the centralization and merging
• the opportunity to offer a “free interpre- of the documents of the earlier archives estab-
tation”, without outside control, of the lished and managed within organizational and
information contained within the archival territorial frameworks.
documents (in an age, when “evidence” No matter how comprehensive their
was equated not with the proof offered by conceptual basis had been, archival mergers
authentic documents, but with the power ultimately wrecked havoc in the resulting
to persuade). cataloguing systems. Organically developed
local archives, which were dependent on both
(The idea of sharing the information power locality and organization and reflected power
in the context of archival practices only appeared relations, had cataloguing systems based on
in the case of the antique democracies,33 during either content, form or chronology: they were
the spatially and temporally limited existence unsuitable for preserving the entire contextual
of these democracies.) environment necessary for using the documents
In addition to the operational details, each in a centralized, national archival system. It took
of the great periods of archival history had long decades to recognize this problem, which
fundamental problems in connection with both was finally resolved by the announcement of
archiving and the management of the archives. the principles of provenance and the integrity
In the case of the ancient and mediaeval ar- of Fonds. However, the required codification –
chives, the mode of operation based mainly on as we have mentioned earlier – did not follow
secrecy or limited access was accompanied by until the end of the 19th century.
exclusive territoriality – in other words, before In the age of liberalizing archival access,
the arrival of the age of document copying in the most emblematic moment in archival de-
the 18th century, documents typically existed velopments was the opening of public reading
in one copy, stored at one location. And this rooms, accompanied by the enlargement of the
location (the Archives as an institution) was existing reading rooms and the extension of the
is prohibited.
services. In conjunction with the increases in the ally dissatisfied with those legal barriers, which
number and variety of researchers, the range of they consider as an unwarranted restriction of
archival services also grew. Some of the new the freedom of research.
services were designed to meet the demands of The other fundamental barrier in this regard
the professional researchers (actually, this also is the closure of public information or informa-
coincided with the professional interests of the tion of public interest from the public itself. In
archives’ owners and staff, namely, with the addition to state secrets, which are rarely con-
demands posed by processing, labeling and cata- fided to the care of archives, documents marked
loguing the material), while other new services as “confidential” or “for internal circulation”
meant to attract to the archives the previously or “nonpublic information” by various regimes
untargeted lay public (the outreach activities belong to this category. Also, in the case of some
mentioned earlier belong to this category). Most of these documents even nowadays no time
of the modern public archives were transformed limit is specified for the duration of secrecy.
into user-friendly research facilities at the very In addition to this, some countries have further
least, but some of them became cultural centers possibilities to limit document access, on the
or even exciting and attractive popular science basis of such considerations as the long-term
institutions that exhibited both qualities cap- protection of business interests, for example,
tured in the compound word infotainment.34 or the personal wishes of the donor. The spatial
During this period, access to archived and temporal validity of these considerations
material changed in status from a privilege to can be challenged in court with convincing legal
a right, so that public access became the norm arguments. There is, however, one consideration
and secrecy became the exception. Naturally, that is unassailable to legal arguments, and that
the norm of public access only applied in the is political will, as manifested in the legislation
realm of “public”, and was not extended to the itself or the regulations of local authorities. It
domain of “private”. In modern democratic has been confirmed both by the pan-European
states governed by the rule of the law, the monitoring project mentioned earlier and the
information protection of the personal private general experience of researchers that the prac-
sphere (or informational self-determination) tice of locking away the politically sensitive
and the transparency of the public sphere (or documents from the public was a policy not only
freedom of information) are fundamental rights in countries formerly under Communist rule,
of equal stature. The freedom of access to his- but occasionally also in Western democracies,
torical information can be regarded either as as well as in other countries. In summary, there-
an extension of the freedom of information or fore, in the age of public-access archives the
as a new addition to the already existing basic greatest difficulties were caused by the policies
principles of the freedom of information. As a on limiting public access, or more precisely, by
consequence of the specific features of archives the deliberations on where to draw the actual
and the content of the archived documents, this boundaries of these limitations.
freedom would also be extended to documents The evolving archival paradigm of today
that had earlier belonged to the personal pri- has numerous characteristics and components,
vate sphere and, in the case of the documents which make it markedly different from the
of recent history, they perhaps still belong previous periods of archival history. But there
there. The limitation of public access to such can be no doubt that the key factor in the cur-
information is regulated by the data protection rent functioning of archives is information
and archival laws, as these laws constitute one technology, more specifically, digitization and
of the fundamental – although both legal and computerized data processing through the use
legitimate – barriers to researching archival of network technology. The impact of the “IT
documents. Nevertheless, researchers of both revolution” can be felt, directly or indirectly,
the recent and the semi-recent past are gener- in the numerous changes that exert fundamen-
is prohibited.
tal effects on the existence and operation of an illusion, frankly, on philosophical as well
archives. Since the scope of the present work as practical grounds) is the idea that with the
will not allow a thorough discussion of either advancement of digital technology, one day it
the new changes or the problems that these will become possible to archive all information,
changes have brought to the surface, the author which will be stored for eternity, and retrieved
will only mention the most important develop- anywhere and anytime. Even if we momentarily
ments in passing. put aside the difficulties that any analysis of
the problems associated with the capacity to
• The production of a steadily mounting process an “unlimited volume” of information
volume of documents can be attributed would necessarily bring into focus, and of all
to the “technological hunger for informa- the implications it would entail in power rela-
tion”, which in part was created by the tions and social organization, we could still not
computerization process itself (while, at fail to point out that the elements of evaluation
least in part, it was generated by insti- and selection have always formed part of the
tutional developments made possible, or archival work throughout the several thousands
even spurred on, by computerized data of years of its history – there is simply no need
processing and communication); and the for preserving all the information, only because
resulting production of an ever growing it is technically possible. On top of that, the
number of documents, in turn, increased world of information contains many transient
the load on archives. elements, the preservation and publication of
• We are witnessing the disintegration of which would be similar to the freeze-framing of
the structural monopolies on information an unflattering gesture in a sequence of move-
and document management: the handling ments, eliciting the temptation to use it out of
of digitally recorded current documents context. Furthermore, human recollection, with
and their further processing is no longer all its temporal changes, forms a fundamental
the privilege of the organization where the part of our culture and we should not take this
document was originated, but also concern “burden” off of our successors’ shoulders.35
the partner organizations. Still, besides all the philosophical concerns,
• Similarly, the handling of the archived the most important problems are practical.
electronic documents has – de facto, if not Some of them concern the current practices of
de jure – been removed from the exclusive digital information management, while others
jurisdiction of the archival institutions. are related to the mid and long-term storage
New possibilities have been opening up of them. All Internet users are aware of the
for the shared, quasi-communal storage problem caused by the stupendous quantity of
of digitally formatted documents, and digital information that their searches are likely
new business organizations specializing in to produce: a typical search condition can easily
digital data storage have appeared on the produce tens of thousands of hits, of which we
market, driving a steeply rising demand. shall obviously consider no more than a couple
Some experts on modern archival theory of dozen at best. As for the more experienced
would go as far as baptizing the present Internet users, they are also familiar with the
period the “post-custodial” era, when the problems of quality: without a knowledge of the
tasks of storing and processing documents, context, they cannot differentiate results that are
and of providing access to them, is no longer valuable and relevant to their searches from the
reserved exclusively for the national and junk: from information that is obsolete, incom-
private archives. plete, non-authentic, secondary or altered, either
tendentiously or by accident – in other words,
The most courageous vision in the entire they have no way of separating facts from opin-
history of the archives (to us it seems more like ions, the complete picture from a fragmented
is prohibited.
view. A thorough familiarity with the context vided access to over 150 billion web pages, as
has already been one of the prerequisites for they existed at various points in time during
successfully researching traditional archives, their life history. Also, digital archiving has led
but when we are faced with the net’s hopelessly to an increase in the number of genre types in
vast data domain, our searches will only stand archived items, as well as to a convergence in
a chance, if we either have fore-knowledge, their methods of management.
or resort to complex, recursive algorithms, or Naturally, it would be wrong to conclude
deliberately scale down and compartmentalize from the above that from now on all the archives
the realm of the knowable. To ease the prob- and other related institutions would confine their
lem, a number of intelligent tools have been interest to the problems associated with the col-
introduced on the one hand (we have already lection and preservation of, and access to, digital
mentioned a few of them before), while on the documents, thus relinquishing their duties to
other hand there are new inventions aimed at look after and preserve valuable historical docu-
improving the general intelligence of Internet ments in their collections. The situation could
research in the form of built-in devices – such more appropriately be summed up by drawing
as the concept of creating the semantic Web. attention to the fact that these tasks are now
Despite popular beliefs, the problem of the being carried out by new organizations, mostly
medium and long-term preservation of digital established on private initiative, even though
information has not been solved. From the pres- there are also some state institutions entrusted
ervation of “prehistoric” computers, programs with the job of preserving our cultural heritage
and data carriers and the training of “paleo- in digital format, accessible and researchable
computer-scientists”, through the regular and via the Internet.
cumulative task of migration36 right down to
solutions of the “information about the informa-
tion” type37 and the concept of the universal THE EXPERTS AND THE
virtual computer,38 there exist several theoreti- SISTER INSTITUTIONS
cally well-founded alternatives and systems of
Before summing up the conclusions of our re-
criteria,39 while in practice all the options for
view so far, we would like to say a few words
meeting the demand for long-term archiving that
about the social position and role of the archival
are available at present only prolong the lifespan
experts, as well as about the development of the
of existing document formats and guarantee the
archival profession and its relations with the
theoretical possibility of their future migration.
sister institutions of archives, and while on the
In contrast to the vision of being able to store all
subject, we would also like to digress briefly
information for eternity, the prospect we shall
into the development of these sister institutions
be facing for the next couple of decades is that
themselves.
we may lose some of the information meant to
In the first great period of archival history,
be preserved: in other words, we may lose part
the key person was the scribe: a man of letters
of the collective memory.
who was able to record, retrieve and interpret
Nevertheless, there are some very impres-
information. Also, in addition to discharging
sive projects aimed at digitization and archiving,
all the above functions as well as the role of
which are already up and running. Perhaps the
the guardian, the ancient specialist also filled
most ambitious of them all is the Internet Archive
positions known by the names of archiota,
(http:/www.archive.org), which has set itself
archivarius, archivist, chartularius, tabularius,
the task of archiving every single webpage,
camerarius, to name a few. The first archives
which has ever been published (or will ever be
emerged roughly simultaneously with ancient
published in the future). At the time of sending
libraries: the skills of reading and writing and the
this study off to the print, the “time-machine”
job of guarding were the fundamental require-
services of Internet Archive have already pro-
is prohibited.
ments of the ancient experts in this case, too. when the holdings of museums became public
Naturally, the holdings of ancient libraries were collections and – initially on private initiative
handwritten texts themselves, originally pro- but later also strongly encouraged by the gov-
duced in one copy (and therefore apparently met ernments – the expressions of national excel-
one of the crucial criteria of primary sources), lence and feeling; this was also the age when
but these manuscripts were fundamentally dif- the casualness of the earlier private collections
ferent from the archival documents in two other was replaced by the ideals of completeness and
respects. One of the differences concerned the orderliness.
content: while the ancient archives held docu- It was with the arrival of the period of public
ments, which related to everyday life and served archives that the archivist’s role, as we know it
as proofs of existing relations, the libraries col- today, acquired a key importance: in processing
lected works containing ritual texts, chronicles, the archival material and producing the archival
scholarly treaties and religious admonitions. The finding aids; in imparting knowledge about the
other difference had to do with accessibility: context of the material; and in communicating
produced by copying, the ritual texts and other with the researchers. This period also coincides
manuscripts were circulated among the initiated with the formation of the professional organiza-
through the royal or religious channels of the tions (even including its world organization,
privileged classes – this was not typical in the the International Council on Archives) and the
case of archival documents. We can identify international acknowledgement of the archival
the prototypes of today’s museums in the royal work as an independent profession, mainly on
treasuries and the private collections: in the American prompting.40 And this was also the
early days, the skills of writing and reading time when archivistics was recognized as an
were probably not indispensable requirements independent branch of information sciences.
for the professional keepers, while certain Paradoxically, its emergence was stimulated by
skills in assessing the value and tracing the the formation of the new paradigm: the appear-
source of the items were a must. (This, in turn, ance of phenomena that no longer fitted into
necessitated the use of some sort of information the earlier archival paradigm. By comparison,
recording and cataloguing system in the case the recognition of library sciences caused much
of large collections that continued to exist for less of a problem; in fact, the development of
a long period.) information sciences was partly rooted in the
It was no longer the literate guardian who conception and formation of library information
played crucial roles in the era when the national systems; the development of the latter can be
archives were emerging, but the scholar, the regarded a great deal more organic and intensive
politician and the bureaucrat who developed than that of archivistics, which received new
and implemented the new concept. They worked impetus precisely from the growing need to
out the broad-scale mergers of documents and question and re-interpret its own professional
institutions, the new catalogue systems; they rules. It is worth mentioning here that archivists
conducted the discard procedures and docu- had to conduct an earnest campaign to have their
ment burnings; and they laid the groundwork profession recognized as a field distinct from
for modern archival politics. Mainly storing both librarianship and records management.
printed books already (in addition to their By that time the activities of archaeologists
valuable manuscripts), libraries in those days and museum curators had sufficiently been
were functioning as research institutions and separated from those of librarians and archivists,
venues for the practical realization of academic both as far as training and scholarly prestige
freedom, rather more so than the archives, where were concerned, even though museums at that
researchers were often harassed by bureaucratic particular time were more focused on their role
procedures, authorization protocols and arbi- in popularizing the sciences and in attracting
trarily imposed restrictions. This was the age the tourists, than they were on strengthening
is prohibited.
their scientific standing in the general public’s display of objects possible, along with the virtual
perception. The outreach activities came to tour of spaces and even an uncannily “real”
form an indispensable part in the running and experience of physical objects through virtual
maintenance, and even in the existential legiti- reality technology.
macy, of museums holding public collections. In the age of the vision of global access, the
The key professional in today’s archival boundaries between the specialized institutions
management is IT specialist, who can oversee of memory preservation are becoming increas-
the computerization of the archival cataloguing ingly blurred in the eyes of their visitors, al-
systems and whose grasp of the structure and though this should not make the existence of spe-
interconnections of archival material enables cialized knowledge communities in and around
him or her to organize the most characteristic such institutions redundant: there continues to
features of the collection into a database; who be a need for the expertise of librarians, archi-
has the necessary skills to design and execute vists and archeologists/museum curators. The
the digitization of archival material held in problems of researchers will not be solved by
analog format; and who can publish the digi- training Internet infotainment universalists. On
tized material either on the local network, or the contrary: instead of making researchers’ life
on remote networks with limited access or easier, the discovery of new interconnections,
indeed on the Internet. IT specialists also have which is made possible through digitization,
a crucial role to play in library management only adds to their complications by requiring
and, to an increasing extent, even in the fields more trans-disciplinary efforts. Even the expert
of archeology and museology, as reflected in systems and the programs based on artificial
the growing popularity of joint degrees that intelligence, ultimately designed to relieve
combine courses in information science and humans of certain types of intellectual work,
some other special field. need to be kick-started by inputting existing,
The fact that IT professionals play a crucial differentiated, field-specific human expertise.
role in the operation of the three memory-pres- It is also possible to review the development
ervation institutions is not the only reason why of the archival profession and the archivists’
there is a convergence between these areas: an- work in the context of information theory, by
other contributing factor is the informatization examining the activities of the various spe-
itself. In part this is explained by the existence cialists according to the type of informational
of similar problems in the storing, cataloguing, operations they perform (production, storage,
processing, describing and indexing of digitized processing, communication, reproduction
items, and in part by the use of similar modes of etc.).41 If we attempted to associate typical
searching, displaying and accessing. At present, professional groups with various informational
in the area of library digitization and archiving, operations (Karvalics, 2004, p. 59, and, less
the two outstanding programs are associated in detail in English, 2009), then the work of
with the two great rivals, Google and Yahoo: archivists would probably fall into the category
the goals of both companies include the digi- of information storage. But if we tried to ex-
tization and electronic archiving of books and amine the situation in the context of archival
their publication via the Internet. Inspired by the institutions and the functions of archivists, then
example of the Ancient Library of Alexandria, we would find that, along with the storing of
the already mentioned Internet Archive has information, the tasks of processing, present-
attempted another highly ambitious project: it ing or reproducing data also carried primary
wants to collect and digitize all the books that importance throughout the various periods of
have ever been published, and to give them archival development.
online access with full-text search capacity. Constituting one of the basic functions of
The advanced digitization technologies used archival operations, the element of storing has
by museums make the quasi-three-dimensional been a constant and central feature in the history
is prohibited.
of archives. With one exception, all the other In its spirit, the specialist literature on
elements have been added to the function of archivistics – with the only possible exception
storing in a cumulative way down through the of the modern and postmodern studies discuss-
evolution of archives. In the case of the ancient ing the effects of the information revolution
archives, the informational task that preceded – underlines the continuity of archival history.
storing was the task of recording/coding (car- We can find numerous views confirming that
ried out by the scribes): this is the item that current documents are essentially no different
will disappear from the typical portfolio of from their distant predecessors and that the
informational tasks during the later stages of functioning of the organizations (including the
the institutional development of archives. In the state, the churches and the institutions) is con-
age of the emergence of the national archives, tinuous. If we accept that the documents prov-
the task of processing or categorizing (at both ing family descent and proprietary rights have
the micro and the macro level) complements preserved the same function throughout history,
the function of storing. In the age of the public from the Antiquity to the 21st century; that the
archives the task of providing access becomes clay tablets of Mesopotamia are essentially no
the order of the day. Finally, in the age of global different from the administrative records of a
archives another new element is added to the modern business; and that the scribes did the
list: reproduction. (Reproduction means the same work as the inventory makers do today,
same in the case of digital archives as it did than all this may suggest that the archives of the
in the case of book publishing: the differences past and the present are essentially the same.
between the original and the copies essentially The archival profession itself likes to point
disappear.) The acts of access provision and out the existence of continuity and unbroken
reproduction serve the same purpose: to allow development, in a sense underlining the claim
more people to study the archival materials. that archives are for eternity.
The readers should be reminded here that in Nevertheless, we know that great archival
the case of the provision of access to archived revolutions did take place (along with political
materials by archivists the contextual element revolutions that had important effects on the
is the more pronounced (although the work of archives), and that time and again new func-
archivists naturally also include the provision tions, new goals and new operational modes
of physical access). By contrast, in the case did surface in archival history. We also know
of provision of access by IT professionals the of certain elements, which – although they had
technical element is the primary factor (although already formed part of the archival practice
IT professionals themselves can provide certain before, without actually exerting a crucial influ-
types of contextual connections). ence or playing a role that could influence or
transform the decisive elements of the archival
paradigm – suddenly found themselves in the
CONTINUITY OR forefront of archival politics in another period. It
PARADIGM SHIFT? is also clear that a paradigm shift does not nec-
essarily require radical reversals in every area;
In our overview we have discussed the most
sometimes it simply means that the emphasis
important characteristics of the existence,
is being shifted to other aspects and problems.
functions and operation of archives, with a
So which is the more important factor
special focus on the aspect of information
– continuity or periodical division? What is
management. We have also made an attempt
the best way to proceed in understanding the
to identify the permanent and the changing
evolutionary history of archives, with all its
elements throughout the four, hypothetically
permanence and changing – by demonstrating
constructed, major eras.
its continuity or by underlining the specific
is prohibited.
characteristics of the different periods? Our words, the archival paradigms and the related
hypothesis is that the latter approach is more practices – seem to emerge in a pristine form in
helpful. Our intention with the present study our proposed theoretical construction.
has been to demonstrate that, notwithstanding
the evident signs of permanence down through
archival history, new constellations invariably THE PROPOSED
emerged in each of the various historical peri- TERMINOLOGY
ods, and these fundamentally determined the
All that remains for us to do now is to assign a
basic conditions of archival existence: essential
name to each of the four archival paradigms:
changes occurred in the ownership, processing
we already have enough information about
and accessibility of information, and the sum
the entitlement-attestation, national, public
total of these changes produced the distinct
and global archives to set them apart accord-
and well-defined archival paradigms, with
ing to purposes, organizations, owners and
marked differences and unique constellations
target audience of the archival institutions; we
with regard to each and every one of the criteria
can specify the key technologies applied, the
examined in our study.
expertise required and the most typical informa-
Nevertheless, we must face the fact that es-
tion technology operations performed, along
tablishing a one-to-one correspondence between
with the most important practical effects and
the validity of the various archival paradigms
problems associated with them. Also, we can
and the actual historical periods, or assigning
roughly mark out the validity of the archival
concrete historical caesura to the changes in
paradigms on the timeline of history, compar-
the archival paradigms, would be very difficult,
ing them with the temporal development of the
indeed. The French Revolution is perhaps the
memory-preserving sister institutions.
only exception in this regard, but even here some
With the help of Table 1, we would like
of the changes laid down by the archival laws of
to summarize the key elements discussed in
the Revolution had already been in progress in
our analysis.
the various European countries. On top of that,
the new developments in archival practice did
not take place simultaneously everywhere, just SUMMARY
as the historical changes that drove the archival
developments unfolded with different speeds. If we discard the traditional approach to archives
Our analysis so far (with the exception of the based on administrative, legal and historical
archives of the ancient Orient) has implicitly arguments and choose to review their millennial-
been based on the historical developments of the old history from an information-based approach
“advanced” West – even if we encountered dif- instead, we shall find that their historical de-
ferent priorities and examples of asynchronous velopment can be divided into characteristic
development within the various countries and periods, each reflecting a different paradigm.
continents. Nor should we forget that archives These paradigms reveal distinctive individual
ab ovo run in a cumulative mode, both as far as characteristics and a well-defined overall picture
the daily operation and the historical develop- with regard to every one of the key discussion
ment of archives are concerned, which means points; at the same time, however, we shall also
that they carry with them the indirect fossils of find that not all the factors lose their validity
the archival paradigms of the past. Perhaps a at the boundary of the successive paradigms.
historical moment, when these archival constel- Although ever since Kuhn put forward his by
lations could be captured in their purest form, now somewhat inflated notion of paradigm
has never existed at all. Still, the various ideas, shifts, the term has been understood to refer to
abstractions and states of equilibrium – in other concomitant changes of axioms and the sys-
is prohibited.
Users, Impact,
Name of Primary/new Key Key Key Informational
Owner target key Problems Period (Libraries) (Museums)
Paradigm purpose institution technology professional operation

audience element
the ruler/ treasure-
Entitle- proving titles, vulner- ritual texts,
private ar- the cre- owner (and recording + cod- ~3000 houses, pri-
ment-at- properties, writing writer secrecy ability of chronicles,
chives ator h i s o ff i - ing, storing BC– vate collec-
testation power, origin archives copying
cers) tions
preserving
catalogues, preserv-
collective document 18th c. –
meta-in- scholar, poli- ing prov- the place of
memory, pro- public ar- the State, storing + pro- concentra- (French public col-
National the State formation, tician, bu- enance, doing re-
moting his- chives historians cessing tion, struc- Revolu- lections
publication reaucrat keeping search
torical schol- turing tion)
of sources context
arship
user-
public-
friendly
access the State,
finding community
archives historians, public
openness, aids, inter- storing + pro- places; a
(public the “pub- learned or reading access re- tourist at-
Public serving the archival archivist cessing + mak- WW2 – birthplace
archives lic” concerned rooms, strictions tractions
public cross- ing accessible of informa-
and open public (ge- services
references, tion science
private ar- nealogists)
outreach
chives)
programs
Table 1. Archival paradigms
archiving context,
storing + pro- “every- quantity/
digitization, digitization,
service internet us- computer, IT profes- cessing + mak- thing”, quality,
Global global access “free” 2000? – conver- conver-
providers ers, laymen internet sional ing accessible + digitizing, preserving
gence gence
multiplying preserving electronic
“forever” documents
is prohibited.
tem of rules within a relatively brief interval, and a reappraisal of our older ideas, if nothing
history has shown us that different paradigms more. It may help us develop a better under-
or combinations of paradigms can coexist for standing of the history and role of archives, a
longer periods. better idea about our current position along
The ongoing debates on the questions of the timeline of memory, and a better way of
memory preservation, the use of information and archiving our present ideas.
knowledge elements, its transforming environ-
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közép- és hosszú távú archiválása . [Middle and long- 2004) – emphasize the differences, most no-
term archiving of electronic data files] In Dömölki, tably between primary and secondary use of
B. (Ed.), Égen-földön informatika – az információs documents.
társadalom technológiai távlatai [Informatics in 3
It should be noted here that the concept of the
Heaven and Earth – Information Society Technology “records continuum” annihilates the difference
Perspectives]. (pp. 461–483). Budapest, Hungary: between current and non-current documents
Typotex. from another perspective: inspired by electron-
Székely, I. (2009). Freedom of Information versus ic recordkeeping, the continuum of creation,
Privacy: Friends or Foes? In S. Gutwirth, Y. Poullet, classification, scheduling, maintenance and
P. De Hert, C. de Terwangne, & S. Nouwt (Eds.), use of records constitutes a single domain,
Reinventing Data Protection? (pp. 293-316). Berlin: requiring a single profession to manage, as
Springer Science+Business Media B.V. first conceived by Ian Maclean – see Upward
(1994) –, later by Richard Cox and others from
Upward, F. (1994). In search of the continuum: the Pittsburg school – see for example Cox
Ian Maclean’s ‘Australian Experience’ essays on (1995).
recordkeeping. In S. McKemmish, & M. Piggott
4
According to mainstream archival theory,
(Eds.), The Records Continuum. Ian Maclean and the a record should be “Complete, Fixed, Or-
Australian Archives First Fifty Years (pp. 110-130). ganic, Contextual, Authoritative/Official and
Canberra, Australia: Ancora Press in association Unique”, these are the six main conjunctive
with Australian Archives. Retrieved October 15, criteria of recordness (author and date of origin
2010, from http://ourhistory.naa.gov.au/library/pdf/ are sub-conditions of “Complete”) – see Ann
Records_Continuum_Upward.pdf Pedersen’s educational website at John Curtin
Prime Ministerial Library, Australia, http://
Wu, H. J. P., & Leng, Th. Y. (2005). Weblog archives: john.curtin.edu.au/society/archives/manage-
Achieving the recordness of web archiving. In Pro- ment.html. Several authors are questioning
ceedings of ICHIM 05 – Digital Culture & Heritage. the validity and importance of these criteria in
Paris: Bibliothéque nationale de France. Retrieved the area of information recorded in electronic
October 15, 2010, from http://www.archimuse.com/ format, e.g. researchers like Wu & Leng (2005)
publishing/ichim05/Wu.pdf focusing only on weblogs; archival experts
like Hofman (as early as 1996) who asked
Zeleznikar, A. P. (2004). General Introduction to whether an apple could be a record (and his
Artificial Consciousness. The Philosophy of the answer was essentially yes); or practitioners
Informational, Formalization, and Implementa- like Greene et al. (2004) who are questioning
tion. Retrieved October 15, 2010, from http://lea. the validity of competing archival theories
hamradio.si/~s51em/book/artifico.pdf alike and suggest us to re-assert “the broader
and more practical” approaches.
5
Instead of relying on the criteria of recordness,
the author prefers to use the simple concept of
Endnotes documents, according to which any recorded,
structured and retrievable information that
1
Charles Kecskemeti’s (Károly Kecskeméti) forms a single unit can constitute a document,
quoted article – Archives and Memory – is independent of the actual medium or genre. In
one of the studies inspired by a 2004 confer- this way, an undated letter or memorandum
ence, “Cultural Heritage, Cultural Commons” written by an unknown author would also
organized by the National Széchényi Library qualify for an archived document, as such a
in Budapest, Hungary, on various aspects of document may provide important linguistic
preserving memory. The studies have been or historical evidence and its relation to other
documents might create new contexts.
is prohibited.
6
See John Roberts’s much quoted and criticized world what they think is the existing total-
article “Archival theory: Much ado about ity, and since filtering is being fine-tuned
shelving” (Roberts, 1987). dynamically, according to the preferences of
7
For example, the archival conferences of the user (in the case of Google what most users
Stockholm on provenance and the concept “want to find”), the individual user’s chances
of record (1996). are ever decreasing for finding alternative
8
Charles Kecskemeti’s writing (2005) has information and views, and the alternative
been the immediate inspiration for the ideas opinions’ chances are ever decreasing for
expounded in the present article; I would like becoming dominant some time. Second, it is
to use this opportunity to express my gratitude the intelligent agent which possesses the most
for his valuable comments. detailed profile of the user; in turn, the user
9
For example, Laura Milla, Ian Wilson et al.; has no means to learn how (and for whom)
for more on that, see Terry Reilly (2005, pp. the agent works and what conclusions it draws
3-5). from the behavior of the user.
10
This demand was already incorporated in the About potential solutions to the second prob-
1789 Declarations of Human and Civic Rights. lem, see the Common Position on Intelligent
11
Regardless of what has been said here, there Software Agents of the International Working
are ten European countries where (according Group on Data Protection in Telecommunica-
to a pan-European research to be cited later) tions (1999), or Bygrave (2001).
obtaining access to otherwise unclassified 20
A fundamental right of the individual to
documents still requires the submission of a determine in principle the disclosure and use
formal request, even though the application of his/her personal data; a concept originated
is a mere formality in most of the cases and from the landmark decision of the German
the archives automatically grant permission to Federal Constitutional Court (1983).
the applicants (Kecskeméti & Székely, 2005, 21
Understood as the virtual compensation of
pp. 23-25). the society of former dictatorships for being
12
Act LXVI of 1995 on Public Documents, deprived of vital information about the past
Public Archives, and the Protection of Mate- political regimes.
rial Held in Private Archives, (Ltv.) Section 22
Statement on the research regulations of
24 (2)–(6). privately owned public archives, 54/K/1995
13
Ltv. Section 22 (1) (Majtényi, 1998, pp. 344-350).
14
See György (2005). 23
Naturally, global access, with its user-friendly
15
Greene et al. (2004), albeit from a general online tools, makes life easier for the academic
perspective, are criticizing this concept, saying elite, too, but in this case it is the appearance
that “the universal nature of archives is neither of lay archival users that brings fundamental
universal nor natural”; instead, archives are new changes here.
social creations for social purposes, thus refer- 24
Collaborative classification or tagging, a
ring to the social theories regarding archival practice and theory, which became popular
appraisal (Eastwood, 1992). in parallel with the rapid spread of social
16
Naturally, no one should be under the illusion software applications and Web 2.0 services.
that the democratization of the technology 25
As one anecdotic example, we would like to
would automatically go hand in hand with mention the time when the OSA Archivum
the democratization of access to information. (Open Society Archives at Central European
The downloading of classified or restricted University, http://www.osaarchivum.org)
documents over the Internet will still not be put up the virtual version of its exhibition
possible for members of the general public. “Sex and Communism” on its webpage. (The
17
By now, the two models have converged some- exhibition was designed to document the
what: Sweden has abolished the independent attitudes of the former regime towards such
archives of its Foreign Ministry and Ministry topics as sexual relations, people’s dresses
of Defense, while in 2003 Great Britain set up at work, abortion, nudity, deviant behavior,
its National Archives of jurisdiction extended private parties, etc.) There was an immedi-
to the entire Kingdom. ate and significant increase in the number of
18
In the US libraries of private universities fulfill people visiting the website. A quick analysis
a similar function. revealed, however, that the majority of the new
19
The controversial and potentially dangerous visitors were Internet users who did search on
nature of these intelligent agents is two-fold. the word “sex” and landed on the homepage
First, users get only a filtered version of the indexed highly by Google by accident. It is,
is prohibited.
of course, possible to filter out the majority the subject of the actual exhibition happened
of such users from the statistics, because they to be the culinary culture of the immigrants).
only enter once and they leave immediately, Entitled Memento, the magazine published
but some of them might be more persistent, by the national archives is a high-quality
making repeated attempts to find more sex popular-science magazine, which explains
and less communism. (and advertises) the workings and the use of
26
The so-called Freedom of the Press Act, the archives to the general public.
regulating the freedom of expression and the 35
In opposition to the vision of “eternal memory”
public access to official documents (originally and its power/political/business marketing,
enacted in 1766) is one of the four fundamental several authors bring up the social advantages
laws constituting the Swedish Constitution. of forgetfulness: “the right to forget and the
27
An incident, which occurred in connection with right to be forgotten” (Mayer-Schönberger,
a pan-European research led by the present au- 2009; Blanchette & Johnson, 2002). And while
thor, put this openness in a somewhat ironical in a country, which completed the transition
perspective, when the Vatican’s archives was from dictatorship to democracy only recently,
asked to provide data on its own accessibility this idea may have a sinister ring to it, we
– there was no answer… Commissioned by must not forget that a new beginning, a new
the Council of Europe, the monitoring proj- life, or a new identity – in other words, the
ect covered the national archives, academic spatial and temporal limitation of communal
researchers and civil societies of 48 countries. memory – often formed an integral part of
For its major findings, see Kecskeméti and the early inventories of individual human
Székely (2005). freedoms.
28
About the problems of opening up the ar- 36
From time to time, the digital data files cre-
chives of former dictatorial regimes, see the ated or stored in an earlier format have to be
UNESCO/ICA report (Quintana, 1997), about converted (migrated) to the up-to-date format,
the specific problems of the post-1989 archival while preserving the functionality, appearance
situation see Kecskeméti (1999), and on the and authenticity of the original as best as pos-
spectacular opening and re-closing of Russian sible.
archives see Pustintsev (2000). 37
In this case, what is actually being stored is
29
Recommendation on a European policy on not the information itself, but the instructions
access to archives (2000). to reproduce the information.
30
Please, do not misinterpret our meaning: 38
According to this concept, the same standard-
“professional” access requiring familiarity ized coding procedure should be used for the
of context does not necessarily have to be creation of all future digital files, in order to
awkward and cumbersome, just as the tools ensure that they be uniformly back-traceable
designed to be used by amateurs do not have and re-useable regardless of the actual envi-
to be unprofessional and shallow. ronment.
31
They are archivists, who, similarly to reference 39
For more on this, see Székely (2005).
librarians, help researchers with guidance and 40
In Europe the profession itself was sym-
advice. bolically recognized by the establishing of the
32
Having said that, it is precisely the medium École Nationale des Chartes in the first half
and long-term archiving of digital documents, of the nineteenth century, with the mission of
which is posing some fundamentally new training archivists and librarians.
problems that have adequate solutions only 41
It deserves attention that in professional
in theory at the moment. literature the notion of informational (or
33
As Rhodes (2001) phrases it, “Two things could information) operation is dominated by its
happen to a public document in a Greek state: military and law enforcement interpretation,
the text could be deposited in an archives; and in the context of “information warfare” and
it could be displayed temporarily in a public similar areas. Among those who use the no-
place” (p. 33). tion from a theoretical approach the majority
34
For example, the National Archives of Aus- follow the Shannon–Weaver school, i.e. the
tralia is so popular among children that they mathematical-computational abstraction of
literally drag their parents inside so that they sending, receiving and manipulating informa-
can listen to the recorded voice of one or the tion.
other famous ship captains, while the par- Those who examine informational phenom-
ents themselves are having fun at the actual ena within the thesaurus of the information
exhibition (at the time of the author’s visit, society studies, tend to overemphasize a single
is prohibited.
element of the spectrum of informational algebraic rigor (Zeleznikar, 2004); neverthe-

operations: communication – in harmony less, the comprehensive theory of the role of
with the present marketing boom in “com- informational operations in the information
munication studies”, “communication rights”, society is still missing.
or “communication” as such. Some cognitive The author is of the opinion that high level
scientists regard human mind as a single informational operations such as creating,
informational operation (Palmer & Kimchi, duplicating, storing, sharing, forwarding, de-
1986); others treat high level informational stroying, modifying etc. information can more
operations as part of the organizational com- adequately describe and explain the existence
petencies (Riverin-Simard & Simard, 2009); of informational activities, professions and
there are comprehensive philosophical works institutions than the communication-based
analyzing “the informational”, combining approach (see, for example, Székely, 2009,
philosophical notions such as consciousness, p. 308).
meaning, informational emergentism etc. with
Iván Székely, social informatist, is an internationally known expert in the multidisciplinary fields
of data protection and freedom of information. A long-time independent researcher, consultant
and university lecturer, as well as former chief counsellor of the Hungarian Parliamentary
Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, Székely is at present Counsel-
lor of the Open Society Archives at Central European University and associate professor at the
Budapest University of Technology and Economics. His studies and publications, as well as his
research interests are focused on information autonomy, openness and secrecy, privacy, identity
and archivistics.
is prohibited.
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Article in Journal of Information Technology Research · October 2010

Genci Capi Kazuhisa Mitobe

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Application of deep learning in assistive robotics View project

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Associate Editors: Suash Deb, C.V. Raman College of Engineering, India

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35 ERP Systems in Hospitals: A Case Study

51 The Four Paradigms of Archival History

Guest Editorial Preface

industries. Taken together, they demonstrate Stephen J. Andriole

Stephen J. Andriole is the Thomas G. Labrecque Professor of Business Technology in Villanova

Comparing the Effect of

1. Introduction specification should reflect an understanding

Figure 1. Use case diagram (ATM)

Figure 2. A cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer & Moreno, 2002)

Figure 3. An information processing model (Mayer, 1989)

• Comprehension Performance • Control Variables

5.2 Participants (text, text combined with a simple diagram,

Figure 5. ANOVA results of control variables and ease of use scale

Figure 6. MANCOVA analysis of both cases (ATM&HSS)

Figure 7. Pairwise comparisons between the treatment groups

comparison between the comprehensibility of References

Balsam A. Mustafa is a lecturer of Business Information Systems in the school of Engineering,

A.1 Pre- test questions (knowledge of method)

• Prior use of analysis methods.

Have you ever used Use Cases to model a business

• Familiarity with analysis methods.

For how many months have you been familiar with

Competence with Use Case models (Text/Diagram)

Very Low Low Average High Very high

Withdraw cash Y/N

A simulation of an Automated Teller Machine(ATM)

Primary Actor: Customer

The ATM is in service

Success Guarantees: Customer determined amount of funds successfully withdrawn

Post- test questions (ease of interpretation)

1. I believe that it was easy for me to understand what the

Use Case model was trying to model 1-5

2. Overall, I believe that the Use Case model was easy to

3. Learning how to read the Use Case model was easy

4. Using the Use Case model was often frustrating 1-5

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Evolutionary Algorithm, Humanoid Robot, Motion Planning,

1. INTRODUCTION is generated such as the real ZMP trajectory

2.2 Motion Objectives

Figure 1. Five-link humanoid robot

y = f (x ) = ( f1(x 1,......x m ),...,

The same fitness value is assigned to all

3.1 Nondominated Sorting 4. RESULTS

Figure 2. Flowchart of NSGA II

Table 1. “Bonten-Maru” humanoid robot link parameters