• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.6
• /
• pp.225-262
• /
• 2002

Chief Consultant Archives Government Archives & Records Service -table of contents- 1. Introduction 2. Relationship of Historical Studies and Archive 3. Relationship of Archives and Archives 4. Conclusion; Historians, Archives, and Archivists, and Their Roles This essay is mainly written for historians who may have "little or limited experience" in dealing with archives and archivists in their course of historical research. It may sound very ridiculous to say that "historians have little or limited experience" in using archives but it is also true that many Korean historians have depended on various compiled editions of historical materials or personally donated and/or collected materials when they do research, rather than they would visit archives and search for the materials by themselves. This is the main reason for that the public archives in Korea have not served historians well and effectively, and vice versa, that historians have not visited archives sometime with no knowledge of archives, and have not requested opening of archives for their research. It is a simple fact that historian's study depends on the records he/she uses. Without records, there should be no history. Use of archives for historical research is a common thing and a must in modern archives. Records are selected to be preserved in archives for their preservation as well as their future use. Who select the records as archives? Archivists do mostly. Then, what are the criteria for the archivists to chose records as permanent preservable archives? Answers to this fundamental question have been provided by many historians and archivists. The closest answer may be that selecting archivists would be better trained and equipped with historical research and knowledgeable of the major trends in historical research. With his/her own experience of historical research and tracing the trends of historical studies and materials used in the historiography, they could chose better and appropriate records for future use using their prudence and discretion. It also means that historians have had influence on archivists in their selecting archives by providing the theme and context of historical studies of the time. Though not necessarily becoming a historian themselves, selecting or appraising archivists should understand the process of creating the records and should know how they become archives. This is a precondition to become a good archivist. But that's not all. They must know how the archives are used and what archives are used for what purposes. Among many other roles of modern archivists, selecting and describing the archives are the foremost tasks of an archivist. Archivists therefore developed modern methods to select future archives based on functional analysis and records series concept rather than a record file or item as a unit of selection. Historians are users or consumers of the archives held in the archives building or repository. The quality of their study depends on the "quality" of the materials they use. With the help of archivists not to mention of reference service, historians owe much to archivists in having an access to the materials they need, intellectually and physically. Too many closed archives and too long closed archives in the archives repository would benefit neither historians nor archivists. However, archivists can mostly react only to archive requests and demands made by historians for more wide accessibility. Using the FOIA, as in the U.S., or the Information Opening Act, as in case of Korea, historians can promote the use of historical materials as well as promoting accountability and transparence for the benefit to society as whole. In this context, it is vary desirable to establish a close professional relationship between historians and archivists even in the age of information society. At present, historians need more understanding of operation and importance of archives while archives administration need to realize the potential archival demands from research community and civil movement for clean government.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.12
• /
• pp.81-135
• /
• 2005

The release of administrative information has been the challenge of our age following the maturation of democratic ideology in our society. However, differences of opinion and conflict still exist between the government and private sectors regarding the issue, and it seems that the technical and policy-related insufficiencies of information and record management that actually operate the release of information are the main causes. From the perspective of records management, records or information are variable in their nature, value, and influence during their life span. The most controversial issue is the records and information in the current stage of carrying out business activities. This is because the records and information pertaining to finished business are but evidence to ascertain the past, and have only a limited relationship to the ideal of the 'democratic participation' by citizens in activities of the public sector. The current information release policies are helpless against the 'absence of information,' or incomplete records, but such weakness can be supplemented by enforcing record management policies that make obligatory the recording of all details of business activities. In addition, it is understood that the installation of 'document offices("Jaryogwan")' that can manage each organization's information and records will be an important starting point to integrate the release, management, and preservation of information and records. Nevertheless, it seems that the concept of 'release' in information release policies refers not to free use by all citizens but is limited to the 'provision' of records according to public requests, and the concept of 'confidential' refers not to treating documents with total secrecy but varies according to the particulars of each situation, making the actual practice of information release difficult. To solve such problems, it is absolutely necessary to collect the opinions of various constituents associated with the recorded information in question, and to effectively mediate the collective opinions and the information release requests coming from applicants, to carry out the business more practically. Especially crucial is the management of the process by which the nature and influence of recorded information changes, so that information which has to be confidential at first may become available for inquiry and use over time through appropriate procedures. Such processes are also part of the duties that record management, which is in charge of the entire life span of documents, must perform. All created records will be captured within a record management system, and the record creation data thus collected will be used as a guide for inquiry and usage. With 'document offices(Jaryogwan)' and 'archives' controlling the entire life span of records, the release of information will become simpler and more widespread. It is undesirable to try to control only through information release policies those records the nature of which has changed because, unlike the ones still in the early stages of their life span and can directly influence business activities, their work has finished, and they have become historical records or evidences pointing to the truth of past events. Even in the past, when there existed no formal policy regarding the release of administrative information, the access and use of archival records were permitted. A more active and expanded approach must be taken regarding the 'usage' of archival records. If the key factor regarding 'release' lies in the provision of information, the key factor regarding 'usage' lies in the quality and level of the service provided. The full-scale usage of archival records must be preceded by the release of such records, and accordingly, a thorough analysis of the nature, content, and value of the records and their changes must be implemented to guarantee the release of information before their use is requested. That must become a central task of document offices and "Today's information" will soon become "yesterday's records," and the "reality" of today will become "history" of the past. The policies of information release and record management share information records as their common objective. As they have a mutual relationship that is supplementary and leads toward perfection, the two policies must both be differentiated and integrated with each another. It is hoped that the policies and business activities of record management will soon become normalized and reformed for effective and fair release of information.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.12
• /
• pp.179-235
• /
• 2005

In this article, the task of evaluating the official documents that were created and issued by the Joseon Governor General office during the Japanese occupation period, with new perspectives based upon the Macro-Appraisal approaches developed by the Canadian scholars and personnel, will be attempted. Recently, the Canadian people and the authorities have been showing a tendency of evaluating the meaning and importance of a particular document with perspectives considering the historical situation and background conditions that gave birth to that document to be a more important factor, even than considering the quality and condition of that very document. Such approach requires the archivists to determine whether they should preserve a certain document or not based upon the meaning, functions and status of the entity that produced the document or the meaning of the documentation practice itself, rather than the actual document. With regard to the task of evaluating the official documents created and issued by the Joseon Governor General office and involved the city plans devised by the office back then, this author established total of 4 primary tasks that would prove crucial in the process of determining whether or not a particular theme, or event, or an ideology should be selected and documents involving those themes, events and ideologies should be preserved as important sources of information regarding the Korean history of the Japanese occupation period. Those four tasks are as follow: First, the archivists should study the current and past trends of historical researches. The archivists, who are usually not in the position of having comprehensive access to historical details, must consult the historians' studies and also the trends mirrored in such studies, in their efforts of selecting important historical events and themes. Second, the archivists should determine the level of importance of the officials who worked inside the Joseon Governor General office as they were the entities that produced the very documents. It is only natural to assume that the level of importance of a particular document must have been determined by the level of importance(in terms of official functions) of the official who authorized the document and ordered it to be released. Third, the archivists should be made well aware of the inner structure and official functions of the Joseon Governor General office, so that they can have more appropriate analyses. Fourth, in order to collect historically important documents that involved the Koreans(the Joseon people), the archivists should analyze not only the functions of the Joseon Governor General office in general but also certain areas of the Office's business in which the Japanese officials and the Koreans would have interacted with each other. The act of analyzing the documents only based upon their respective levels of apparent importance might lead the archivists to miss certain documents that reflected the Koreans' situation or were related to the general interest of the Korean people. This kind of evaluation should provide data that are required in appraising how well the Joseon Governor General office's function of devising city plans were documented back then, and how well they are preserved today, utilizing a comparative study involving the Joseon Governor General office's own evaluations of its documentations and the current status of documents that are in custody of the National Archive. The task would also end up proposing a specialized strategy of collecting data and documents that is direly needed in establishing a well-designed comprehensive archives. We should establish a plan regarding certain documents that were documented by the Joseon Governor General office but do not remain today, and devise a task model for the job of primary collecting that would take place in the future.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.17
• /
• pp.203-245
• /
• 2008

Although a few years have passed since the importance of the public record management became the subject, the management of the minutes which is produced from the deliberation and decision-making process of an important policy relatively was been neglected the while. When institutionally inspecting at present, the minutes production is based upon Record Management Law, and the minutes opening is based upon Freedom of Information Act. Although the minutes must be made out according to Record Management Law, it is not well operated. So, the minutes formally is made out and there was actually the important minutes excepted from the management object. Opening of the minutes made by Article 9 of Freedom of Information Act has the problem that be used as a basis of dividing unfairly into closed opening because the reason of the closed opening is vague. This study analyzes the problem of production and opening of the current minutes. It also considers Sunshine Act in USA and suggests a institutional ways for production and opening of Korean minutes. We can think of two institutional ways for production and opening of the minutes. One is making a separate law like Sunshine Act in USA. The other is revising the existing laws. In reality it's very difficult to make a new law for minute production and opening. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to suggest the way for revising Record Management Law and Freedom of Information Act that include minutes related regulations. The record must be fundamentally produced and opened for a nation and people as public records is the records of the nation and people as well as an authority which produced those records. If the minutes is produced and opened from a institutional change through the revision of Record Management Law and Freedom of Information Act, the minutes can not only help the responsible administration to realize but be utilized to important historical records as a basis data of an important policy decision-making.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.23
• /
• pp.3-43
• /
• 2010

Finding aids are tools which facilitate to locate and understand archives and records. Traditionally there are two types of archival finding aids: vertical and horizontal. Vertical finding aids such as inventories have multi-level descriptions based on provenance, while horizontal ones such as catalogs and index are tools to guide to the vertical finding aids based on the subject. In the web environment, traditional finding aids are evolving into more dynamic forms. Respecting the principles of provenance and original order, vertical finding aids are changing to multi-entity structures with development of ISAD(G), ISAAR(CPF) and ISDF as standards for describing each entity. However, vertical finding aids can be too difficult, complicated, and boring for many users, who are accustomed to the easy and exciting searching tools in the internet world. Complementing them, new types of finding aids are appearing to provide easy, interesting, and extensive access channels. This study investigates the development and limitation of vertical finding aids, and the recent trend of evolving new finding aids complementing the vertical ones. The study finds three new trends of finding aid development. They are (i) mixture, (ii) integration, and (iii) openness. In recent days, certain finding aids are mixed with stories and others provide integrated searches for the collections of various heritage institutions. There are cases for experimenting user participation in the development of finding aids using Web 2.0 applications. These new types of finding aids can also cause some problems such as decontextualised description and prejudices, especially in the case of mixed finding aids and quality control of user contributed annotations and comments. To solve these problems, the present paper suggests to strengthen the infrastructure of vertical finding aids and to connect them with various new ones and to facilitate interactions with users of finding aids. It is hoped that the present paper will provide impetus for archives including the National Archives of Korea to set up and evaluate the development strategies for archival finding aids.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.21
• /
• pp.247-281
• /
• 2009

Local governments in Korea, sixteen in total, shall establish local government archives to and manage preserve their permanent archives to comply with the Public Records Management Act amended in October 2006. National Archives of Korea(NAK) directed the local governments to recruit legally qualified archivists by the end 0f 2006 and to plan on the establishment and operation of the local government archives by the end 2007. However, none of the government archives was established by far. Government officials in NAK and the local governments raised the limits of the budget and human resources. What is more serious is that they don't concern why the archives are necessary and what missions and functions the archives should have. In this paper, I summarized the present situation and problems in establishing the local archives, and what we will do to establish normal government archives. First, local governments should establish "local government records commissions" and employ qualified archivists. The local government records commission should comprise concerned and qualified members. The records commission, as a policy and decision-making body, should make plans and implement the plans to establish the local archives, establish professional training programs to produce qualified archivists, promote local archives community activities, determine operational issues, and make a long-term development plan satisfying local demands. Second, the local government archives share existing repositories of NAK. Third, after the establishment of the archives, the local archives should perform normal records and archives management of the local governments as records acts mandate, do general records surveys and appraise the records created in the local governments. The local government archives should collect valuable local archives including private archives, and arrange and make usable them to provide access. They also promote and coordinate various cultural heritage community activities related to the local archives.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.22-37
• /
• 2018

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) have attracted considerable attention both at home and abroad. The UAV is equipped with a camera that shoots images, which is advantageous for access to areas where archaeological investigations are not possible. Moreover, it is possible to acquire three-dimensional spatial image information by modeling the terrain through aerial photographing, and it is possible to specify the interpretation of the terrain of the survey area. In addition, if we understand the change of the terrain through comparison with past aerial photographs, it will be very helpful to grasp the existence of the ruins. The terrain modeling for searching these remains can be divided into two parts. First, we acquire the aerial photographs of the current terrain using the drone. Then, using image registration and post-processing, we complete the image-joining and terrain-modeling using past aerial photographs. The completed modeled terrain can be used to derive several analytical results. In the present terrain modeling, terrain analysis such as DSM, DTM, and altitude analysis can be performed to roughly grasp the characteristics of the change in the form, quality, and micro-topography. Past terrain modeling of aerial photographs allows us to understand the shape of landforms and micro-topography in wetlands. When verified with actual findings and overlapping data on the modelling of each terrain, it is believed that changes in hill shapes and buried Microform can be identified as helpful when used in low-flying applications. Thus, modeling data using aerial photographs is useful for identifying the reasons for the inability to carry out archaeological surveys, the existence of terrain and ruins in a wide area, and to discuss the preservation process of the ruins. Furthermore, it is possible to provide various themes, such as cadastral maps and land use maps, through comparison of past and present topographical data. However, it is certain that it will function as a new investigation methodology for the exploration of ruins in order to discover archaeological cultural properties.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.52 no.2
• /
• pp.122-141
• /
• 2019

This study aimed to provide new interpretations of the ceramics excavated from the archaeological site of the royal palace of Goryeo (918~1392), where only limited access was permitted due to its location in Gaeseong, North Korea. The interpretations were based on the existing understanding of the arrangement of the palace buildings at the site and historical records. The study of the general aspects of the celadons discovered during eight excavations at the Goryeo Palace site in Gaeseong revealed that most of the vessels found at the site were produced during the early and middle phases of the Goryeo dynasty. The study involved classifying the celadons bearing inscribed texts and symbols into 18 different types according to their characteristic features and periods of production. The inscribed celadons have provided detailed information of the site where they were found, thereby making it possible to make strong presumptions about the date of construction, function, and status of the building in the palace connected with the discoveries. The excavations from the Goryeo Palace site and related historical literature suggest that the celadons bearing the inscription "Sojeon (燒錢)" were used during the first half of the 13th century, although the existing view had been that they were used during the second half of the century. This new conclusion is based on the use of the symbols ${\circ}$ and ${\odot}$, the celadons found together with the Sojeon-inscribed celadons, the date of the celadons bearing the inscription "Seong (成)," and the location of their discovery behind the site of Seongyeongjeon (aka Hoegyeongjeon) Hall, which had been one of the main palace buildings. The Taoist rituals performed for the safety of the Goryeo dynasty were largely held at Ganganjeon (aka Daegwanjeon) Hall in the western part of the royal palace during the second half of the 13th century. It was mostly in the first half of the 13th century just before the transfer of the Goryeo government from Gaeseong to Ganghwa (1232~1270) that the Taoist rituals were held at the location near Seongyeongjeon Hall, where archaeologists found the Sojeon-inscribed celadons. Therefore, the large number of celadon cups with holders, including those inscribed with Sojeon, discovered during the eighth excavation of the palace site suggests that they were used for the rituals held at Seongyeongjeon Hall during the first half of the 13th century.

• Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship
• /
• v.14 no.4
• /
• pp.199-209
• /
• 2019

The importance of business strategy for successful social media engagement has quickly increased as more businesses engage in social media. The importance is even greater for startup companies because startup companies are genuinely new to business, and they need to increase their presence in the market, and quickly access future customers. The objective of this paper lies in exploring key indicators of social media engagements by selected startup companies. The key indicators include two aspects of social media usages by the companies: i) overall social media activities, and ii) properties of network structure of the information flow platform provided by social media service. To better assess and evaluate the key indicators of social media usages by startup companies, the indicators will be compared with those of selected large established companies. Twitter is selected as a social media service for the analysis of this paper, and using Twitter REST API, data regarding the key indicators of overall Twitter activities and the Twitter follower-network of each company in the sample are collected. Then, the data are analyzed using social network analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis to examine the characteristics of the follower-network structures and to compare the characteristics between startup companies and established companies. The results show that most indicators are significantly different across startup companies and established companies. One key interesting finding is that the startup companies have proportionally more influencers in their follower-networks than the established companies have. Another interesting finding is that the follower-networks of startup companies in the sample have higher modularity and higher transitivity, suggesting that the startup companies tend to have a proportionally larger number of communities of users in their follower-networks, and the users in the networks are more tightly connected and cohesive internally. The key business implication for the future social media engagement efforts by startup companies in general is that startup companies may need to focus on getting more attention from influencers and promoting more cohesive communities in their follower-networks to appreciate the potential benefits of social media in the early stage of business of startup companies.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
• /
• no.16
• /
• pp.147-200
• /
• 2007

Archives provide users with easier and more convenient access to and use of archival data through their Internet websites. Now, archival websites function not only as a tool of information provision or marketing, or as a gateway of Internet-based materials, but also as cyber space for all services of archives, providing users with information and knowledge and direct accessibility to the services in the archives. At present, Korean archives are proceeding with establishing websites or upgrading existing websites, and the use rates and reliability of web services by users are becoming higher. However, although there have been various studies for the evaluation of general websites, few are found with regard to the evaluation of archival websites. It is necessary for archival websites that provide information service to users of every stripe to make more efforts and have more interest in user-centered convenience, right to know, and information provision-centered service. Accordingly, needless to say, it is necessary to study evaluation criteria of websites so that high quality archival websites can be established. With this background, this study establishes evaluation criteria for archival websites, which are appropriate to their objectives and functions and directly evaluates archives, presenting ways to establish and redevelop archival websites. More detailed purposes are as follows: First, analyzes existing theories of evaluation through reviews on previous literature and elicits evaluation criteria for websites, which are appropriate to archives; Second, based on the elicited evaluation criteria for archival websites, examines the current state of domestic archival websites through analytic evaluation; and Third, presents ways to improve archival websites that may be helpful in establishing or improving them in the future. The expectancy effects of this study are as follows: First, it will be helpful when one wishes to identify the current state of archival websites and to improve or redevelop existing websites, or to develop online service through website; Second, it will function as a checklist when a developer who is to establish an archival website wishes to develop evaluation criteria; and Third, it may be used as an inspection tool when an archives contracts out the establishment of its website.