Computational Archival Science (CAS) is defined as a transdisciplinary field grounded in archival, information, and computational science that is concerned with the application of computational methods and resources, design patterns, sociotechnical constructs, and human-technology interaction, to large-scale (big data) records/archives processing, analysis, storage, long-term preservation, and access problems, with the aim of improving and optimizing efficiency, authenticity, truthfulness, provenance, productivity, computation, information structure and design, precision, and human technology interaction in support of acquisition, appraisal, arrangement and description, preservation, communication, transmission, analysis, and access decisions [definition updated by N. Payne in 2018].
- Foundational Paper on Computational Archival Science (CAS): written in 2016 and published in Apr. 2018: “Archival records and training in the Age of Big Data”, Marciano, R., Lemieux, V., Hedges, M., Esteva, M., Underwood, W., Kurtz, M. & Conrad, M. (2018). In J. Percell , L. C. Sarin , P. T. Jaeger , J. C. Bertot (Eds.), Re-Envisioning the MLS: Perspectives on the Future of Library and Information Science Education (Advances in Librarianship, Volume 44B, pp.179-199). Emerald Publishing Limited. Link: https://ai-collaboratory.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Marciano-et-al-Archival-Records-and-Training-in-the-Age-of-Big-Data-final.pdf
CAS is still an emerging field though it has several hundred publications to date. Four core clusters of publications alone have generated over 150 papers [See: “Compendium of Core CAS Papers” at LINK]:
- IEEE Big Data Conference CAS workshops (from 2016 to 2023) have produced 102 papers (https://ai-collaboratory.net/cas/). Also, see “Major IEEE CAS Workshops” at the bottom of this page.
- ACM Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage (JOCCH) Special Issue on CAS (2022 – Vol. 15 Issue 1 Feb. & Vol. 15 Issue 3 Sep., https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3495004), featured another 21 papers,
- Records Management Journal (Emerald Insight) Special Issue on Technology and Records Management (Vol:30 Issue:2, Jul. 2020. & Vol:30 Issue:3, Dec. 2020. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/RMJ-07-2020-057/full/html), featured another 16 papers, and
- Miscellaneous journal and book chapters include 13 papers were published across (Proceedings of Science, Archives and Primary Source Handbook, DigitalHeritage, UCL Press, Libraries, Archives, and the Digital Humanities, AI & Society Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Communication, and International Conference on Metadata and Semantics Research).
CAS contributions through these 4 clusters alone come from five continents and 26 countries: North America (Canada, US), South America (Brazil), Europe (Ireland, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Croatia, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Bulgaria, Romania, Portugal, Spain), the Nordic Region (Norway, Sweden, Finland), Asia (Taiwan, Japan, China, Turkey, Israel), and Australia
Major IEEE CAS Workshops (102 papers):
