Abstract

Since its emergence over thirty years ago, Records Continuum Theory (RCT)—broadly encompassing thinking, theory, modelling, and practice—has continued to evolve. Appropriately, it is always in a state of becoming (McKemmish, 1994). The archival community was much saddened to hear of the death of Frank Upward—one of RCT’s key creators and theorists—in July 2021. His passing is a great loss of a singularly creative continuum mind; one that challenged us to think boldly and expansively about recordkeeping and archiving in society, and our professional role in its stewardship.

In his final paper, Frank wrote of the need to think in terms of archival networks, and develop continuum informaticians who could help “individuals, groups, organisations and societies to cope with the flickering of time and the constant expansion of the web of relationships in which everything exists” (Upward 2019, p. 269). In Frank’s enigmatic way these simple terms are loaded with layers of meaning and nuance, and also eschew a theory/practice divide, prompting us to “tie together academia and workplaces in ways that creatively connect authoritative information resource management with the powerful evolution of information production” (Upward 2019, p. 269).

Frank was always a champion of the next generation of archival and continuum thinking; exemplified in his support for AERI. He delighted in the progressive and diverse conversations that would evolve over the week. In this spirit, this session aims to illuminate emergent RCT research by inviting doctoral, early career, and other scholars to share their explorations and interpretations of RCT.

Through a two-hour roundtable discussion, we hope to:

• reflect on and celebrate Frank’s legacy;
• map existing and emergent continuum research areas, and identify any common threads and foci; and
• continue to creatively interrogate and push the boundaries of our understanding of recordkeeping and archiving in the archival multiverse.

Presenter Bios

Joanne Evans, Monash University

Elliot Freeman, Monash University

Violet Hamence-Davies, Monash University

All participants will be invited to take part in the roundtable discussion.

Details

Roundtable hybrid discussion with both physical (Monash University, Clayton Campus) and virtual attendees. Zoom meeting details will be provided prior to the event. Please register here.

To confirm the date/time of this session in your timezone please use the following link: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=Roundtable%3A+Mapping+Records+Continuum+Futures&iso=20220712T23&p1=1440&ah=2

Recording

This session will be live-only.