Archives and IT : a digitized memory

Abstract EN

This paper raise some questions concerning the impact of Archives – as an "institution" of outward memory – on the always renewed IT (on both hardware and software levels) and vice versa.

As a matter of fact, this issue has a multiple interrelated topics, in terms of the fact that IT is a reality in every aspect of our daily life; and it is also a common factor in every period of a record lifecycle even after it is transferred to the National Archives for its informational or historical value.

This paper, however, will discuss the interaction between a National Archive – as a public institution – and the impact of IT on it, along with an observation to the change happened in the concept of Archives after indulging into the "knowledge community", with a special reference to the National Archives in Egypt.