Anon Mirmani. Comparison of description and use of archives based on RiC Model and ISAD(G) a case study at Universitas Indonesia Archive Office

1. Comparison of
description and use of archives
based on RiC Model and ISAD(G):
A case study at
Universitas Indonesia Archive Office
Anon Mirmani (Indonesia)
Head of University Archives, Universitas Indonesia
arsip@ui.ac.id

2. Video UI

3. Introduction
• UI was first established as a
university named School tot
Opleiding van Indische Artsen
Medicine for Indegenous Doctors),
better known as STOVIA. The
long history of Universitas
Indonesia, beginning as STOVIA,
generated thousands of
photographs.
• 2009 has been appointed as
University Archives by Rector’s
decree
-Pict.1 Stovia-

4. Problems
The huge number of photograph
collection had never been processed
and managed in a photo processing
system :
- until 2014 the existing photograph
collections had never been
processed, managed, and described
as information sources available to
be a historical evidence, memory,
and even the identity and culture
of Universitas Indonesia.
- The lack of competent human
resources to process the
photograph collection and the
leaders’ lack of awareness
regarding the collection alike
-Pict.2 unprocessed photograph collections-

5. This proves that photographs were still
regarded as mere pictures with no use
in the future. Apparently, as the time
progressed, the demand of information
and photograph lending increased,
especially in UI’s anniversary and the
new Depok campus construction
celebrations.
-Pict.3 photograph collection-

6. As explained above, the Archive Office
encountered difficulties in the process
because the acquired photographs did
not have clear information about what
and who is in the picture as well as
where and when the photograph was
taken. Besides, many photograph
collections, which were kept in a photo
album, were stuck on the plastic cover;
moldy and degraded in quality.
-Pict.4 lack of information & degraded in quality-

7. Research Purpose
Regarding the importance of photograph
archives in compiling collective historical
memories of Universitas Indonesia
represented in pictures or photographs,
several things need to be done,
including specific processing, determining
the maintenance and the storage
location, as well as giving an
appropriate description standard for the
photograph archive collection. Therefore,
this research aims to compare the
application of ISAD(G) and RiC-CM on
UI’s photograph archive retrieval system,
SEKAR.
-Pict.6 RiC Modul-

8. Archives arrangement
Archival arrangement is the process or organizing and managing historical records by identifying or bringing
together sets of records derived from a common source which have common characteristics and a common
file structure, and identifying relationships among such sets of records and between records and their creators.
Archival description is the process of capturing, collating, analyzing, controlling, exchanging, and providing
access to information about the origin, context, and provenance of different sets of records; their filing
structure; their form and content; their relationships with other records, and the ways in which they can be
found and used.
-Miller, Frederic M. 1990. Arranging and describing archives and manuscripts. P.7

9. Reasearch Approach
After several trials and errors in the application of ISAD (G) standard for
photograph collection, the Archives has built an ATOM application in
Indonesian language with elements of metadata based on ISAD(G), called as
SEKAR.
This application has been used since 2014 and it functions as an electronic-
based information retrieval aid, but it faces difficulties in completing the
metadata of its photograph collection. RiC-CM, which is released by the ICA,
becomes a challenge for UI Archive Office to analyze the need of description of
the photograph collections

10. Discussion and Analysis
-Pict.5 unprocessed photograph collections-

11. SEKAR UI

12. Description Elements in SEKAR UI

13. Solving the Lack of Information of the Photographs
Empowering UI’s Journalist/Reporter Using the Information in UI’s
Yearbook/Annual Report
Universitas Indonesia Archive Exhibition

14. Advantages and Benefits of RIC Standard
No Advantages of RIC Benefits of Processing
1.
Multidimensional Descriptive
Model
This descriptive model will contribute a contextual overview between
entities. It does not focus on one level only. It is represented through
networks/graphs. This surely helps greatly in describing a photograph
entity with minimum information since it can be supported with other
entities with more complete information.
2.
Grouping based on Records
and Record Sets
A record can be included in more than one record sets. This will later
affect the interaction between records.
2.
More Complex Descriptive
Elements
A wider and deeper description of an archive.
3.
Emergence of Graph
Technologies: RDF, Semantic
technologies and Linked Open
Data (LOD)
More expressive in combining data. Opportunities to separation,
recombining, interrelating, opening domain borders, new perspective,
new paths. Help make our concepts and data accessible, understandable,
unambiguous, reusable.
4.
Expansive Understanding of
Provenance
Records and the people that create, manage, and use them do not exist
in isolation but in complex layer of interrelated, interdependent context.

15. Conclusion and planning to the future using the RiC
• RiC is a draft of an archival description standard which in the future will assist UI Archive Office
in processing its archives (especially the photographs). ISAD(G), which the office currently uses, is
a standard that uses a multi-level descriptive model (Fond-Item), meaning that an archive is
limited to this one herarchy. When the office lacks information of an (photograph) archive, then
there will be a lack of context regarding the archive.
• The multi-dimensional model on which RiC is based will help UI Archive Office to describe a
(photograph) archive with context. The complexity of an entity in RiC will affect the contextual overview
between records (provided the records share a similar context). RiC-Ontology will translate Ric-CM-
based description using the W3C OWL5 standard. This standard will assist in picturing the contextual
relationship between records.

16. Thank You