Presentation part of the National Forum on Ethics and Archiving the Web organized by Rhizome and hosted at the New Museum. The panel titled "The Right to be Forgotten" occurred on Friday, March 23, 2018.
Panel Abstract: When individuals attempt to withdraw their materials from public archives, the goal of preserving the public record comes into conflict with the expectation of “the right to be forgotten.” This panel considers robots.txt, donor forms, and removal requests as negotiated encounters among people, institutions, and law.
Panelists include: Nicola Bingham, Itza Carbajal, Joyce Gabiola (moderator), Dorothy Howard, and Katrina Windon
Individual Presentation Abstract: This research presentation will highlight early findings of a larger research project focusing on the challenges and limitations of donor relationships forms and the implications these forms have on the rights of the donor in the archival field. The research project investigates how donor forms address permissions and consent to disclose personally identifiable information or valuable digital assets from two different participant groups, musicians and social movement organizers. For the purposes of this forum, the presentation will include a brief analysis of donor forms or statements as they relate to web archival donations and practices.
1. Centering Consent:
Investigating Archival Donor Relations Practices
The Right to be Forgotten Panel
National Forum on Ethics and Archiving the Web • March 23, 2018 • New York, NY
2. hello!
I am Itza A. Carbajal
Latin American Metadata Librarian
LLILAS Benson Latin American Studies and Special Collections
University of Texas at Austin
3. Research Statement
This research project analyzes means of consent and
where consent occurs in the archival process as a way to
better understand the challenges and limitations of
donor relationships. Additionally the research looks to
understand the implications donor forms have on the
rights of the donor in the archival field.
Findings hope to shed light on whether current donor
forms and practices provide or can provide safety nets
for donating communities and how donor feedback can
further improve donor relations practices.
4. Transfer of Property
Transfer of Ownership and Rights
For archival donations, the most common reason(s)
for pursuing legally binding agreements include:
Why do agreements occur?
5. Methodologies
Literature Review
□ Contract theory
□ Feminist theory of autonomy
□ Sexual ethics and morality
Document Analysis
□ Analyzing 100+ donor forms
□ Cover (4) archival repository types including universities, government,
historical societies, and others.
□ Utilized coding methods with identified themes.
Interviews
□ Gathering interview data
□ (2) distinct donor groups: musicians and community organizers/activists.
□ Interviews styles: (1) focus group and (5) individual one on ones.
6. Donor Forms as Contracts
Deeds of Gift
□ Most common donor form
□ States agreements between donor and receiving repository
□ No standard structure with minimal suggestions from supporting orgs
□ At times customized for specific donations
Addendums
□ Exist as outlined conditions or individual forms
□ Forms often used include: Temporary Custody Receipt, Non-exclusive
royalty free statement, Release Forms, Perpetual License
Role of Archivists
□ Function as 3rd party affiliate representing receiving institution
7. Digital Objects and Agreements
□ Transition from in person agreement to online interaction
□ Still nonstandard practices
□ Acquisition practices can include:
■ Self deposits
■ Web capturing (manual or semi automatic or automatic)
■ In person deposits (hard drive, disk imaging, other storage )
□ NATIONAL DIGITAL STEWARDSHIP ALLIANCE 2016 Survey: Web
Archiving in the United States
■ 67% (46 of 69) respondents take an approach of no action to notify or
seek permission when capturing Web content
■ 22% (15 of 69) respondents notify website owners before capture
■ 12% (8 of 69) of organizations seek permissions when collecting content
8. Digital Acquisition Practices
Collecting Policy
policies that govern organizations’ Web archiving activities.
Capture Request Forms
Example of a donor form that functions similarly to the deed of gift
Terms of Agreements/User Contributions
Specifies the extent of the agreements between donating
individuals and receiving repository. Similar characteristics of
online consumer contracts
9. What Rights do Donors Possess?
Right to Know Right to ForgetRight to ...