Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology
Archives have well-established practices which have been developed over years of working with analogue records. Now they face huge challenges due to the inexorable development of digital technologies. Not only is the heterogeneous nature of the records, their instability and the rapid pace of techno...
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doaj-b8b2c30db05e4cbda39d0b2bbcc80d762020-11-25T01:09:25ZengUbiquity PressInsights: The UKSG Journal 2048-77542019-06-0132110.1629/uksg.470436Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technologyMark Bell0Alex Green1John Sheridan2John Collomosse3Daniel Cooper4Tu Bui5Olivier Thereaux6Jez Higgins7Researcher, The National ArchivesDigital Archivist, The National ArchivesDigital Director, The National ArchivesProfessor of Computer Vision, University of SurreyResearch Software Developer, University of SurreyPostgraduate Research Student, University of SurreyHead of Technology, Open Data InstituteConsultant Software Engineer, Open Data InstituteArchives have well-established practices which have been developed over years of working with analogue records. Now they face huge challenges due to the inexorable development of digital technologies. Not only is the heterogeneous nature of the records, their instability and the rapid pace of technological development a threat to the records’ survival, but the ease with which digital records can be altered has put archives in a technology arms race with those parties who would seek to falsify our digital inheritance and undermine democracy. In order to tackle these challenges, the ARCHANGEL project is breaking new ground by using blockchain to record checksums (cryptographic hashes) and other metadata derived from either scanned physical records or born-digital records to allow verification of their integrity over decade- or century-long time spans. This data is permanently preserved through peer-to-peer distribution and consensus checking without the need for a trusted third party, thereby enabling archives to prove the authenticity of the records in their custody.https://insights.uksg.org/articles/470Distributed ledger technologyDLTblockchaintrusted archivesdocument provenance |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Mark Bell Alex Green John Sheridan John Collomosse Daniel Cooper Tu Bui Olivier Thereaux Jez Higgins |
spellingShingle |
Mark Bell Alex Green John Sheridan John Collomosse Daniel Cooper Tu Bui Olivier Thereaux Jez Higgins Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology Insights: The UKSG Journal Distributed ledger technology DLT blockchain trusted archives document provenance |
author_facet |
Mark Bell Alex Green John Sheridan John Collomosse Daniel Cooper Tu Bui Olivier Thereaux Jez Higgins |
author_sort |
Mark Bell |
title |
Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology |
title_short |
Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology |
title_full |
Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology |
title_fullStr |
Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology |
title_full_unstemmed |
Underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology |
title_sort |
underscoring archival authenticity with blockchain technology |
publisher |
Ubiquity Press |
series |
Insights: The UKSG Journal |
issn |
2048-7754 |
publishDate |
2019-06-01 |
description |
Archives have well-established practices which have been developed over years of working with analogue records. Now they face huge challenges due to the inexorable development of digital technologies. Not only is the heterogeneous nature of the records, their instability and the rapid pace of technological development a threat to the records’ survival, but the ease with which digital records can be altered has put archives in a technology arms race with those parties who would seek to falsify our digital inheritance and undermine democracy. In order to tackle these challenges, the ARCHANGEL project is breaking new ground by using blockchain to record checksums (cryptographic hashes) and other metadata derived from either scanned physical records or born-digital records to allow verification of their integrity over decade- or century-long time spans. This data is permanently preserved through peer-to-peer distribution and consensus checking without the need for a trusted third party, thereby enabling archives to prove the authenticity of the records in their custody. |
topic |
Distributed ledger technology DLT blockchain trusted archives document provenance |
url |
https://insights.uksg.org/articles/470 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT markbell underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology AT alexgreen underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology AT johnsheridan underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology AT johncollomosse underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology AT danielcooper underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology AT tubui underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology AT olivierthereaux underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology AT jezhiggins underscoringarchivalauthenticitywithblockchaintechnology |
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