Abstract This paper is a critical review of three articles regarding the application of postmodern theory to the study of archives and archival work. The articles analyzed are Cook's "Fashionable Nonsense or Professional Rebirth: Postmodernism and the Practice of Archives", Greene's "The Power of Meaning: The Archival Mission in the Postmodern Age" and Nesmith's "Seeing Archives: Postmodernism and the Changing Intellectual Place of Archives."
From the Paper "Critical Review: Cook's "Fashionable Nonsense or Professional Rebirth," Nesmith's "Seeing Archives," and Greene's "The Power of Meaning" Within academia, to say nothing of the larger public sphere, there is a controversy at play over how postmodernism should be characterized and conceptualized. For some, postmodernism does not exist. In those minds, postmodernism is a nonsensical academic label that does not mean anything in a substantial way. Many see postmodernism as nothing more than academic doublespeak. Others feel that postmodernism is a mislabeled derivation of other historical movements, such as modernism. These critics argue that instead of considering postmodernism to be a category unto itself, we should think of it simply as the extension of existing historical and cultural trends. However, some--and they tend to be a vocal, if disenchanted group--argue that postmodernism is a very real moment in history, one that can be best understood by its extreme superficiality."
This paper discusses extensively the effects of picture archiving communications systems (PACS) and computerization on radiology workflow and turnaround time.
Abstract This paper explains that digital radiology applications of picture archiving communications systems (PACS) provide improved workflow and faster turnaround times by virtue of instant display of images thereby facilitating immediate diagnosis. The author points out that radiology information systems and picture archive communication systems provide a radical departure from the traditional current film and chemical imaging applications by meeting significant and unfulfilled needs for instant imaging and quick diagnosis both in the field and in the clinic. The paper relates that while these technologies were relatively expensive just a few years ago, their cost has dropped to the point where virtually all clinicians who feel their patients can benefit from them can afford to integrate them into their diagnostic regimen. Charts.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Review and Discussion
Background and Overview.
Benefits of Radiology Information Systems (RIS).
Benefits of Picture Archive Communication Systems (PACS).
Current and Future Trends.
Conclusion
From the Paper "The authors report that observations of the radiologists in the clinical environment showed that they relied predominantly on interpretation of images from PACS to render their conclusions, with only occasional RIS terminal use and even less frequent HIS access. The principal explanation for this behavior most likely relates to the inconvenience of accessing such data: Three different computers are required to access three separate clinical systems (ie, PACS, RIS, HIS). The Internet was not used by attending radiologists to search for external medical evidence; instead, they relied on their training and experience to reach conclusions; however, residents frequently used the Internet and reference textbooks as a source of external information while they waited for the attending radiologist's review."
Abstract This paper outlines the history and guiding principles of this feminist project. The author discusses the political orientation in relation to liberal, socialist, and radical feminism. The paper explains the specific ideals and actions of the Archives with reference to the political ideals that guide the organization's purpose.
Abstract This well-researched paper centers on the matter of copyrighted material in terms of literary works, musical compositions, dramatic works, pantomimes and choreographic works, pictorial and multi-media packages within CD-ROMs among others. This paper focuses on the legalities of copyright in the three countries cited primarily from the point of view held by archives. The writer of this paper begins by offering a detailed definition of both archives and copyright. According to this paper, a copyright is a set of laws and rules that are established as a particular form of government with the primary goal of protecting the original works of the author. This paper delves into various concepts of copyright including its being construed as a certain specification of law within a particular field of work. The writer examines the situation in the U.K. which currently houses nearly 2,000 archive repositories of various types in England. This paper analyzes the Title 17, U.S. Code copyright law which applies and can only be enforced in the U.S. The Title 17, U.S. Code is given to original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical and other forms of artistic works which give the owner of the work in question the permission to reproduce said work. This paper details the significance of China's copyright laws on America while delving into the vast differences between China's perception of archived and documented material to that of the western world. The writer examines the growing field of online archives and libraries. This in-depth and informative paper also contains pertinent data and statistics relevant to this specific topic. According to published figures there are 1.5 million visits a year to archives while up to 75% of those who visit do so for private or personal research.
Table of Contents:
Introduction
Archives and the Copyright Provisions in the West
Archives and the Copyright Provisions in China
Discussion
Bibliography
From the Paper "The term copyright has to be explained to some extent. Copying takes place in a number of instances and can be considered when a single copy is made of an article through photocopying, downloading pages from a Web site, or seeing a picture that has been loaded in the digital format. In all these instances, there is no violation of the rights of the copyright holder, as they may be considered to be a fair use of the facility. Since the question of copying is involved, there has to be an understanding as to whether there are violations of any rights of the copyright holder. The permissions have to be given when certain actions are involved like a movie version from a book, translation of a book into other languages, etc. In these cases, the rights of the copyright holder are involved, and it does not matter from where the person desirous of making the change got hold of the material. It depends on the copyright holder to say how the work for which they are holding copyright will be distributed to the public at large."
A review of the article "Feature Questions of Evidence, Detective Fiction in the Archives: Court Records and the Uses of Law in Late Medieval England" by Shannon McSheffrey.
Abstract The paper examines Shannon McSheffrey's article "Feature Questions of Evidence, Detective Fiction in the Archives: Court Records and the Uses of Law in Late Medieval England" that shows how late medieval Londoners used the legal system to their advantage and how using archives as historical agents can change the way historians interpret the past. The paper demonstrates how McSheffrey's article has brought an obscure divorce court case to life with exhaustive research. The paper posits that McSheffrey's arguments are well founded and supported by the records she uncovered, making the history of late medieval London interesting.
From the Paper "England in the Late Medieval period was a time of great social and political change, which many historians believe marked the beginning of modern English history. The Kings of this period were some of the more well known; Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV, and Richard III. It was a period of many conflicts, both in England and across the channel. Henry V restarted the Hundred Years War with France in 1415 to reclaim England's lost territories in the region, and to take the French crown; he spent the rest of his life in fighting in France and died from dysentery. His son, Henry VI, ascended the throne when he was 9 months old, a Council governed until his maturity, however, he proved to be a weak King and his reign marked the decline of the monarchy. During Henry VI's reign, civil war broke out amongst factions of noblemen seeking power in the court, and was called the War of the Roses."
Abstract This report identifies both the technical and human areas associated the selection of the new operating system for the computer. It describes a survey that was conducted to assess employee feelings about the old system and assess potential reactions to the new system. The paper analyzes the differences between the company's existing UNIX-based Linux system and the proposed Windows XP system.
Table of Contents
Abstract
Introduction
Project Definition and Objectives
Literature Review
Factors Involved in Choosing an Operating System
Traditional System Life Cycle
System Needs
Information Archiving and Data Storage
Security
Types of Operating Systems
Choosing an Operating System
Unix, Linux and Windows
The History of Unix and Windows
The Linux Operating System
The Windows Operating System
Other Operating Systems
The True Cost of an Operating System
A&K System Analysis
Types of Information by Department
Information Isolation and Integration
Perceived Security Needs
Computer Literacy and User Questionnaire
User Survey Results
Final Conclusions and Recommendations
How This Will Improve the Company
Training
Implementation Strategy
Recruitment and Selection
Overcoming Resistance to Change
Self Critique
Works Cited
APPENDIX I ? Windows vs. Linux
APPENDIX II ? User Survey
From the Paper "Changing the computer systems at A&K Ltd. is only one of the major changes caused by its massive expansion. The company is undergoing many policy and structural changes as well. The command structure of the company is being re-structured and the managerial and departmental hierarchy is changing as well. A&K Ltd. began as a small family business and is now on the verge of becoming a world player. The same strategies and structure that worked as a small business no longer work efficiently for a large corporation. "
Abstract The paper begins with a comprehensive definition of oral history (archival tapes). It looks at the importance of interview techniques and of a knowledge of the era in question. The establishment of the credibility of the source is dealt with, as is the investigation of personal biases. The verification of the course of events is raised and the place and use of oral history records amongst other historical sources is discussed.
From the Paper "Recording history with accuracy is a task and responsibility that has daunted man forever. Too often, history committed to text is the product of biases, hearsay and cultural mythology. The outcome is a canon of ideals and impressions based on a potentially convoluted version of the past. These discrepancies make it difficult to appreciate history as anything more than folk legend. Using oral histories to convey ideas and information is particularly useful in avoiding many of these snares."
Abstract This paper explains that Alfred Stieglitz, born in 1864, taught his generation that photography truly could be used not just as a historical curio, but also as an art form. The author points out that Stieglitz increasingly explored the boundaries of photography. His later development is best traced in the many portraits in which he demonstrated that it was not enough to photograph a subject; one must use the photograph to capture something that might otherwise be ignored. The paper relates that Stieglitz's focus on photographing New York City helped to archive an era when the city was changing, just as his portraits showed the changes in his society's view of individualism.
From the Paper "As a patron of the arts, Steiglitz played an important role. Most of the recent exhibitions or explorations of his work, such as the documentary "The Eloquent Eye" or the shows at the Wadsworth Atheneum or the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, display his work along side those of his wife (the painter Georgia O'Keefe) and many proteges. "The current show focuses on Alfred Stieglitz as one of America's most important modernist photographers, and explores the considerable influence his work had on the American modernists he so passionately supported, exhibited, and promoted at his New York gallery,'291'."
Abstract In this article, the writer compares and contrasts the work in a library versus the work in a museum. This paper demonstrates an understanding of the difference and similarities with an equivalent aspect of libraries and museums as well as an understanding of the differences and similarities with equivalent practices of librarianship. The writer maintains that while the function of the museum and library employee has been both historically and traditionally quite different, it is likely with the rapid development and deployment of computer technology and the demand for access to museum and library archives via the Internet that the functionality of the library and museum employee will become less differentiated in function.
Outline:
Objective
Introduction
Comparison of Functions: Museum Versus Library
The Museum
The Library
New Developments Mesh Functions of Museum and Library
Summary and Conclusion
From the Paper "As well, the museum curator must be able to work as a team with others to make choices about displays and exhibition as well as in developing guidebooks and information plagues. The museum curator's job includes a close working relationship with the Board of Trustees as well as the museum staff and must be capable of facilitating communication between these two groups. Museum curators are responsible for writing grants and initiating activities for fund-raising. For those who work in the museum as Archivists, job responsibilities include cataloguing, analyzing, exhibitions, and maintenance of objects of value and collections benefiting the public and researchers."
Abstract In this article, the writer notes that the relatively easy accessibility of sources from the archives of former Nazi organizations or the state bureaucracy has inevitably resulted in a large number of analyses from the perspective of the German government, as long as material from company archives remained difficult to come by. Although a good deal of compromising primary material came to light in connection with the Nuremberg trials, the writer points out that it was only in the 1960s that the archives of some of the major companies involved in the use of forced and slave labor became available, making possible a serious testing of the various studies that had been written on the subject. As important data became more accessible, scholars have been able to approach the problem from the perspective of Germany's industrial elites. In this essay, the writer provides an extensive comparative analysis of several of these works.
From the Paper "Published in 1942, Neumann's Behemoth was, arguably the most significant attempt of its day at a scholarly and painstaking analysis of the background, working principles and practices, and state of Nazi Germany. His research led him to reject many of the accepted explanations of both the origin and character of the Nazi ideology and practice. Neumann, a former member of the Berlin bar who was for a time counsel to the German trade unions, came to the conclusion that there was not one ruling class in Germany, but four- the Nazi party, the army, the bureaucracy, and the industrial leaders. The industrial leaders arose with the growth of German capitalism and did not acquire real importance until after the aims of a greater Prussia found fulfillment in the German Empire created by Bismarck."
Tags: Third, Reich, industry, Daimler-Benz, Volkswagen, Hitler
The following paper discusses how Socrates set out to define the idea of justice and the just man when he began the conversations archived in Plato's Republic.
Abstract This paper explores Socrates attempt to define the ideal city, hoping within it to discover the form of justice itself. The author takes the reader through critical points in this book and shows us how no Apollonian dedication to the things of the mind, nor virgin dedication to warfare and the ways of the hunt, could truly save Socrates' city from the uprising of its youth.
From the Paper "As part of creating this utopia, he set about to entirely restructure the modern family. He suggested, reasonably, that men and women should be set to the same sorts of work, according to their gifts, being equal in all things save that the men were stronger. To prevent conflict, and continue the owning of all things in common, he spoke of having wives and husbands and children all in common. So that the stock of his city should all be strong and healthy, he suggested a rigged lottery determining who should mate with whom, the outcome determined by genetics and success. The healthy offspring should be raised, the inferior disposed of appropriately."
Abstract This paper takes a look at the Soviet Union's role in the Cuban Missile Crisis between America and Cuba in 1962. The writer explores the crisis from the Soviet Union's perspective using documents from the Soviet Union archives and puts together a historical account from their view. The paper shows that the Cold War was triggered by the crisis and the eventual dismantling of the former Soviet Union was a result of the Cold War, therefore the Cuban missile crisis, while it scared the world for 14 days, set the stage for today's friendly relations between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.
From the Paper "The Soviet Union placed the missiles in Cuba as a strategic military and political statement to the world about the actions of America. According to recently released documents pertaining to the crisis the idea came to then Soviet Union leader, Nikita Khrushchev, to use as a counter message to the US. He felt the United States had been flexing its muscles and some of the more recent decisions and actions by the states had countered what the Soviet Union had been led to believe(COLD WAR: CUBAN MISSILE CRISIShttp://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/colc.html). The crux of the disagreement was nestled in he direct actions of the United States. The problem as realized in retrospect was that the Soviet Union used deceit and lies to accomplish its point instead of holding discussions with the US powers about its concerns."
Abstract Latino's are brought up to believe that a man lost honor if his wife was unfaithful and he could regain some of this honor through the use of violence. They were also likely to send signals of acceptance of witnessed violence and to have a more favorable impression of a woman who remained in an abusive relationship. The paper shows, that in a series of archival analyses of real-world domestic violence, several themes associated with cultures of honor (emphasis on female purity, gender inequality, and familial collectivism) correlated with the cultural prevalence of domestic violence. The paper shows that there exist widespread gender-orientated misperceptions within the Latino community about the attractiveness or acceptability of violence that lead to a mismatch between people's private attitudes and their public behavior.
From the Paper "Most people think that domestic violence is the same, wherever it occurs, that there's no difference. That it's really the same experience regardless of country or language or culture. This is not true, if we take a comparison of a Latino household and a Buddhist household, there will be a huge difference in the two based on the domestic violence parameter. The Latino being on the higher side of the scale: violent. The traditional Latin American socialization of women encourages them to be quiet and submissive, as well as economically and psychologically dependent on men. (Vandello, J. A., & Cohen, D.Shame: Interpersonal behavior, psychopathology, and culture) The education that Latino women have, the way that they are raised and the church and the religious ideas that they grew up with influence the their role in the scepter of domestic violence."
Abstract Focuses on the Amarna Letters. Evidence of grammar and syntax of the language of the scribes in Canaan. Their importance in providing information about the early social and political history of Syria and Palestine in the Biblical period. Background and history of the El-Amarna site in Egypt. History of the Pharaoh The written word during the Amarna period. The Armana archive.
From the Paper "THE AMARNA LETTERS
We do not know, of course, exactly when civilization began, in terms of writing down daily events, creating grammar, fashioning a language that could be understood by the people, and developing a means of informing, educating and unifying ancient people. However, the Amarna Letters, actually grammatically detailed in four intensive volumes by Rainey (1996), provide interesting insight and information about ancient Canaan "on the verbal system in the Byblos letters… and the Akkadian grammar, written by the scribes in Canaan (and) thoroughly treated and usually put in a wider context" (Van Soldt, 1998, p. 1). This stems from a thorough review by Van Soldt of a book by Anson F. Rainey, Linguistic A Analysis of the Mixed Dialect used by Scribes from Canaan (four volumes, 1996)."
The paper discusses the contribution made to the archives of Classical Greek literature by the author Euripides, focusing on one of his best known works, "Medea".
Abstract The paper traces Euripides' rise to fame from a little known playwright, to a master of Greek tragedy and the influence his work has had in western literature. The paper examines the literary motifs and dramatic rhetoric of his works. The paper then analyzes the contradictions found in his play "Medea" and focuses on five specific traits that can be traced throughout the text of the play.
From the Paper "The two main characters, Medea, a sorceress, and Jason, her lover, are often viewed by classical scholars as the most purely human of all Greek tragic figures without the trappings of influence via the gods. As is the case with most Greek tragedies, Medea offers to the reader an eternal caution against the excesses of emotion and a very stern warning against bitter vengeance, for as human beings, the characters in Medea, and for that matter Euripides himself, "are susceptible to a lethal mixture of error, ignorance and violent arrogance" (Martin, 1996, p. 134)."
