Verksamheter öppna för tolkning: Fallstudier i tillämpningen av Riksarkivets processorienterade arkivredovisning

Sammanfattning: In January 2014 a new system for archival description will take effect in all Swedish government agencies, as prescribed by the Swedish National archives. This system is based upon the notion of processes as a way to describe organizations; processes containing activities and transactions that renders traces of information. It is a system that is fundamentally different from the preceding one. The aim of this Master's thesis is to study the implementation of the new Swedish archival description system in selected government agencies, and analyze these results using paradigm theory. We want to address issues surrounding the implementation through case studies. The cases consist of three different models that exemplify how the directives and guidelines are being interpreted. For this purpose we have chosen the Swedish Police, The Swedish Courts and the local government of Stockholm. Empirical information has been gathered through interviews and documents created within the workplace, such as the archival descriptions, manuals and other publications that has been part of the working process. The theoretical framework for this Master’s thesis is Thomas S. Kuhn’s thoughts on paradigm shifts. We have also used John Ridener’s concept of the Questioning Paradigm – which we in Swedish refer to as the Postmodern Paradigm. In this thesis we suggest that the new paradigm helps us understand the changes that are taking place within government agencies and archival science. In our thesis we identify digital information as the anomaly that has compelled a crisis in archival science. We have discovered that the process of developing a new model has progressed through different methods, but also that there are several issues and questions that are common to all three cases. Through comparison we have detected four categories or themes, on which we base our analysis. These are as follows: Issues regarding the nature and description of digital information; the order (or un-order) of related analog and digital information and how it should be accounted for; the terms and notions concerning new concepts and how they are supposed to be understood; and finally, how the freedom of interpretation can be both adequate and challenging and the same time. We argue that these issues presented are easier to understand when seen in the light of a paradigm shift. The Postmodern Paradigm implicates a broader view of the archive as such, and changes the concept of history and contextuality. Digital technology has had a fundamental impact on the foundation of archival science, in both theory and practice. With this thesis we want to place the practice of the new Archival Description System in a larger theoretical context, in order to understand it.