Aliya Mustafina1 (Kazakhstan) DIGITAL ARCHIVES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS ABSTRACT Digital transformation of the economy inevitably entails a change in the content of the activities of archives and the archive management as a whole. The widespread use of electronic documents and information resources, the formation of large databases, the creation of information systems for interaction requires the availability of infrastruc- ture that provides for the storage, management and use of this huge array of digital information. The article analyzes current trends, problems, development strategies and possible consequences of digitalization of the archive industry. The study of the features of the transformation of archives seems relevant in the theoretical and applied aspect and can be activated by the archival professional community. The digital archive model involves digital management, the most advanced implementation of the latest tech- nologies, which allows not only to automate and optimize certain processes, but also provide for the revision of a number of archive functions, the generation of new data that increase the efficiency of archives. Keywords: archive, electronic document, electronic archive, archives of Kazakhstan, long-term storage, information system; ARCHIVI DIGITAGLI: OPPORTUNITÀ E PROSPETTIVE SINTESI La trasformazione digitale dell’economia comporta inevitabilmente un cambiamento nel contenuto delle attività degli archivi e della gestione degli archivi nel suo com- plesso. L’uso diffuso di documenti elettronici e risorse informative, la formazione di grandi banche dati, la creazione di sistemi informativi per l’interazione, richiedono la disponibilità di un’infrastruttura che preveda l’archiviazione, la gestione, e l’uti- lizzo di questa vasta gamma di informazioni digitali. L’articolo analizza le tendenze attuali, i problemi, le strategie di sviluppo e le possibili conseguenze della digitaliz- zazione del settore degli archivi. Lo studio delle caratteristiche della trasformazione degli archivi appare rilevante sotto l’aspetto teorico e applicato e può essere attivato dalla comunità professionale archivistica. Il modello di archivio digitale prevede la gestione digitale, l’implementazione più avanzata delle ultime tecnologie, che con- sente non solo di automatizzare e ottimizzare alcuni processi, ma prevedere anche la revisione di una serie di funzioni di archivio e la generazione di nuovi dati che ne aumentano l’efficienza di archivi. Parole chiave: archivio, documento, archivio elettronico, archivi del Kazakhstan, con- servazione a lungo termine, sistema informatico 1 Aliya Mustafina: Deputy Director of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazakh- stan, Almaty, 050010, Dostyk ave., 87 b, e-mail: amustafina@archive.president.kz 124 DIGITAL ARCHIVES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS Aliya Mustafina ELEKTRONSKI ARHIVI: PRILOŽNOSTI IN MOŽNOSTI IZVLEČEK Digitalna transformacija gospodarstva neizogibno vključuje spremembo vsebine de- javnosti arhivov in upravljanja arhivov kot celote. Široka uporaba elektronskih doku- mentov in informacijskih virov, oblikovanje velikih baz podatkov, ustvarjanje infor- macijskih sistemov za interakcijo zahteva razpoložljivost infrastrukture, ki omogoča shranjevanje, upravljanje in uporabo te velike množice digitalnih informacij. Članek analizira trenutne trende, probleme, razvojne strategije in možne posledice digitali- zacije arhivske industrije. Raziskovanje značilnosti transformacije arhivov se zdi po- membna z vidika teorije in prakse ter bi lahko uspela ob podpori arhivske strokovne skupnosti. Model elektronskega arhiva vključuje digitalno upravljanje, najnaprednej- šo uporabo najnovejših tehnologij, ki omogoča ne samo avtomatizacijo in optimizaci- jo določenih procesov, temveč tudi revizijo številnih funkcij arhiva, ustvarjanje novih podatkov, ki povečujejo učinkovitost arhivov. Ključne besede: arhiv, elektronski dokument, elektronski arhiv, arhivi Kazahstana, dol- goročna hramba, informacijski sistem; АННОТАЦИЯ Цифровая траснформация экономики неизбежно влечет изменение содержания деятель- ности архивов и архивной отрасли в целом. Повсеместное использование электронных документов и информационных ресурсов, формирование больших баз данных, создание информационных систем взаимодействия предполагает наличие инфраструктуры, обе- спечивающей хранение, управление и использование этого огромного массива цифровой информации. В статье анализируются современные тренды, проблемы, стратегии разви- тия и возможные последствия цифровизации архивной отрасли. Исследование особен- ностей трансформации архивов представляется актуальным в теоретико-прикладном аспекте и может быть активизировано архивным профессиональным сообществом. Мо- дель цифрового архива предполагает цифровое управление, максимально расширенное внедрение новейших технологий, позволяющих не только автоматизировать и оптими- зировать определенные процессы, но и обеспечивать пересмотр ряд функций архивов, генерацию новых данных, повышающих эффективность работы архивов. Keywords: archive, electronic document, electronic archive, archives of Kazakhstan, long-term storage, information system; 125DIGITAL ARCHIVES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS Aliya Mustafina 1 INTRODUCTION In modern conditions, information in electronic form has become a valuable manage- ment resource. Electronic documents are increasingly becoming important means of keeping, storing and exchanging data. The mass connectedness of all spheres of econ- omy and society are premises of emergence of a new format of social relations and his- torical course of time. Today it is already clear, this is especially acute in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, that information technologies (Internet, social network, infor- mation systems) which are practically the only possible means of communication and information exchange. The digital economy has a direct impact on archives, retaining a main role of keepers of both analogue and digital information. The changes taking place together with changes in the public administration system are so radical that the question about the future of the archiving system, the profession of archivist and archival sciences in general arises. Over the past decades, the archives have done a tremendous job of automating work and introducing computer technology, which has entailed a revision of many well-es- tablished ideas about both the document itself and its carriers, and the methods of working with them. This is both an idea of an automated workplace for an archivist, and an idea of which works in the archive can be formalized in a computer environment, and which should be kept for the archivist in a traditional form. These are questions about ways and methods of document examination and determination of the degree of its value. It became obvious that the types of automation can be subjected to many types and directions of archival work. In particular, the creation of standardized descriptions of electronic documents, the development of an electronic scientific reference appa- ratus and an automatic search system. Moreover, rapid development of information technologies opens limitless, absolutely novel possibilities for digital transformation of archives. Research conducted in this area could become a “breakthrough decision” in the establishment of digital archive. 2 KAZAKHSTAN EXPERIENCE OF INFORMATIZATION OF THE ARCHIVAL INDUSTRY The archive of the President of Kazakhstan is a pioneer of computerization of the archi- val sphere in the Republic. The archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan adopted the Concept of computerization of the institution in 2014, for its phased imple- mentation «the Program of computerization of the Archive for the years 2014- 2016, then for the years 2017-2019» was approved. Work on the development of information technology required the development of a systematic approach based on the policy document. At the request of the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Archive Agency of the Russian Federation put into operation the program complex «Archive Fund» and signed an agreement on gratuitous use. By order of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated June 15, 1999 No. 52 a new regulation on the Archive of the President of the Republic of Kazakh- stan was approved, which establishes a fundamentally new obligation – to accept elec- tronic documents for state storage together with software and appropriate electronic computing equipment. From 1999 began to operate the program complex «Archival Fund», which took into account the characteristics of accounting documents of the party organs, the party and investigative, personal and appellate cases of the Communists. In accordance with the State program for the formation and development of the national information infrastructure, approved by presidential decree No. 573 of 16 March 2001, the concept of an «Electronic archive of a state body» was envisaged and implemented, 126 DIGITAL ARCHIVES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS Aliya Mustafina which was designed to create an electronic archive and ensure the storage and retrieval of archival documents, as well as to provide ample opportunities for their classification and use. The archive of the President of Kazakhstan was included in the list of institu- tions of the first stage. In 2001, the archive Fund database was again improved – the fields were expanded and data on the physical state of Affairs were entered: the number of damaged documents requiring filing and restoration, restoration of low-contrast text, the presence of par- ticularly valuable documents, insurance Fund, use Fund and secret Affairs. The system «Electronic archive» (SEAGO), supposed at that time for implementation, was intended for acquisition, storage, accounting and use of electronic documents in departmental and state archives. It is based on a document-oriented data warehouse with an information retrieval system based on the IBM Content Manager Software prod- uct that provides the ability to search for information both on the details of the attribut- ed documents and their content (context). The industrial database management system (DBMS) DB2 is used as a database. In the framework of Informatization since 2006, the Archive was opened to researchers have access to the database: «Decisions of the party committees», «Personal directory», «Personal file Cabinet», «archives», «the Acts of the President of the Kazakh SSR». At the same time, the creation of an electronic photo library and a thematic catalog for photo documents began. In 2011, the third version of the database «Archive Fund» put into operation, which was developed by the Republican state enterprise «Banking service Bureau of the National Bank of Kazakhstan» on the basis of «Lotus Notus». The database was a separate module in the electronic archive system. The program provides automatically: a General list of funds by types and categories, the number of inventories, storage units, personnel of the insurance Fund of particularly valuable documents, personal, party investigation and personal Affairs, personal origin, passport Archive. The database is connected on a local network to the module «Reading room» and the researchers could receive, taking into account the degree of access to electronic inventories, cases and the entire scientif- ic reference device to them (Макфадден К., Алпысбаева Н., Алимгазинов К. 2019). Thus, by 2014, a number of local information retrieval systems (IPS) and databases for thematic complexes (funds) of archival documents were developed and implemented in the Archive, which were intended for operational reference and information services for consumers of archival information, as well as for the preparation of archival directo- ries in an automated way. These include local databases (DB) of the most popular funds stored in the Archive: «Policy decisions of the Supreme authorities», «Archival Fund», «Acts of the President of the Kazakh SSR», «Acts of the President of Kazakhstan», «Es- pecially valuable documents», «Institutions – sources of acquisition of the Archive of the President of Kazakhstan», «Personal catalogue of documents of personal origin», «Personal file of documents of personal origin», «reference and information Fund», «Li- brary Fund», «Nomenclature personnel of Soviet Kazakhstan». A total of 16 information retrieval modules were developed and implemented in the main areas of the Archive. The creation in the Archive of a single electronic database of primary documentary in- formation by digitizing paper originals, as well as audio, video and photo documents, lagged far behind modern needs. The objective reasons preventing the mass digitiza- tion of documents were a huge amount of source material, the high cost and complexity of work, the limited involvement of foreign organizations in its implementation due to the «regime» conditions. An important and promising component of the IPS Archive is the organization of on-line access of virtual users to its information resources on the 127DIGITAL ARCHIVES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS Aliya Mustafina Internet in the form of a specialized archive portal. In 2018, Kazakhstan launched the implementation of the State Program “Digital Ka- zakhstan”, which provides for the transformation of traditional sectors of the econo- my, the development of human capital, the digitalization of government agencies, the development of digital infrastructure, as well as a breakthrough in the development of an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in the field of digital technologies and, as a re- sult, a change models of production and value added in the real sector of the economy (Постановление Правительства Республики Казахстан от 12 декабря 2017 года № 827 “Об утверждении Государственной программы “Цифровой Казахстан””). As part of the implementation of this Program in 2018-2020 accessible information system “Unified archive of electronic documents” was developed, which ensures or- der, storage and management of electronic documents. Information system allows automatizing state and departmental archives. The processes of sending documents to archives, recording and making expertise of documents’ value, storing of archival doc- uments has become automatized. The creation of web portal of the “Unified archive of electronic documents” provides users with online access. The web portal has function of providing access to full-text and attribute search of publicly available archival data and to apply for granting access to archival documents. Through integration platform external informative systems of public bodies are integrated. Control and administration of “Unified archive of electronic documents” information system provides automatization of administrative and access differentiating functions. Moreover, control and analysis of data could be done by software of “Unified archive of electronic documents” information system. 3 OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS FOR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF ARCHIVES Meanwhile, in the context of digital transformation, new ideas are emerging in the archive industry and the potential for transformations dictated by new development needs is being formed. It is obvious that the period digitalization, informatization and in- telligent archiving has completely new opportunities for a technological breakthrough. The model of a modern archive presupposes digital management, the most expanded implementation of new technologies, which undoubtedly entails a widespread growth in the number of volumes and the role of digital assets. The main challenge of our time for archives is the increase in the volume of information that is created. According to the forecast of the analytical company IDC “Data Age 2025” by 2025 the volume of all data worldwide will be 163 zettabytes (ZB). This is 10 times more than the total data as of 2016 (Reinsel D., Gantz J., Rydning J. 2018). This requires the development of better methods for its collection, storage, processing, protection and transmission. In the present time there is a tendency to wide acceptance of distributed storage of data. In particular, the systems providing transfer of distributed data are developed. As a rule, most of them are connected with “block chain” technology (Galiev A., Ishmukha- metov Sh., Latypov R., Prokopyev N., Stolov E., Vlasov I. 2019). Active utilization of block chain technology in economics formed a data set mostly of financial character which uses cryptography to protect documents during creation and storage. In a long-term perspective it seems relevant to use this technology in development of archive man- agement system to provide authenticity and safety of electronic documents. The Block- Sign platform developed by New-York company named Basno is an example of using open-access register which stores documents signed by electronic signature. 128 DIGITAL ARCHIVES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS Aliya Mustafina Another promising areas of development of archives is the management of completely new types of electronic objects, based on the use of “smart” technologies. The ability to manage this array of information in order to store and efficiently use it becomes espe- cially important. Such opportunities are provided by Big Data technologies, which have become widespread in recent years. Big Data tools enable researchers to manipulate and analyze data stored in different formats (Marciano R., Lemieux V., Hedges M., Esteva M., Underwood W., Kurtz M., Conrad M. 2018). Moreover, for archives, they can be used to con- duct an examination of the value of documents, i.e. automatic selection of records that can be useful for analytical studies. Also, one of such Big Data tools as search can be used to help archivists improve access to a huge number of records in various formats, etc. Thus, archives are already successfully using optical character recognition programs for scanning and recognizing both printed and handwritten texts. The technology breaks down words into a series of images of individual letters - for this it recognizes letter spacing. Then it compares the image to the letters from memory. Having found the best match, the pro- gram translates the letter into a computer code and thus turns on the text search function. Artificial intelligence technologies provide borderless potential and new possibilities in solving the tasks of collection, evaluation, selection and management of digital data. For example, a joint project of the Ben-Gurion University in Negev and Microsoft allows historical written and printed works of the Prime-Minister David Ben-Gurion to be easily accessed by researchers who plan to create a comprehensive archive of documents with the use of artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence technology finds random similar- ities in archival documents and activates technical tracing methods so that to connect those documents through interactive map. Microsoft also will integrate diary notes of Ben-Gurion in Microsoft Outlook to provide open access to public. This technology which is currently under research will provide deep evaluation of historical documents in min- utes which was earlier impossible to do. It is a pioneer project of Ben-Gurion Archive and Microsoft Israel with the use of machinery education (Keyser Z. 2019). 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Archival Records and Training in the Age of Big Data. /URL https://pdfs.se- manticscholar.org/cdf4/e8a862ee8c7e1329f7c7a2e1214a35c0ecf8.pdf Keyser Z. (2019) Microsoft implementing AI in creating archive of Ben-Gurion’s hand- written works. //URL: https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Microsoft-imple- menting-AI-in-creating-archive-of-Ben-Gurions-handwritten-works-607013 Typology: 1.02 Review Article 129DIGITAL ARCHIVES: OPPORTUNITIES AND PROSPECTS Aliya Mustafina