A Document (Re)turn: Contributions from a Research Field in Transition

This collection of papers on aspects of documentation theory and practice celebrates the ten‐year anniversary of Documentation Studies at the University of Tromsø, Norway. Many of the papers are based on presentations to the Document Academy Conference, an annual event since 2003 at the School of Information, University of California at Berkeley. Most of the contributions are in English, one is in German and two are in French. The introductory chapter debates the place of documentation – in the humanities or social sciences – and the meaning of document. The chapter discusses some of the assignments set for students on the Tromsø programme, and this leads to reflection on the boundaries of a discipline of documentation, and the focus of interest compared to art history, or literary studies. To what extent is it necessary for the documentalist to understand and apply the means of production, or to understand the many traditions and interpretations that may be associated with any database? The conceptual framework proposed comprises documentation form (a top level classification that is not necessarily directly related to the medium, but indicative of the purpose or inherent properties), document (allowing analysis of the producer, means of production (media), usage of those means (modes/traditions) and the content), and the doceme (a part of the document). This resonates for me with the ideas of object oriented analysis, where the top level term abstract superordinate term (e.g. furniture) conveys ideas around “things to put in the house, to use for domestic purposes”. A table might correspond to the document level, and useful questions can be asked about the maker, how the table was made, the tradition of usage of means (e.g. craftsman, mass production, Shaker style), and what the table is about (e.g. dining, computer desk). The doceme might relate to component parts of a table, noting that the top board can be another middle level item (our children's art table had been a door, for example). Drucker, in another chapter, discusses some of difficulties of deciding how to deal with what is embedded, added, annotated, or even encrypted. The part/whole relationship is complicated by the entanglements entailed in interpretation