304.2 Using blockchain to engender trust in public digital archives

Archives are special – the homes of our collective memories. Although the archive is still widely perceived as a trusted custodian, archivists are aware that they are working in a world in which digital content is increasingly questioned. Is the archive trusted because of its people and practices or because of the sheer practical impossibility of altering or manipulating kilometres of physical records? What is the digital equivalent? The emerging challenge around trust is particularly relevant in relation to public archives preserving records of contentious histories; terms such as “fake news” and “post-truth” are frequently heard in the context of national and international politics. How do we ensure that researchers continue to trust that the records have not been tampered with, or that a document can be verified as being the same as the archived original?
The ARCHANGEL project is breaking new ground by using blockchain to record checksums and other metadata derived from either scanned physical or born-digital records to allow verification of their integrity over decade- or century- long timespans. This data is permanently preserved through peer-to-peer distribution and consensus checking without the need for a trusted third party.

档案，作为我们集体记忆的宝库，具有其独特性。尽管档案在公众眼中依旧被视为值得信赖的守护者，档案保管者深知，他们身处一个对数字内容日益质疑的世界。档案之所以受到信任，是由于其人员的专业素养和实践经验，还是因为修改或操纵数公里长的物理记录在实际上几乎不可能实现？其数字等价物又是什么？围绕信任的挑战，尤其是在公共档案保管具有争议性历史记录的背景下，显得尤为突出；诸如“假新闻”和“后真相”等术语在国内外政治语境中屡见不鲜。我们如何确保研究人员持续信任这些记录未被篡改，或确保一份文件可以验证为与存档原始文件完全一致？ARCHANGEL项目通过采用区块链技术记录从扫描的物理记录或原生数字记录中提取的校验和及其他元数据，开创性地实现了对档案完整性的十年甚至数百年跨度的验证。通过点对点分布和共识检查，这些数据得以永久保存，而无需依赖任何可信的第三方。