Authenticity in a Digital Environment

Book excerpt: On January 24, 2000, the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) convened a group of experts from different domains of the information resources community to address the question, "What is an authentic digital object?" Five writers--an archivist, a digital library expert, a documentary editor and special collections librarian, an expert on documentary theory, and a computer scientist--were asked to write position papers that identify the attributes that define authentic digital data over time. These papers, together with a brief reflection on the major outcomes of the workshop, are presented in this document. The papers are: "Authentication of Digital Objects: Lessons from a Historian's Research" (Charles T. Cullen); "Archival Authenticity in a Digital Age" (Peter B. Hirtle); "Where's Waldo? Reflections on Copies and Authenticity in a Digital Environment" (David M. Levy); "Authenticity and Integrity in the Digital Environment: An Exploratory Analysis of the Central Role of Trust" (Clifford Lynch); "Preserving Authentic Digital Information" (Jeff Rothenberg); and "Authenticity in Perspective" (Abby Smith). An appendix lists the conference participants. (AEF)