E-archive create more efficient opportunities for operations through process-oriented archival reporting that provides better overview of documents and a better support for case management and increases security for compliance. E-archive are also a prerequisite for achieving the municipalities goals for future e-government and a fully digital flow of information. The purpose of the essay is to investigate why some municipalities have started using electronic archiving while others are still using paper archives. The study also aims to examine the requirements for safety, accessibility, and costs for introducing electronic archives into municipal activities.

Previous research in this field has mainly focused on areas that I believe together form the basis of my research area, namely digitalization, security, accessibility, information management, and e-government and digital archives (e-archives). Then presented OAIS model used as theory in this essay.

To reach the aim of the study primary data was collected through semi-structured interviews. For this essay, there have been interviews with eight different municipalities, four of which use e-archiving and four using paper archives. The study is also based on secondary data in the form of articles and dissertations for previous studies on e-archives.

The result that I got showed that digital archives are evolving very quickly. At the same time e-archives create great benefits such as being able to respond to the digital needs of the activities, follow the digital development that takes place in the public sector. The introduction of e-archives needed sufficient financial and human resources to carry out all the necessary activities.

The ability to delegate some of ones activities to other organizations is something that has been used for many years by different types of organizations in different areas. This type of delegation to make use of external knowledge has been found to have many benefits such as improved quality of decision making,shorter decision paths and redistribution of resources to improve processes. Unfortunately, it has also been found that in some activities, delegation can lead to problems with, for example, information access. The purpose of this paper was therefore to investigate whether one authority's delegation of activities to another organization affects access to information based on the concept of public documents. The research questions that formed the basis of the investigation were 1) Are there information losses, based on the concept of public documents, that can arise in connection with the delegated activity, and which are they? and 2) What consequences can information loss have when looking at the principle of public access to official records? This paper has had a qualitative approach where interviews and document studies have been used as methods for gathering information regarding the two research questions. The main conclusion drawn from this thesis is that if the Swedish Transport Agency uses certain types of organizations for delegation of activities, extensive information loss can be incurred regarding information linked to certain parts of its activities and as an authority run the risk of being in conflict with the principle of public access to official records.

Colonialism is a word coated with history of trauma, opression and self-governance, something most people only apply to the past. However, most people do not realize that colonialism is still alive within our modern community and all the different levels of it. This essay is a analysis if colonialism exists within the swedish archival world in the context of the indigenous people of Sweden: the Sámi. The essay shall discuss how colonialism has affected Swedish archival ways of working in regard to Sámi issues and documenation, but also how colonialism affects todays archival work and the discussion around who should manage the historical items and documets that have been stolen from the Sámi people by Sweden.

As the Sámi people live in four different countries, it’s needed to point out that this essay will be focusing on the Swedish side of Sápmi, as the situation in Finland, Norway and Russia are entierly different in regard to politics and, archival practices, yet some of the discussion will be around the Norwegian work with Sámi archives and discussing how it might be applicable to Sweden.

As I am part of the Sámi and indingenous community this essay will be using a indingenous perspective of colonalism and the process of decolonisation and the affect it has on our communities, not only does it affect Sweden but globally and why indigenous people are working towards de-colonizing it even if it goes against typical archival practices. As i have the knowledge in both perspectives I will discuss why this is such a complex subject and how the process of de-colonization of swedish archives looks from the Swedish and archival perspective and the Sámi indigenous.  

Researchers have referred to Vladimir Putin as a “History man”. It has been confirmed that he takes a great personal interest in history and frequently speaks about the topic. However, previous research has not taken account for how Putin gives his statements about history additional authority. One way in which he does this is by referring to archives and archival documents, thus giving his statements about history an additional aura of “truthfulness”. This essay aims to partially fill the gap in previous research by examining Putin’s statements about history and archives from a perspective of archival science by asking the following research questions: “How does Putin view archives and archival records?”, “What can archives be used for and what characteristics are they given by Putin?”. The theoretical and methodological basis for this essay is discourse analysis and Jörn Rüsen’s typology of historical narratives. By examining the discourses Vladimir Putin expresses and reproduces about archives insight has been gained into the way in which a prominent politician uses archives, how he views their function in society and what their characteristics are. As Vladimir Putin seemingly always speaks about archives in relation to history the latter could not be ignored, which is why Rüsens’ typology was used to examine what kind of historical narrative Putin expresses when speaking about archives. The analysis in this essay shows that Vladimir Putin has a strong belief in archives as mirrors of the past. According to the Russian President archives portray a completely accurate and unquestionable account for how history has unfolded. He dismisses any historical narrative that is not based on archival documents as politicized speculation. In Putin’s eyes archives also play a central role in preserving a common, national heritage for the entire Russian nation as a whole.

The purpose of this essay is to critically review the archival investigation report to conclude what suggestions the investigation has led to, what criticism it has met, and if it is possible to identify any flaws with the investigation. I have made a text analysis of the report and the responses from referral bodies. The investigation concludes that there is need for a new and modernised archival law to follow the changes in a more digitalised society. The report also highlights the importance to include private archive institutions in the new law to protect their records for future research and as a part of our cultural heritage. There is a focus on mass digitising of analogue records from 1970 and onwards, to be able to make them available in digital form. The investigation also states that all archives should report information about their stocks to the National Archives Database. To finance the suggested changes, the investigation proposes a redistribution of funds.

The referral bodies agree that a modernised archival law is important, since the current one is over 30 years old. They concur that the private archives need protection and want all archives to be included in the new law, not just the ones that are funded by state funds. A majority criticise a mass digitisation of the older archives. They state that it is more important to implement e-archives and make solutions for long-preservation of the information that is “born digitally” today. Otherwise, there is a risk that the information will be lost for future research. The Swedish National Archives, Riksarkivet, is suggested to be given the task to improve the national archives database to make it more user-friendly and easier for governmental authorities and private archives to provide information about their stocks in a national information system. The referral bodies also agree that the funds presented in the report are not enough to implement the changes suggested.

Even though the name of the report is From Here to Eternity,” my conclusion is that investigation fails to present suggestions for long-term preservation of digitally born information and how to ensure that the information will be accessible in the future.

The purpose of this essay is to analyze accessibility too Sámi archives in Sweden today. A new proposal to change the archival legislation in Sweden was published 2019 but have not yet become effective. The proposal highlights that the archives’ purpose is access and that the Sámi archives are an important part of the cultural heritage. Recently, in 2023, a new search portal – Nuohtti - for digital Sámi archival materials was launched. The search portal links Sámi materials not just from Sápmi but all of Europe. The portal is managed jointly by the state archives in Norway, Finland, and Sweden. Both Norway and Finland have a state Sámi archive but in Sweden no one has that responsibility, Sámi archives are scattered at different institutions both governmental and privet ones.

Grounded in postmodern archival theory and based on the theoretical perspectives: Power, knowledge, representation, and provenance this essay examines the concept of access too Sami archives and the possibilities and challenges that may arise.

The study was conducted whit a qualitative research method using content analysis and semi-structured interviews. The source material consists of governmental reports, information material from the archives, debate articles, interviews, and the search portal Nuohtti.I interviewed three archivists at two archives. One interview with an archivist from the state archive Riksarkivet and one interview with two archivists from the Sami archive at Ájtte museum in Jokkmokk.

The results show that a challenges with making Sámi archives accessible includes the lack of a state Sámi archive that gathers both archives and Sámi knowledge. It also shows that how Sámi archives are accessible is important both online and physical. The context to the records and ethical consideration is important to consider when making Sámi archives accessible. The new search portal Nuotti takes much of the difficulties into account and makes access easier to a wider audience.

The aim of this study is to examine if the freedom of information and thus also the freedom of expression in Sweden can be harmed if Swedish archives will start to identity control and register scholars who wants to take part private of archives in public archives. To find an answer, I have looked at the advantages and disadvantages of such registration and control. If a registration is introduced there is some thought about sort out and preservation and you can see if the principle of openness and thus freedom of expression can be damaged in such a registration.

I have analysed and compared Swedish laws concerning the principle of openness and for archives as well as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and conducted semi-structured interviews with a lawyer, an archivist, and a journalist.

I have concluded that it is possible for the Swedish National Archive to register who takes part in their individual archives, but it is uncertain how long this information can be preserved. Most of the informants believe that the principle of openness and thus freedom of expression can be damaged if control of identification is introduced. The journalist believes that the registered information can be used to map journalists and prevent them from accessing information in private archives.

Gotland, Åland, Saaremaa, Hiiumaa and Bornholm are five island regions in the Baltic Sea which constitute, or have until recently constituted, provinces or counties of their own. Combining perspectives from two disparate academic fields, uses of history and island studies, this book investigates how regional history writing has contributed to the formation of regional identity on these islands since the year 1800. The special geographic situation of the islands-somewhat secluded from the mainland but also connected to important waterways-has provided their inhabitants with shared historical experiences. Due to varying geographic and historical circumstances, the relationship between regional and national identity is however different on each island. While regional history writing has in most cases aimed at integrating the island into the nation state, it has on Åland in the second half of the 20th century been used to portray its inhabitants as a separate nation. Dramatic political upheavals as the World Wars has also caused shifts in how regional history writing has represented the relationship to the mainland nation state, and has sometimes also resulted in altered national loyalties.

In this case study I research how three archivists at a Swedish municipal experience how the Corona pandemic have affected their work related to providing citizens with access to public records. In the answers from three qualitative interviews with two archivists at the municipal archive and one archivist working in the municipals’ intermediate archive for social services I interpret expressions of flexibility and stability, defined as an ability to adapt to change and usage of existing resources within the organization. The key findings of the study show that the aspect of digitalization, and the already existing digitalized grades, have afforded the archivists' work with some stability. Organizational planning has in turn enabled them a flexible approach to the changes brought by the pandemic. Furthermore, I analyze these findings through the democratic aspect of archives - the right to access public records to gain insight to governmental decisions – and find that some challenges are apparent. But overall, under current circumstances, the effect of the Corona pandemic on the municipals’ archival work with access to public records have been minimal. 

Since the year of 1580 until about the year of 1680 Forest Finns have immigrated to a large part of middle Sweden working mainly with burn-beating but also with cattle raising, hunting and fishing. There have been studies made for quite some time about the Forest Finns family names, last names and location names and also about their food culture, craftsmanship and building constructions. Still there hasn´t seen to be any research about how you can use the digitized archives for further research about Forest Finns and this is where I’ve found an interesting research gap to explore further. This essay has been delimited to the areas of Dalby, Norra Ny and Gräsmark based on Carl Axel Gottlund´s notes on the forest Finnish family names that he recorded in the household records in 1821 within the given area. After this study, it has become clear that the vast majority of sites with forest Finnish settlements contain both Finnish family names and Finnish place names. The vast majority of the sites also had croft remains and stone wall cairns. It has also become clear during this study that the remains of farm buildings can be found at several of these sites. Remains of mills have also been found at several sites while only a few of the sites investigated had a sauna or ria. Barns are also less common on the sites, as are carvings and natural formations. To summarise, the house interrogation lists in the church books that Carl Axel Gottlund has recorded can provide information about the Forest Finnish family names the families have had, and which Forest Finnish place names exist in the area. But the information can also be used to calculate how much of the population in these areas had Forest Finnish roots and how they chose to settle in the areas. the traces of the Forest Finns in the material remains or other cultural heritage remains can give us more information about the building skills of the Forest Finns but also more information about their cultural heritage and living conditions.

Since the beginning of the 18ᵗʰ century until the middle of the 19ᵗʰ century the Sami population in Sweden has been forced to move to the northem parts of Sweden because of sockenlappinstitutionen. This regulation was met with anger from the Sami people who lived outside the reindeer husbandry areas in the middle of Sweden because they didn 't see themselves as guest but as natives in their municipality. They would sometimes get a chance to stay in their municipality if they got hired as an "sockenlapp" in their municipality or parish. The aim of this study has been to further conduct research the Sami-people "sockenlapparnas" who have beenoutside the reindeer herding areas. The questions asked in the study in order to answer the aim of this study has been the questions: Is there a spatial relationship between the historical distribution of "sockenlapparna" in the middle Sweden and place names with the word Lapp and what material remains can be connected to place names containing the word Lapp.The areas this study explores are delimited to Ovansjö Parish in Gästrikland, Bollnäs municipality and Ljusdals municipality in Hälsingland.The answer I came up with to the first question after the study was a definite yes, there is a spatial relationship between the historical distribution of "sockenlapparna" in the middle Sweden and places containing the word Lapp. In both Ovansjö, Bollnäs and Ljusdal there are places containing the word Lapp and there are also "Lapps" living in these areas. The answer I came up with to the second question is there are a few remains that recur and the remains that recurred the most during the study are the foundations of charcoal huts, remains of house foundations and also burial sites.

From November 2017, the mystical anonymous poster ”Q” filled its followers with messages regarding American politics. Q posted on different image boards and as the number of followers grew different web pages were created where canonical Q-posts (usually called ”drops” or Q-drops”) were preserved, numbered, tagged, and interlinked. The QAnons – the movement formed around the messages from Q – were fierce online discussants occupying almost every possible social media platform. The questions are – Will this corpus exist for future researchers? How do we preserve the content of a deplatformed movement? What are the limits of digital preservation of interlinked content created by a community?

The mysticism of the 19th and 20th centuries has often been perceived as a reaction towards the new fast, dense, and modern world. But is it not so that it thrives on the same material foundations, globalism, networks, and mass production of text, that built our contemporary global information society? In this article, thoughts found in the writings of the Swedish mystic and translator Baron Eric Hermelin are analyzed. Hermelin was born into a Swedish noble aristocratic family in 1860. After traveling through the British Empire as a soldier in his youth, he returned to Sweden with books and knowledge. Unfortunately, he spent most of his remaining life incarcerated in the mental hospital St. Lars in the university town of Lund in the south of Sweden. But from the hospital, he released translations of Rumi, Khayyam, and other Persian mystics as well as reflections on Böhme and Swedenborg. The analysis will use Eric Hermelin’s work and focus on the process of creating and delivering the texts of the Persian Sufis to a Swedish audience.

The idea of “Birth Certificate Enslavement” is a conspiracy theory situated in North America and spread through the internet. It is connected to, among others the Sovereign Citizen-movement (SPLC 2019). There are examples of the conspiracy theory spreading, with active activists in Europe among other parts of the world. According to the believers, the creating of a birth certificate starts the life of an evil administrative doppelgänger to the newly born. A “corporate shell”. This corporate shell is then sold by the State to foreign investors as a form of financial security. One of the administrative proof of this, according to the believers of the conspiracy theory, is that the birth certificate is written in capital letters and that bond papers and watermarks are used. This part of the conspiracy, the “proof in the design of the administrative document” is connected to an interpretation of Maritime law that the sympathisers believe are valid regarding birth certificates (SPLC 2010). To analyse the conspiracy three research questions have been used. R1) References done in the video clip to public administration and archives - How are public administration and archives viewed in the message of the video clips? How are the employees of the agencies responsible for creating, storing and administrating birth certificates viewed. Are they in any way seen as recipients of the message in the video clips? Are there any appeals to confront the agencies or their employees. R2) References to other conspiracy theories - Are there any references to other conspiracy theories? Do they differ from video to video depending on the creator? One of the differences between various conspiracy theorists are that they put different “masterminds” behind the execution of the conspiracy. Aliens, Freemasons, Jews, Reptiles, the Catholic church, the Red shoe men and the Bilderberg group et cetera. According to previous research, people that believe in a conspiracy theory often believe in more than one (Silva et al 2017, p. 427) I here use the definition of conspiracy theory as “an explanation of historical ongoing, or future events that cites as a main casual factor a small group of powerful persons, the conspirators, acting in secret for their own benefits against the common good.” (Uscinski & Parent 2014, p. 32). R3) References to other political and administrative contexts than those connected to the United States of America - Are there any references to other political and administrative contexts than those of the United States of America? Do the proponents of the conspiracy theory believe that the theory interoperate with other political and administrative contexts or are they unique to the context of the United States of America?

Swedish administrative law includes great possibilities to transparency for the general public. According to The Principle of Public Access to Information all completed documents at a government agency can by default be accessed by the public if not the agency can motivate legal secrecy. Their motives for secrecy must have a foundation in the Public Access and Secrecy Act. This legal tradition is very old and was introduced as early as 1766. During the COVID­19 pandemic (2020 and forwards) the work at governmental agencies have not been easy. Offices have been closed temporarily and contact with thepublic have been limited because of restrictions. The workplace has been moved from the traditional office space to digital environments as employees have been forced to work from home. The Public Health Agency, who have the main responsible to communicate with the public regarding matters of the pandemic, have had many requests for information during this time. In this paper reactions from media and the public regarding The Public Health Agency’s information management is investigated.

In his article, ‘Discussions in social media regarding the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation’, Rikard Friberg von Sydow, Senior Lecturer in Archival Science, shares his findings regarding the dis-course on the new data protection legislation carried out on social media by groups of professionals before the GDPR entered into force. Analysing the discussions which took place in three Facebook groups of professionals particularly impacted by this new legislation (archivists, IT-professionals and communicators in the public sector), the author concludes that the discussions witness confusion and very varying levels of insight in the new legislation. The difficulties encountered by the groups of professionals studied in understanding the content and the impact of the new legal framework raise even the crucial question of the practicability and efficiency of the European data protection legislation, and furthermore, the question of the respect for the Rule of Law.

Introduction

The social media platform Reddit is a contemporary context where we have an opportunity to identify problems experienced by people regarding different aspects of life. The platform is virtually anonymous which might make users discuss their problems more freely. Reddit is divided in subreddits where different subjects are discussed and the discussions are controlled by creators and moderators. I have identified a quite active subreddit targeted towards recovering addicts of benzodiazepines; r/benzorecovery.

Objectives

• To analyze strategies of recovery in user narrative
• To identify techniques commonly used and the how they are described
• To construct metadata in order to assess how frequent the discussion of a different techniques are.

Methods

Technically, what is done in this study, is adding mark-up metadata to different discussion. A rudimentary form of analysis suitable with a larger digital corpus where content metadata is added (Gilliland Swetland 2000). The metadata is constructed through a hermeneutical method in which the researcher analyses the subreddit.

Results

Answering question like:(Example)

DIY-tapering; different ways to limit drug use by using less.

1) how common are discussion of taperings in relation to other subjects?

2) Is tapering commonly discussed together with other subjects and techniques?

Conclusions

Using a method of categorization and metadata mark-up we could gain a good understanding of the problems among recovering benzodiazepine addicts. We will also have the possibility to identify concepts that addicts themselves discuss and relate these to professional concepts thus creating better possibilities of communication between professionals and clients.

Rikard Friberg von Sydow analyserar den offentliga utredning som är förarbetet till Patientjournalslag (1985:562) och hur den hanterar patientintegriteten i en tid av begynnande användning av ADB. Författaren avslutar med reflektioner om hur 30 års utveckling påverkat integritetsfrågan och vilken integritetsproblematik som nu bör få uppmärksamhet.

Many public sector organizations today use social media to communicate with the citizens. In Sweden, where government information is strictly regulated there have been several discussions regarding these organizations use of social media as the content is considered governmental information. In this paper I will analyze two city archives (Stockholm City Archive and The Regional Archives for Gothenburg and Region Västra Götaland) instructions regarding their use of social media in general and the application Instagram particulary. These instructions will be analyzed through a theoretical framework containing provenance, preservation and reusability. Instagram is particularly interesting because the main communication is done through pictures which can be hard to preserve, hard to record the provenance regarding, but that people often are eager to reuse. In the end two models for a practical preservation of Instagram content will be presented. Two models of preservation that take provenance and reusability in account.

In Sweden all public organizations such as municipalities and government agencies have to treat their information flow carefully. Every document that is created or received by a public organization is perceived as an official document (“Allmän handling”). Such document must be released to the public on demand if the information in it is not subject to any secrecy regulations. In the legislation the definition of a document is very broad – it could be any type of information that a public organization holds. Automatically generated logfiles, maps, pictures, virtually anything that is perceived as information can be an official document. These types information is also supposed to be preserved in an archive, if there not is a regulation from the National archives or other qualified agency that states otherwise. This makes the discussion regarding preserving social media relevant.

Instagram provides a possibility to download all posted content from your user account. This has been a feature in the Instagram Application since April 2018. The result is a zip-file with a series of files in JSON-format. These files contains all likes, messages, captions et cetera that has been generated through the account. The zipped content also contains all pictures and videos the account has posted, and all direct messages (pictures or videos) that the account has had sent to it. There are also independent scraping tools that let you download content from accounts that you don’t are the owner off.These types of scraping tools are off less interest in this study, but could be useful for public organizations if they collect content from other users or in cases were a public organization has lost control over an account. There is no research yet that mentions Instagram, but scraping through API, application programming interface, the programming interface that social media suppliers offers for professional users, have been recommended as an archiving tool for Twitter.

The theoretical foundation of this study is the concept of provenance as it is used within the discipline of Archival Science. The goal is to discuss preservation solutions that will enable us to preserve reusable content with its provenance intact. The reason to search for such solutions is to cater both to contemporary and future users of the preserved content. Provenance, or respect des fonds, is a key concept in archival theory. There are multiple aspects of provenance but one is that what we call an archive is the natural accumulation of an organization. It is not – as in the case with a library – a collection of information, collected by the organization. It is the administrative accumulation of an organization, the mail sent to it and the protocol on which its representatives have written their decisions. To keep the provenance is to let the accumulated administrative material in an order close to its original order. Material from different organizations should not be mixed when they reach an archival institution, they should be kept sorted in relation to their original accumulator. Reusability and preservation are two other criteria that are used beside provenance.

The two largest cities in Sweden, Stockholm and Gothenburg are the only ones that seem to have any instruction for archiving Instagram content. These instructions, which differs in some ways have been analyzed with the concepts of provenance, reusability and preservation. In relation to this analysis, two different methods for archiving Instagram content has been produced. Planned content management – a method in which reusability and the preservation of easily reusable archives are in focus. Content download – a method in which the preservation of the content is done in way which preserves the social media provenance.

The study concludes that when we choose a method we must know it’s limitations. We must also know what kind of end result we want. Then we must let these two aspects intermingle when until we find a solution that is both possible for the organization and gives us a preferable end result. In the end, if we strive for provenance we might lose some of the contents reusability. And if we strive for reusability we might lose some of the contents provenance. If we want both the archive will be considerably larger and there will be more work accumulated in the end product.

Scientific contribution

The main scientific contribution of this study is the discussion regarding different methods of preservation of Instagram content. A discussion that is possible to apply to other social media application. To this a discussion regarding social media and provenance is added. Both these contributions could be a stepping stone for further discussion regarding how to treat social media from an archival science perspective.

From November 2017 and forwards the mystical anonymous poster ”Q” filled their followers with messages regarding American politics acting like the person behind the Q was someone who had insight into both the intelligence community and the important political surroundings. Q posted on different image boards but as the amount of followers grew different web pages were created where canonical Q-posts (usually called ”drops” or Q-drops”) was preserved, numbered, tagged and interlinked. The QAnons – the movement formed around the messages from Q – were fierce discussants on the Internet occupying almost every possible social media platform. The movement reached it’s peak when the QAnons spearheaded the attack against the Capitol on the 6th of January 2021. During the autumn of 2020 almost all big social media platforms had started to purge QAnons, kickbanning them and thus removing their accounts and created content.

In January 2021 I started to preserve all Q-posts downloading them in raw text format and saving them as individual files and also saving them in picture format. It is a very interesting material, full of dog whistling, echo-chamber-like links to supporters social media and memes whose messages are very internal. Downloading the posts as text has given me a possibility to use different text processing tools to investigate the corpus. It has also given me an insight into what happens with preserved internet content when links suddenly are broken and the movement surrounding the content is banned. How do we preserve the content of a deplatformed movement? What are the limits of digital preservation of interlinked content created by a community?

In Sweden where my research is performed, most if not all schools on all levels use a digital platform to communicate with children and their parents. It could be any type of communication, from personal communication regarding a child to information regarding homework for a class, what you need to bring to the field trip, and so on. In Sweden, having a law regarding compulsory school attendance between the age of 6 and 15, and also having a rather strict law regarding who could access the information regarding, the information transferred through these platforms are both important and under restricted access.

The problem I investigate is when this system meets a child with special needs. Especially if that child and its parents are supported through different services. Having a support family that the child lives with during periods of time or an institution that the child stays at temporarily. Because of the restricted access to the digital platforms they are unavailable within such arrangements, forcing schools to choose other forms of communication – mostly in the form of analog “contact books”. There are also information security issues when communicating information regarding the child's medical needs through digital platforms.

These problems with the use of digital platforms have led to some ad hoc solutions in Uppsala municipality, which is the focus of my investigation. In this poster, I will explain the process of communication and the consequences regarding information security and preservation of archives when a system forces users to use analog communication where digital communication is the norm.

Hur vi än vänder och vrider på oss sitter vi fast i geografin. Inte bara för att den definierar den fysiska verklighet vi har omkring oss, utan även genom vanans makt. Hur ofta byter du resväg till arbetet eller affären? Hur ofta dyker du plötsligt upp på en plats där du aldrig varit förut? Vana och infrastruktur – det raster vi människor placerar över de av naturen givna topografiska förutsättningarna – styr i mångt och mycket var vi kommer befinna oss under livet. Av samhället färdigdragna vägnät, busslinjer och flygtrafiknav har en stark makt att bestämma vad vi kommer se när vi förflyttar oss. Det gäller alla, även Stig Bergling. En plats han fastnade på var Cypern och det var där hans spiongärning inleddes, genom en introduktion till underrättelsetjänstens praktik, och den avslutades även där med ett samtal till SÄPO och en begäran om att få komma hem till Sverige igen. Berglings spionage var komplext och skedde under flera perioder, mot flera stater och med fler än en uppdragsgivare. Det han är mest känd för är dock försäljningen av Fortifikationskoden, ofta benämnd Fo-koden eller Fo-pärmen. Berling kopierade detta register över Sveriges befästningar på sin arbetsplats vid Försvarsstabens Säkerhetsavdelning och sålde den till Sovjetunionen under en period när han var placerad som militärobservatör för FN i Mellanöstern. Priset var 8000 Libanesiska pund vilket då motsvarade 16 000 Svenska kronor. I dagens penningvärde runt 110 000 kronor.

This poster is providing further explanations to the poster bearing the same name. The goal is to analyze the quality of links within the Q-drop canon, in this investigation with focus on the links to the microblog Twitter.com. Links to Twitter were harvested from the Q-drops and assessed individually regarding whether they were still existing or dead. The status of the Twitter-links were connected to a variety of categories. The conclusion being that a large part of the QAnon Ecosystem is damaged and no longer interlinked. Damage that will make it hard to understand the movement in the future. 

Flashback Forums is a Swedish discussion forum that have existed on the internet in different versions since 1996. Since after the millenium it has got a reputation being very active discussing contemporary criminal cases. The discussions are often harsh and vibrant, not minding any of Swedens laws regarding slandering or regulation of press, the servers being located to North America. Lawless or not – the forums have been involved in several criminal cases, supplying information that had not been found by the Police. Because of these cases Flashback Forums has gained a reputation among journalists, police and the public. It is now heavily used as a source of information by different agents in society. This makes it a powerful actor and information provider in Swedish society.

I am interested in how consensus regarding what is considered as a fact are treaten in the Flashback Contemporary Crimes-subforum (Underforumet ”Aktuella brott”). In order to have a flow of discussion, the participants need to have a common ground, some traits of an evidence being used to decide what is a proven fact and what is not. These traits should be possible to identify when analyzing the discussions. To get an understanding of this I will follow and analyze two different forum threads regarding two contemporary murders. What is considered a trusted source and what signifies that a source is seen as controversial? How is consensus built by those forum members participating in the discussion? I will use a process-based method in analyzing the threads, considering them as a process with a natural beginning (the criminal event) and a natural end (the solving of the crime). In this process a number of consensus-building moments will appear in the discussion. These will be in focus of my investigation and analyzed with methods related to hermeneutical and argument analyzing research. The result will be a number of rules related to consensus-building regarding facts in these particular forums.

The International Council on Archives Code of Ethics was presented in 1996. A great deal has happened in the world and in the discipline of Archival Science since. This article examines and analyses the Code of Ethics with the help of Codes of ethics from other disciplines, the debate surrounding profession ethics and the changes in the world of archives. Three areas are found where improvement in the Code would be preferable. The archivist should be trying to gain a higher autonomy in relation to other professions like economist and lawyers. Inspired by how autonomy is formulated in the pharmacists Code of Ethics. Education should be put in focus when today, at least in the western world, most people that work as archivists generally have a relatively high education. Also, the statements in the Code regarding confidentiality might have to be revisited and discussed again, because of the great changes in the possibility to spread and communicate information after the great increase in digitalization since 1996. Today, the internet as an extra layer of information makes it possible to search and connect personal information with information in archives. We also have the possibility to spread information very fast using smart phones etcetera. This has to be regarded as a change in the possibility to remain confidential.     

In June 2017 the Nordic National Socialist organization ”Nordic Resistance Movement” discovered that their web-shop, “Nordfront”, had been hacked and the customer data leaked on the Internet.

Later they admitted publicly to being hacked and soon there after the actual data base was released by the perpetrators. Online discussions and media reports followed. Politicians who had ordered merchandise from the web-shop had to resign and musicians who had done the same had their concerts canceled. Data hacking led to a political and cultural scandal in Sweden with consequences for those involved. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reactions in online forums from persons in the political sphere that was affected by the leak. How do commentators react when information that connects a person to a controversial, and in this case anti-democratic and racist, political organization, is spread on the Internet? How is the quality of the information valued from an information security perspective? How can the database-leak be analyzed with help from models of information security? The study will be done using a case study method, with the main focus towards the supporters of the Nordic Resistance Movement.

The QAnon-movement, a conspiracy theory and political movement gaining fame in the recent storming of theCapitol in Washington D.C in the beginning of 2021, see the messages from the source “Q” as their most importantsource of information. “Q” has posted short messages on different message boards (4Chan, 8Chan et cetera) sinceNovember 2017. The messages comment on contemporary political events and claim to foresee politicaldevelopment (Operation Q) Who the source, “Q” is, is not known, although speculations exist on the internet. Atleast we know that the person or persons making the posts seems to want us to believe that they have insight into thebackstage of the political scene (LaFrance 2020). Conspiracy theories, and the QAnon-movement, have beeninvestigated in the discourse of Information Literacy before. But then mostly from the perspective of the followerand his/her motives to be a part of the movement (Beene & Greer 2021). In this presentation the foundation of theQAnon-movement will be investigated: The posts or “dumps” from the source “Q”. This will give us a deeperunderstanding what the followers of QAnon really believe in. Knowing the structure and actual content of the “Q”-posts will help us understand the QAnons. A practical result of this might be a greater possibility to understand andcommunicate with people invested in the movement.Around 5000 posts that “Q” has made since fall 2017 are presented on different websites connected to the QAnon-movement. By performing a content-analysis it would be possible to answer questions such as who is mentionedmore – Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump? Or – how many times are networks of child-traffickers mentioned in theQ-posts? In this poster-presentation I will focus on references to other conspiracy theories; the Adrenochrome-conspiracy, “Truthers”, “Birthers” and False flag school-shootings. QAnon has been labeled a “big-tent-conspiracytheory” because it constantly evolves and adds new conspiracies to its belief-system (Roose 2020). Using a content-analysis we could gain knowledge whether these conspiracy theories are already present in the posts from “Q” or ifthey show up later in the process. Message spread by QAnon-followers follow a certain process in which Q-posts arediscussed by followers in blogs, Youtube-channels and podcasts mixed with a general conspiracist narrative.The content-analysis will be performed by converting all Q-posts to individual text-files. This gives us the possibilityto use a analysis-tool such as GREP to perform searches in all posts without the distortion of the QAnon-websitesown search systems (Grep Manual). A few relevant keywords per conspiracy theory will be used to find anyreferences to it among the vast amount of posts by the source “Q”.

The digital era is accelerating and intensifying interventions in living bodies (Markley 1996, p. 4). Pictures and video clips can intervene with our privacy in a way that could chane our world. I will investigate four Swedish Revenge Porn-cases that were brought to court between 2017 and 2018. Revenge Porn is commonly known as non-consensual pornography – pictures or video material of a sexual nature spread without the portrayed persons consent (Dodge 2021). The verdicts will be analyzed from the perspectives of provenance (where do the pictures origin from?) and process (how did they travel before they became a legal matter?).

Bibliography:

Dodge, Alexa (2021) “Trading Nudes Like Hockey Cards: Exploring the Diversity of ‘Revenge Porn’ Cases Responded to in Law’, Social & Legal Studies, Vol 30(3). 

Markley,Robert (1996) “Introduction: History, Theory, and Virtual Reality”, in Markley, Robert Virtual Realities and its Discontents, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 

The aim of this essay is to explore which preservation method is the most suitable to preserve digital games with focus on Minecraft. This essay will compare emulation, migration and conversion. This will be done through a comparative literature study. The material of this essay is therefore previous research on preservation of digital games and preservation of digital information. The result is that a combined method of emulation and migration is preferable when it comes to the preservation of digital games.

This paper investigates the Swedish emergency readiness and how it acts in a state of war forgovernmental archival institutes. The purpose of this study is to examine how the archivalinstitutes of the government act during war time, to further give an insight of how preparedthe Swedish National Archives and The Royal Library are in regarding to emergency of war,to preserve the archive itself. A qualitative textual analysis and survey results have been takenin use to answer the purpose of the study and its question at issue, through a context analysisof the empirical material gathered from both institutes. The method of use is based on textualanalysis and the theoretical approach applied is the theory of political contingency in regardsto division of responsibility. The content analysis of the gathered information consists of threedifferent types of source material: general knowledge of archival/library/museum institutes,scriptures from The National Archives and The Royal Library, as well as survey results.The result of the study demonstrates an inconsistency in the form of vague or scantformulations with regards to the responsibility of the archival institutes and the manner oftheir resource allocation. In this paper a theory emerges that with a rather great probability theresources within archival/library/museum institutes are scarce in regards to readiness, whichmost likely is due to the theory that the readiness during peacetime has been severely lackingfor decades.In conclusion it has been demonstrated that the need for concrete information regardingreadiness for emergencies or war is highly required from governmental agencies. All in all,this study has identified the need of additional research with focus on archival institutes in theevent of war.

What impact does the conversation between citizen, market and governance have on inherent meaning in cultural heritage? How does it manifest and unfold concerning values it presents in the given context of Slussen´s preservation and reconstruction? As cultural beings, what significance does these values have on democracy?

The aim of this studie is to measure how the concept of cultural heritage is negotiated and established by the city of Stockholm, Skanska Sweden and relating practitioners towards the significance of democracy. This with the approach of archival studies from e-archive Stockholm and an analysis of records from Skanska Sweden in combination with an ethnological perspective.

This conversation exposes that the representational democracy which city of Stockholm represents endangers its senior citizens with exclusion. The values that late modern society evokes is in discrepancy with which values Stockholm´s senior citizens stands up for, relating back to the aftermath from World war II. The results points out that Stockholms collective memory aims to wipe out values which the ladder stands for, acting within Slussens cultural heritageprocess.

The aim of this essay is to examine how the swedish municipality of Botkyrka hasendeavoured to meet the legal obligations prescribed by the General Data ProtectionRegulation (GDPR) and what impact this legislation is expected to have on the informationmanagement-structures currently in use within the municipality itself. Research has beenperformed through a case study consisting of semi-structured interviews. The study showsthat several important measures has been taken in order to meet the demands set by theregulation, but that the absence of a conclusive swedish legislation on the matter is keepingthe municipality from knowing what exactly is expected of them.

During the past couple of years, genetic genealogy has been used as an instrument for law enforcement to identify and catch criminals of unsolved cases. The method has created an ethical discussion concerning individual integrity and the potential risks an implementation of a method like this could cause. The purpose of this essay is to examine this method from an ethical perspective and discuss aspects like personal integrity, legislation and in what way people who send in their DNA to genealogy companies can affect their genetic data. Five different DNA testing genealogy companies have been selected to study and discuss in this essay. By examining their terms of conditions and privacy policies, the study will investigate how these companies act regarding the potential use from law enforcement of their DNA-databases to solve crimes. Parts of the current ethical debate regarding the method will also be presented and discussed to show potential advantages and disadvantages using a method like this could lead to.

The results from the study show that forensic genetic genealogy could have both its advantages and disadvantages. Using the method has shown to be successful in capturing perpetrators behind unsolved crimes but it has also led to innocent people getting involved into criminal investigations. There are multiple ethical aspects concerning the method and the results show that there is a lack of research about the method and these aspects. There is also a lack of legislation or other forms of regulations regarding the method. The conclusion that therefore has been made is that there needs to be more research made about the ethical aspects of the method and that there needs to be more regulations to avoid the disadvantages using the method potentially could bring.

This study was written with the aim to shed light on which strategies were employed by all 26 Swedish municipal archives in the Stockholm region to attract users to the archives at the time of writing. This was done by asking questions about archive-based teaching and learning via survey to municipal archivists, analyzing the webpages of the municipal archives for information about making the cultural heritage available in non-traditional active ways, and studying the ”archival regulations” or ”archival guidelines” which specify archival management and responsibilities on the municipal level. The results show that archives in most cases are understaffed and that archive-based teaching and learning has a low priority in the municipal archives, even though in most of the cases the archival regulations specify an obligation to actively promote usage of the material in cultural and scientific contexts. The study doesn’t find a link between obligations specified in the documents and municipal commitment to making the archival material available in abovementioned non-traditional ways. The study sums up the current archive-based teaching and learning strategies for the examined archives based on the above sources. The author of the study hopes that the results will provide fuel for the discussion regarding municipal archives and the role they should play in making the cultural heritage available to the public.

In response to the literature’s claim that there is an increasing gap between archivists and historians and a dwindling connection between the archival and historical disciplines, I investigate in this article how Swedish historians have related to archives and archival material as historical sources, in both theoretical and empirical perspectives. The study is based on one of Sweden’s leading journals for the discipline, Historisk tidskrift, published by the Swedish Historical Society. The term ”archive” is analysed from the journal’s start in 1881 to 2021. Following the historian Hans-Jörg Rheinberger, archives and archival documents are seen as the ”epistemic things” on which academic history can build its production of knowledge.

The fact that archives and archival sources have played a significant role in history’s evolution into an academic discipline has attracted little interest. This study shows that archival documents have been seen as the historian’s main primary source for most of the period studied. The texts examined in Historisk tidskrift only rarely analysed the archive’s original, internal order and creation process, but constantly praised the use of extensive archival material. Changing historiographical patterns did not result in the questioning of the archives’ pre-eminence as a primary source to any degree, even though the changes meant that new questions were posed of archival sources and new types of source materials were used by historians. An unreflective view of archival documents was evident in the romanticisation of archives as dark and disordered, an approach present in Historisk tidskrift throughout the period studied. There were value judgements about the historian’s ”tribulations” in the archives, and trips to archives and the ”treasures” found there were romanticised. This approach contrasted with how historians, adopting a positivist role model, viewed archives as authentic and true. Given this contradiction, I would argue the historical discipline should take greater account of the context in which the archival material was created, preserved, and arranged.

The main focus in this article is to analyse representations of body and class in strength sport and boxing in a Swedish context during the period 1910-1960, as well as their deeper societal meanings. The concepts of profession, body and class are understood in close connection to the theoretical concepts of value and capital. This study's understanding of class and group affiliation differs from more traditional class analyses. It is argued for an in-depth understanding of how such processes take place and work through a broader concept of class. Representations are examined through magazines closely connected to the sports, as well as identification through autobiographies, written by prominent athletes during the early and mid twentieth century. The study shows a close link between these sports and manual labour. Physically strenuous work functioned both as a training regime in itself but was also presented as a way to be 'discovered'. However, the close connection to the working class and manual labour groups meant that physical strength came to be seen as something natural. Sporting success was also locked into body capital, which also had a relatively low exchange value in relation to other forms of capital.

Purpose: By studying marketing strategies of the global Weider Nutrition International Group, this study aims to analyse how the industry surrounding fitness equipment and dietary supplements interacted with fitness culture through marketing, advertising and consumption in 1950s Scandinavia. The emphasis is on how the Weider Group established their position as a world leader in sports nutrition through mail order partnerships and advertising using bodies and body ideals in their campaigns.

Design/methodology/approach: The Weider Group's marketing campaigns are studied through close reading of text and images in Scandinavian weightlifting and bodybuilding magazines in the 1950s, guided by a theoretical understanding of the body as a constant and ongoing project.

Findings: This study deepens the historical knowledge of market-driven aspects of sport and exercise. The market for nutrition and fitness products was internationalised in the 1950s. The study shows that cooperation between commercial and civic organisations played a major role in the enterprise of selling fitness and nutrition products.

Originality/value: This paper shows that in marketing the products, the advertisements - which appealed to both men and women - not only struck a tone of intimacy and desire but also cultivated a sense of insecurity and inadequacy, as well as individuals' responsibility for maintaining their own bodies. The latter was reflected in young men's letters to magazines in which Weider's products and training programmes were praised. For women, this opened up a previously male-dominated gym environment.

The 1990’s was one of the most tumultuous periods in European history, popularly described as the second autumn of nations, in reference to the springtime of nations during the revolutions of 1848. This revolutionary wave caused the collapse of the eastern bloc, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the fall of communism in its eastern European client states. But two states also disintegrated, the Yugoslav Socialist Republic and the newly federalized Czechoslovakia, in almost opposite ways, Yugoslavia descended into a decade of inter-ethnic violence and genocide while Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved into its two constituent parts. The Swedish foreign ministry had been active in both Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia since the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian empire, with an embassy each in Prague and Belgrade, in addition to several consulates in other Yugoslav republics. After the dissolution of both states, what happened to the embassy archives? Did they get transferred to the new states, get returned to the Swedish foreign ministry or were they simply destroyed? This essay examines this process through the lens of both the traditional aspects of archival science such as Provienzprincip, respect des fonds, as well as the Weberian lens of Ideal types, do they follow the established regulations? The standard procedure of transferring documents from one embassy to another was first established in 2009, hence any transfer of documents between embassies prior to this were not regulated by any specific law.

When comparing the two embassies and their transferals of documentation there are some surprising findings. The transfer of documents from Belgrad to the new embassy in Zagreb was much more well documented than the transfer from Prague to Bratislava, and the reasons for this are many. One of these reasons being that the embassy in Belgrade had an archival storage almost 5 times the size of the one in Prague, and the consulates in Zagreb, Rijeka and Ljublanja were established earlier than the one in Bratislava. Meaning, they had more documentation stored, requiring more documentation of the transferal, and the original documentation was then transferred to the Swedish embassy in Vienna and Budapest, thus requiring even more documentation of a transferal. Thus, it can be concluded that despite being in the death throes of a state, the Swedish Embassy in Belgrade lived up to the ideals of the regulations that were in place from the Swedish Archival institution, though neither embassy seems to have cared much for archival principles, which considering the circumstances, seems rather natural.

Since the turn of the millennium an extensive digitalisation of the European cultural heritage has been underway. The aim is to make the common cultural heritage accessible to everyone and promote developments in education, tourism and the creative industry, among others. Historically, archival documents and works of art have been closely related as archival documents has served as a proof of an artworks history and autheticity, its’ provinance. Since the turn of the millennium the archive has become a recurring theme in contemporary art. Informed by post structuralist theories of the archive as both a material place and a structure for power and history.

In this paper the relation between archival documents and artworks are being examined. By studying the digitalisation project of Thielska Galleriet in Stockholm the aim is to answer how documents of Richard Bergh’s letter archive, preserved at Thielska Galleriet, are being affected when made digitally available together with the museum’s art collection. The study is framed by the archive science theory the accessparadigm. Occuring at the turn of the 21st century the paradigm correlated with the change from paper to digital information storage, changing the focus of the archive from custody to access. The analysis is taking an interdisciplinary approach in relation to the concepts provenance and authenticity, established in both archive science and art history and is further framed by the art historical dissertation The Archive Art Phenomenon: History and Critique at the turn of the Twenty-First Century by Sarah Callahan (Stockholm University 2018).

The case study shows that the relation between archival documents and artworks at Thielska Galleriet has been blurred in different ways historically. Though faithful to concepts of provenance and authenticity, the digitalisation project faced some challenges regarding how the status of some archival documents changed when registered in correlation with the art collection in the database. Seen through the lens of the Archive Art Phenomenon, archival documents might be considered artworks if they are conceptualised as such. Access to the digitalised archives and art collection of Thielska Galleriet opens up for considering the archival documents in new ways. The use of Richard Berghs letter archive in artistic work and processes is one such potential.

The purpose of this thesis in Archival Science is to examine what standard of living the civil servants who worked for the Swedish National Archives had in the 1610- and 1620s. The examination is based on Pierre Bourdieus theory of society. The theory views society as a field with distinct social rooms and in each room the agents act to create one’s own capital. Every agent aims to create economical, material, social and cultural capital. Previous research within the field has primarly been about the Swedish state and the secretariat’s progress but the examined agents have been examined to a lesser extent. During the examined period the state chancellor Axel Oxenstierna was a key figure and patron in the Swedish state’s progress and employment of civil servants. The examined agents were born commons thus the oppurtunities were limited and they reached the civil servant employment through the patron-client relationship. Thus the examination aimed to answer two questions, what standard of living the civil servants had and if they were a part of the patron-client relationship. The methodology employed is qualitative. A literature review has been undertaken and qualitative hermeneutics method has been used to examine the texts about the civil servants standard of living.

The examination’s first part is a historical background which has showed that the Swedish state and secreterait had an unstable progess during the 1600th-century. When Gustavus Adoplhus became king in 1611 and Axel Oxenstierna state chancellor in 1612 the prerequisites for a stable state and secretariat were founded. As the state became stable the centralization to Stockholm began as well. It is in this historical context the examined civil servants are examined, as the first urban civil servants centralized to Stockholm. As the source material was surveyed typical problems with material preserved about commoners of this time were found. Only one civil servant had enough source material to give enough scientific credibility. His name was Andreas Olai Gerslinus and was employed in the secretariat in 1614 and the Swedish National Archives 1618. The examination has showed that he throughout the whole examined period had a high social and cultural capital. He had relationships with both scholars and men of high nobility. His role as a civil servant of the Swedish National Archives gave him a natural high cultural capital due to the information he possessed. His economical and material capital was low in the 1610s but during the same time he had enough capital to buy two homesteads. The low capital was the results of war and the debt for Älvsborg. During the 1620s his economical capital became reliable and he moved to Åbo in 1623 to pursue a more reputable employment until his death in 1628. This was also common for the civil servants to constantly change social room to be able to build more capital. The second question regarding the patron-client relationship has shown that Andreas Olai Gerslinus was a client for the patron Axel Oxenstierna. The last part of the essay is a concluding discussion about the results gathered during the examination.

This chapter investigates the challenges faced by two Swedish municipalities in freeing government information as required by both the European and the Swedish Public Sector Information (PSI) directives. Sweden enacted its PSI directive in July 2010, based on the 2003 European PSI directive, which all member states were required to implement. Municipalities are directed to proactively publish data for public consumption. Swedish municipalities are engaged in e-Government development, which has also led to an increase of the information they are required to manage effectively. In Sweden, PSI is an integral part of the e-Government policy. Sweden is working to regain its leading position in the World, as far as e-Government development is concerned. Sweden’s e-Government mantra is “to make it as simple as possible, for as many as possible.” e-Government development is meant to transform government institutions by making them simple, open, accessible, effective, and secure. The Swedish third generation e-Government focuses on demand-driven development of electronic services, third-party collaboration in service development, that is, the citizens, increased re-use of public sector information, and responsibility for adding value to information and services. The implementation of the PSI directive is slow because municipalities have different budgetary capacities. Large municipalities, with sufficient budgets, are implementing the directive and have started releasing for public consumption while small ones continue to issue single documents on websites. Uneven e-Government development influences the release of PSI. Small municipalities lack human, technical, and financial resources available to large ones.

This book identifies key factors necessary for a well-functioning information infrastructure and explores how information culture impacts the management of public information, stressing the need for a proactive and holistic information management approach amidst e-Government development. In an effort to deal with an organization's scattered information resources, Enterprise Content Management, Records Management and Information Culture Amidst E-Government Development investigates the key differences between Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Records Management (RM), the impact of e-Government development on information management and the role of information in enhancing accountability and transparency of government institutions. The book hence identifies factors that contribute to a well-functioning information infrastructure and further explores how information culture impacts the management of public information. It highlights the Records Continuum Model (RCM) thinking as a more progressive way of managing digital information in an era of pluralization of government information. It also emphasizes the need for information/records management skills amidst e-Government development. Ideas about records, information, and content management have fundamentally changed and developed because of increasing digitalization. Though not fully harmonized, these new ideas commonly stress and underpin the need for a proactive and holistic information management approach. The proactive approach entails planning for the management of the entire information continuum before the information is created. For private enterprises and government institutions endeavoring to meet new information demands from customers, citizens and the society at large, such an approach is a prerequisite for accomplishing their missions. It could be argued that information is and has always been essential to all human activities and we are witnessing a transformation of the information landscape. 

Sierra Leone was engulfed in a destructive civil war between 1991 and 2002. The civil war was partly caused by the non-accountability of the government, endemic corruption, misrule and the mismanagement of the country’s resources. Efforts have been made by the country, with the help of the international community, to embrace a democratic dispensation. To demonstrate its commitment to the democratization agenda, Sierra Leone passed the Right to Access Information (RAI) Act in 2013. The Act guarantees access to government information and also imposes a penalty on failure to make information available. However, Sierra Leone’s state institutions are still weak due to mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability. Freedom of expression and access to information are cornerstones of modern democracies. Public information/records are a means of power that governments and other political institutions use to exercise control over citizens, but are also a means of citizens’ empowerment. Through access to government information/records, media can play their watchdog role and people can assess the performance of governments and hold them accountable. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the fact that it is not enough to enact freedom of information laws (FOIs) if there is no political will to make government information accessible, an information management infrastructure to facilitate the creation, capture, management, dissemination, preservation and re-use of government information and investments in civil education to promote an information culture that appreciates information as a resource that underpins accountability and transparency.

Purpose: This paper examines the implementation of the Public Sector Information (PSI) directive in two Swedish municipalities amidst a changing information management landscape impacted by e-government development. Government information is currently looked upon as a “gold mine” and “raw material” to be explored by interested parties. The PSI directive grants European citizens a right to access government information flows (PSI) in order to develop new electronic services. The Swedish government implemented its PSI directive in July 2010. Swedish municipalities have to embrace the directive and make the PSI available to the general public. The literature review highlighted a number of critical issues that should be addressed if PSI initiatives are to succeed. This study revealed that the two municipalities had different resource capacities, and the levels of e-government development varied. This meant that the implementation of the PSI directive also varied. The bigger municipality with a bigger budget had implemented the PSI directive and was publishing data sets on its website, while the smaller municipality with a smaller budget only published a few documents. This paper, therefore, argues that the municipalities should have the same capacity if the PSI is to be a democratic endeavor to serve all citizens. Good quality PSI will also require the municipalities to embrace a records and information continua thinking, which highlights the necessity to proactively and holistically manage the information for pluralization in different contexts.

Design/methodology/approach: This paper builds on interviews that were conducted with four municipal officers. The number of respondents is quite small because the focus was specifically on people who were responsible for the implementation of the PSI directive in the municipalities. The respondents were identified through their fellow colleagues and they also recommended each other. Pickard refers to this kind of approach as a snow-bowling approach. Through interviews and observation, one participant advises on issues that need further inquiry and, hence, directs the researcher to another person who might offer more answers. A general interview guide approach was used to solicit answers to issues such as the implementation of the PSI directive, guidelines for PSI publication, if terms such as big data and open data were being used in the municipalities, if the municipalities had an information governance plan and how it was understood, if the information systems were well aligned to meet with the requirements of the PSI directive, how e-government development affected information management and information security and if the municipalities had information security guidelines.

Findings: The Swedish government requires its administrations to engage in e-government development. This development has led to increased amounts of information that the municipalities have to effectively manage and make available to the general public. However, the municipalities operate under different conditions. Municipalities that are financially stronger are better placed to invest in measures that will lead to better quality PSI. All municipalities are, however, expected to implement the PSI directive. The two municipalities that were the subjects of this study had different information management environments and the capacity to invest in information management systems that would facilitate the management of their information resources. The budgetary constraints faced by smaller municipalities might impact the implementation of the PSI directive and, hence, hinder the publication of the PSI. e-Government is meant to be an inclusive project, and the PSI is meant for all citizens with innovative ideas. There is a risk that citizens who belong to poorer municipalities might not be equally privileged compared to those living in resourceful municipalities. This poses a democratic challenge that should concern all people interested in an open and inclusive society.

Originality/value: Little research has so far been published on the implementation process of the PSI directive. The discourses that have started to emerge discuss the challenges of open data without paying much attention to the creation, capture and the management aspects of the PSI. The originality of this paper, therefore, lies in the application of the records and information continua thinking, which highlights dimensions that enhance information management and the democratic challenges that will be caused by the data divide, as municipalities have different capabilities when it comes to the publication of the PSI.

Purpose: Using a case study method, the article investigates the impact New Public Management (NPM), through outsourcing has had on the management of government information at the Swedish Transport Agency. In April 2015 the Agency outsourced its IT-operations to IBM company. Some of the IBM sub-contractors had not been cleared by the Swedish Security Service. This exposed the Agency’s information to risk. By outsourcing the IT operations, the General Director of the Agency deviated from the laws governing government information such as the Swedish Security Protection Act, the Personal Data Act and the Publicity and Secrecy Act. Design/methodology/approach: The researcher has applied a case study method as the investigation focuses on a phenomenon in a real-life setting. The case study method entails the use of past studies, which facilitates the exploration and understanding of a complex issue. The phenomenon under investigation is NPM’s impact, through outsourcing, on the management of public information at the Swedish Transportation Agency. Findings: Outsourcing should be foregone by well-formulated contracts that should put into consideration the management of government information and the involvement of all stakeholders such as records managers/archivists, IT personnel, heads of departments, lawyers and business analysts. Outsourcing risks to compromise the two tenets of democracy that is, accountability and transparency which are central to Swedish public administrations’ operations. Research limitations/implications: The study is limited by the fact that it only presents the views of the archivists. This was, however, purposely done because their voice was missing during the discussions that followed after the data breach scandal had become public knowledge. Additionally, archivists are supposed to play a major role in the management of government information at Swedish institutions. Further research that will involve different categories of employees might give a deeper and better understanding of the impact that NPM, through outsourcing, is having on the management of government information and what implications this might have on issues of trust, transparency and accountability. Practical implications: The study demonstrates the need for well-formulated outsourcing contracts that will include information management clauses. It is of crucial importance in a democratic society that access to government information is not compromised as institutions endeavor to achieve efficiency and high-quality service delivery. Social implications: It is government information that gives citizens knowledge about the various processes of government institutions. It is therefore of paramount importance that government information is not left in the hands of unauthorized companies that are involved in the outsourcing activity but should be securely managed and guarded, as the opposite might pose privacy and national security challenges and hence undermine the trust that citizens have in government institutions. Originality/value: The search that the author conducted confirmed paucity in research that discusses issues related to NPM, outsourcing and the management of government information. This paper is therefore a contribution to the discourse from an archives and information management perspective.