The results of close linkage between research and publishing
Archival documents, as an important bridge between the past, present and future, are increasingly making significant contributions to all areas of social life. Countries have paid attention to implementing many activities to organize, preserve and promote the values of archival documents. In particular, the context of the 4.0 Industrial Revolution with the advent of AI (Artificial Intelligence), Big Data (Big Data), IoT (Internet of Things) ... is having strong impacts on all aspects of social life, including the archival industry of Vietnam and other countries in the world.
Researching the traditional values and potential values of archival documents in the face of social changes is a topic of interest to many archives in countries around the world and Vietnam.
As a unit with a long tradition in training and research on archival science, in 2024, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, in collaboration with the University of Aix-Marseille (France) organized an international conference with the theme: "Archives in the 21st century: Scientific Knowledge or Information". After the success of the conference, Nomos Publishing House (Federal Republic of Germany) selected, edited and published the typical papers into a monograph entitled: "Archival Science and the Digital Transformation in Vietnam: Legal and Practical Issues for the 21st Century".
Most of the articles selected in the book are scientific products of lecturers and postgraduates of the Department of Archival Science and Office Management, University of Social Sciences and Humanities.
Speaking at the seminar, Prof. Dr. Lai Quoc Khanh (Vice Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities) acknowledged and highly appreciated the positivity, proactiveness and creativity of the leaders and lecturers of the Department of Archival Studies and Office Administration in promoting the internationalization of scientific research activities, closely combining research and publication. The book is among the few works published by a prestigious publishing house in the Federal Republic of Germany, which is a testament to the open international cooperation strategy of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, while contributing to improving the research capacity of the teaching staff.
Prof. Dr. Lai Quoc Khanh (Vice Rector of University of Social Sciences and Humanities) spoke at the seminar
Prof. Dr. Detlef Briesen (Justus-Liebig University Gießen, Germany) and Dr. Cam Anh Tuan (Head of the Department of Archival Science and Office Management, VNU-USSH) chaired the Discussion.
Useful reference for researchers
The book has thoroughly analyzed the significance of archives and traditional archival methods from many objective and subjective reasons. Besides, along with the continuous progress of science and technology, there is a new development trend: documents with historical or other values are being digitized and provided to users via the internet. Archives around the world have moved from the analog to the digital era in the past few years. This is changing the work of archivists and requiring new archival technologies and concepts.
The authors' articles in the book also affirm: Archival science has freed itself from its role as a subsidiary science of history; archives and archivists no longer consider their task as merely the preservation of documents and their availability for practical or scientific purposes. Archival science has transformed into a modern information science with a wide range of activities. In addition to the preservation of documents, archival science today also includes the active collection of information and its provision to a wide range of users from administrative agencies, science and the general public.
Delegates presented reports and discussed at the Seminar
At the Seminar, delegates affirmed the value of the book and shared and exchanged a lot of information related to the orientation, development prospects, and changes to adapt the Archival Science industry in the context of digital transformation.
Professor Detlef Briesen (Justus-Liebig University Gießen, Germany) said that the book may have mentioned a fairly recent development that will continue to change archival practice not only in Vietnam: artificial intelligence and methods related to the processing and analysis of big data. There is no doubt that archival studies in Vietnam are also moving towards a new research model of digital humanities. This clearly raises new questions, not only technical, but also related to issues such as freedom of information and information security. The above could be a new and certainly very interesting publishing project.
End of the discussion, Prof. Dr. Detlef Briesen, Associate Professor, Dr. Dao Duc Thuan and Dr. Cam Anh Tuan (co-editors) on behalf of the authors presented the publications to delegates and agencies and organizations attending the program.
The book "Archive Science and Digital Transformation in Vietnam: Legal and Practical Issues for the 21st Century" is published by Nomos Publishing House (Germany).
