Asen O. Ivanov | University of Toronto (original) (raw)

Journal Articles by Asen O. Ivanov

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a qualitative research approach based on current develo... more The purpose of this paper is to introduce a qualitative research approach based on current developments in the field of practice theory. The novelty of this approach is that it positions organizational practices as a central unit of analysis of archival and recordkeeping work. The goal of the paper is to highlight the continuity between practice theory and archival and recordkeeping scholarship and to then propose how practice theory could be used in archival and recordkeeping research.

Records Management Journal, Vol. 27 Issue: 2, pp.104-124, https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-10-2016-0038

Book Chapters by Asen O. Ivanov

In Moser, Dennis and Susan Dun (eds.). "Digital Janus" . Whitney, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press. , 2014

This paper examines the use of digital interactive media platforms for access to audiovisual arch... more This paper examines the use of digital interactive media platforms for access to audiovisual archival collections at the Dutch television broadcasting heritage museum, the Media Experience. By combining technological advances in interactive media design, dynamic metadata modelling, and artificial intelligence, the interactive displays at the Media Experience transform the donnish activity of archival access into an exhilarating user-centred event. However, at present it remains unclear what are the implications of this shift in practices of display of audiovisual (AV) cultural heritage materials for the formation of national memory and identity. In this paper, I venture to unravel some of the complexities of this question through the following steps. First, I will examine the exhibition space of the Dutch national broadcasting archive-the interactive multimedia exhibition space aptly named the Media Experience. Then, in order to discern the historically specific set of media norms, procedures, and structures that shape the processes of informal learning through display of AV materials, I will comparatively analyse the Media Experience in relation to Glimpses of the USA, a 1959 multiscreen installation, which, I argue, was designed to fulfil similar purpose, albeit by different aesthetic and technological means and within a different historical and ideological context. Based on my analysis, I conclude that the public AV media representations of national memory and identity are contingent on the larger context in which modern societies produce and circulate information.

Conference papers by Asen O. Ivanov

Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Information Science at Congr... more Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Information Science at Congress 2017, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, May 30 – June 2.

This paper presents an analysis of the debate over the concept of information between Marcia J. Bates and Birger Hjørland. To this end, the paper provides an overview of the Bates-Hjørland debate and places it in a historical context. It then outlines a research perspective that does not resolve the debate but instead, pragmatically, circumvents it.

Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Communication Association at Congress 2017,... more Paper Presented at the annual meeting of the Canadian Communication Association at Congress 2017, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, May 30 – June 2.

Newsroom ethnography has deep roots in media and communication studies dating back to the 1970s. Over the last two decades, newsroom ethnography has gained a renewed momentum manifested in a slew of studies examining how the adoption of digital technologies has impacted the social, material, and political conditions of journalistic production. Despite its richness, however, this literature has turned a blind-eye to a crucial element in the production of news—namely, the curation of news archives. News archives are an important area of study because they are a major source of materials, which through their use and reuse sustain many aspects of journalistic production. They are also an interesting area of study because their curation straddles between two logics—that of the journalistic and of archival fields.

In this paper, I outline an agenda for the analysis of the digital curation practices of television news archives. I do so by presenting the theoretical and methodological framework of a doctoral project on the digital curation practices at the news archive of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). To this end, I present the theoretical arguments underpinning my study. I describe the research design developed to systematically examine the organization practices at CBC news archive by combining participant observation and in-depth interview methods. Lastly, I present selected findings and highlight their importance to debates in information studies, archival studies, journalism studies, and the sociology of valuation and evaluation.

Paper Presented at the SIG SI’s 10th Annual Social Informatics Research Symposium at the Annual Meeting of The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T), Seattle, Washington, October 31 – November 5. , 2014

This paper reports on a current and ongoing theoretical work. It introduces the concept of genres... more This paper reports on a current and ongoing theoretical work. It introduces the concept of genres of workplace practices—a theoretical extension of the concept of genre, used in organizational communication research. To this end, the paper examines the interdisciplinary foundations of the concept of genres of workplace practice; discusses its relevance to social and organizational informatics research; and reflects on its potential use for empirically grounded research of socio-technical systems. Additionally, the paper suggests that the concept of genres of workplace practices establishes continuity between the theoretical and research orientations of social and organizational informatics and the fields of rhetorical genre studies, organizational studies, ethnomethodological studies of work, and practice theory.

Paper presented at the LARM Conference: Digital Archives, Audiovisual Media and Cultural Memory, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, 14-15 November, 2013, 2013

This paper introduces a novel analytical method that takes a service-oriented perspective of onli... more This paper introduces a novel analytical method that takes a service-oriented perspective of online audiovisual collections. It does so by applying the analytical and methodological tools of the discipline of service science to the analysis of online portal for access to audiovisual cultural heritage collections. The paper thus shows that service science is a suitable framework for analysis of online audiovisual cultural heritage collections. Moreover, a framework that provides original insight into the ways in which technical resources, expertise, and competencies spanning various organizational levels and actors within an organization are harnessed and aligned in order to co-create value with the end users.

Paper presented as part of the panel "The Sustainability of Film Heritage within the Digital Economy" at the Annual Conference of the Association of Moving Image Archivists (AMIA), Savannah, Georgia, October 07-14. , 2014

Papers by Asen O. Ivanov

2021 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS), 2021

Program Description-This special session will foster an interdisciplinary conversation with the a... more Program Description-This special session will foster an interdisciplinary conversation with the audience on AI literacy through a roundtable discussion consisting of archivists, digital humanists, literary scholars, and philosophers from several disciplinary backgrounds. Together, we will engage in an open conversation to address a two-part question, namely: how can scholars and the university intervene against technology systems that disproportionately marginalize or discriminate against minorities? And how can they use this intervention to simultaneously platform individuals or groups who can surface counter-narratives within critical discourse surrounding representative technology and its role within the broader fields of policy, geopolitics, and governance? Our conversation will focus on (1) the overarching ethical principles guiding collection, processing, and reuse of data; (2) algorithmic bias, including racial bias in data and discriminatory values in design; (3) the situated and relational nature of data, data practices, and data interpretation; and (4) the practical importance of equitable, open-sourced design within public and private institutions.

This paper presents a doctoral project on the digital curation practices at the news archive of t... more This paper presents a doctoral project on the digital curation practices at the news archive of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) (Ivanov 2019). The CBC archive is the largest news media archive in Canada, with over 500,000 hours of digital archival holdings dating back to the 1950s. Data for the project were collected through an organizational ethnography at the CBC news archive’s headquarters in Toronto, Canada ([FN1]). The project examined how archivists at the CBC evaluate, transform, enrich, and reuse archival news materials and sought to understand how organizational and computational processes and systems intersect with human factors in digital curation practice ([FN 2]). This paper describes the project’s approach and summarizes its main findings and conclusions.

Proceedings of the Annual Conference of CAIS / Actes du congrès annuel de l'ACSI

This paper presents an analysis of the debate over the concept of information between Marcia J. B... more This paper presents an analysis of the debate over the concept of information between Marcia J. Bates and Birger Hjørland. To this end, the paper provides an overview of the Bates-Hjørland debate and places it in a historical context. It then outlines a research perspective that does not resolve the debate but instead, pragmatically, circumvents it. Cet article présente une analyse conceptuelle du débat entre Marcia J. Bates et Birger Hjørlandsur le concept d'information. À cette fin, l'article présente un résumé du débat de Bates-Hjørlandet le positionne ensuite dans une perspective historique. Enfin, il décrit une perspective derecherche qui ne résout pas le débat, mais, de façon pragmatique, le contourne.

Journal of Documentation, Apr 7, 2020

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial International Licence 4.0 (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Records Management Journal

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a qualitative research approach based on curren... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a qualitative research approach based on current developments in the field of practice theory. The novelty of this approach is that it positions organizational practices as a central unit of analysis of archival and recordkeeping work. The goal of the paper is to highlight the continuity between practice theory and archival and recordkeeping scholarship and to then propose how practice theory could be used in archival and recordkeeping research. Design/methodology/approach The paper traces the continuity between practice theory and two influential bodies of literature in archival and recordkeeping scholarship developed in the last two decades. It then outlines a practice theory research agenda for archival and recordkeeping research by drawing on the disciplines of cultural sociology, science and technology studies, ethnomethodology and organizational studies. The potential research application of practice theory is illustrated with ...