Authenticity

Record of a tomb excavated by Flinders Petrie
Image: Petrie Museum, UCL

If files are being converted or copied, how closely do they need to resemble the original file that was created? Is this important at all? What if someone amends the content? Is there such a concept as an authentic digital asset? This is crucial to the trustworthiness of an electronic record, or the fact that a `born digital' asset is the same as it was when it was first created.

Authenticity means that digital material is what it purports to be. Authentication is the process that would attempt to establish the degree of authenticity.

What to do

It is a usual requirement for museum collections management systems to require the author and subsequent editors of records to be recorded. The security implications of allowing anyone to alter records are obvious. Equally, if a piece of information is recorded it can be important to know who was the originator.

Documentation, as much on paper as electronically, may be the principle means of assuring authenticity, for digital assets just as for real ones. The metadata record for a digital asset should give information about who created it, its original format, etc.