In the 64 years since the establishment of the University of Melbourne Archives’, several metadata models and many variations of descriptive practice have been employed to describe the records in the UMA’s custody. At different points in time records classification schemes, group structures, traditional manuscript description and forays into the Australian Series System have all been employed to describe and control the UMA’s holdings. In 2020 the University of Melbourne Archives re-examined its metadata model, taking into consideration the barriers to access and discovery created by the existing model’s limitations, the unique challenges in describing born digital records, and interoperability with earlier descriptive practices and the models of aligned institutions. The resulting metadata model draws heavily on the emerging standard Records in Contexts (RiC), as well as the Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) control model and principles of linked open data. The model introduces several additional contextual entities in addition to the traditional provenance entities defined in ISAAR (CPF) and EAC-CPF to enable record description based on an intersection of agents, places and events. This paper will examine the ways in which a RiC inspired metadata model is able to represent a plethora of different descriptive practices while offering the flexibility to further extend upon, rather than supplant, existing metadata structures, recognising and codifying the manifold context in which the records take part.

When we consider ‘opening’ the archives, and the complex role archives play in enabling/constraining social justice, we are reminded that the records of today - whether they are created in a personal, organisational, or community context - are the archives of the future. Reporting on the results of my PhD research, this presentation explores the multiple meanings and purposes of records and personal recordkeeping in the context of intimate-partner violence (IPV).

Drawing on my own lived experience, I argue it has never been more important for a records continuum perspective, combined with a feminist design justice lens, to understand the affective, embodied, and through-time elements of personal recordkeeping for victim-survivors of IPV. This understanding can then help to inform innovative personal, organisational, and systematic recordkeeping practices and technologies, enacting a form of transformative justice that echoes through-time into socially responsible archives of the future.

The theme of this year's conference. ‘Opening the archives: access, engagement, innovation,’ fits really well with the doctoral research that I have recently completed. So what does opening the archives look like? In my presentation I would like to provide A way of thinking about archives where we draw from the past and bring innovative ideas to the table on how one might conceptualise an archive.

The aim of my doctoral research was to use Yarning as an integrated data collection and analysis method in exploring the creation of a living digital archive that respects Aboriginal knowledges, cultural protocols and community archiving requirements, using the Monash University Wunungu Awara Project (formerly Monash Country Lines Archive) of virtual 3D models as a case study.

Existing archival systems are generally developed based on Western archival thought and practice, and they often fail to reflect Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and being. In this transdisciplinary research, I held Yarning sessions and interviews with experts from diverse fields including participants from Wununguru Awara: Animating Indigenous Knowledges along with experts in Indigenous community archives, systems development, and 3D modelling and visualisation. From the sharing of this expertise, this research presents findings in the form of a Framework, proposed Model and Principles that provide considerations for others in the field when creating sustainable Living Digital Archives that prioritises community voices and reflects a participatory approach to archiving with Aboriginal Communities and Groups.