Archive data is increasingly used outside its original management environment. That makes a new question more important: how do we keep visible where digital data comes from, which version is leading and which context belongs to the source?
2dA explores how digitised archives can remain traceable, explainable and under the control of the source holder.
When archives are digitised, images, OCR, metadata, exports, connections and sometimes AI applications are created. These layers make information more usable, but they also raise a new question: how does the original source remain recognisable when data travels further?
The idea behind a Digital Source Register is similar to a trusted route finder. Just as DNS helps the internet find the right destination, a source register could help digitised archive data return to the original source, the leading version and the right context.
Digitisation is not only about availability. For archives and heritage institutions it is also about provenance, authenticity, versioning, description, rights and trust. That context determines whether digital archive data can later be used responsibly.
2dA is also exploring the idea of a master key for data: a technique and working method that keeps digital files traceable while the organisation itself retains control over access, provenance and trust. Not as a loose trick, but as part of sound information management.
As archive data is used more often for search, metadata enrichment, local AI agents and document intelligence, source references become even more important. An answer, summary or enrichment is only valuable when it remains clear what it is based on.
The core is that archive organisations keep control. Who uses the data? Which source belongs to it? Which version is leading? And how does information remain truthful to the way it was digitised? 2dA wants to discuss those questions with the field.