"What is on this disk?" An Exploration of Natural Language Processing in Archival Appraisal

This paper explores current processes in archival appraisal and selection and investigates the potential uses of automation in the processes. Through an exploration of the BitCurator NLP topic modeling tool, bitcurator-nlpgentm, I evaluated reactions by participants who agreed to an interview and ex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNorth Carolina libraries Vol. 78; no. 1; p. 36
Main Author Goodman, Morgan M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Raleigh North Carolina Libraries, Media and Technology 01.04.2020
Subjects
Archival appraisal
Archival arrangement
Archival description
Data mining
Natural language processing
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Summary:This paper explores current processes in archival appraisal and selection and investigates the potential uses of automation in the processes. Through an exploration of the BitCurator NLP topic modeling tool, bitcurator-nlpgentm, I evaluated reactions by participants who agreed to an interview and exploration of the tool. I conclude that topic modeling can assist archivists through identification of like-collections and possible duplication within hybrid collections. Outside of appraisal, topic modeling tools may have uses for archival description and arrangement. Researchers and those with subject matter expertise may also benefit from these tools. This paper points to areas where topic modeling is effective and offers suggestions for making NLP and topic modeling more universally practical in archival workflows.
ISSN:0029-2540