Albert,
These are real practical issues that archivists face and a code of ethics
will have to take account of them. Making value judgments about collection
material is a daily part of our work, whether selecting material for
acquisition, prioritizing a preservation or cataloguing queue, negotiating a
price or conducting an exchange. The need to make judgments, as opposed to
merely following a set of rules, is part of what makes us a profession.
I don't think any Code can be a "by the numbers" rule book for every situation. It can recognize principles, and suggest the means by which we might try to arrive at solutions, but it doesn't absolve us from thinking our way through dilemmas for which there are no easy or obvious answers.
And I think there are some challenging issues to tease out, like whether one
is bound by the code even if one is not currently employed as an archivist.
My own answer to that is "yes" in some circumstances, but not everyone would
agree. How do other professions, like medical doctors or lawyers, answer
that one?
I've made many collection decisions as an archivist which, in hindsight,
weren't always optimal. The most I can say is that they were made in good
conscience, acting on the best information I had at the time. That's often
the reality, and we have to figure out solutions from first principles with
incomplete knowledge. A Code of Ethics can set out the first principles but
can't always set out an obvious solution. Even when it can't, though, it
might give us the tools for getting there and for being able to defend the
judgments we have to make.
Ray
-----Original Message-----
From: Association of Moving Image Archivists [mailto:AMIA-L@xxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Albert Steg
Sent: Wednesday, 10 October 2007 7:51 PM
To: AMIA-L@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [AMIA-L] Where are the home movies going? COE Research Topic
Hi Janet --
This is an interestintg approach to the issue, but also illustrates some of the difficulties of building an Ethics codefor AMIA. With regard to Home Movies on eBay, would the Code *prohibit* "Archivists" from engaging in any commerce that treats original film elements as commodities in an open market (buying/selling)? Or would it *require* them to undertake efforts to rescue films from the open markt by raising acquisition unds and devoting them to this purpose?
As an individual member of AMIA, am I bound by the code of ethics even when not employed as an archivist? When I was employed by the Baseball Hall of Fame in an archival role, I could say I was an archivist who was also a collector, and was careful to keep my activities distinct from each other, and with full transparency to my employers. Currently I am not employed by an archive, and so am more active as a collector -- though one with archive-friendly attitudes and values. I would be curious to know what sort of ethics regarding the Home Movie market anyone might suggest?
Over the past couple of years, I spent close to $3000 trying to re- unite a large collection of original 16mm itinerant films from the late 1930's, and part of that cost was paid for by my selling off other home movies that I regarded as having far less historical value. I know that it is anathema to achivists to make "value judgments" about cultural materials. But no one is providing me with an acquisition budget (or paying me for my time). I don't have the means to purchase, care for, and house every reel of home movies that I see, so in this area of my collecting I think of myself as gleaning the most significant material I can from the eBay pond -- some I catch and release, others, based on my subjective assessment of significance, I retain with a view to eventual preservation. Here's a web-page about the Higgins itinerant films:
http://www.mindspring.com/~asteg/Higgins/AJHiggins.html
I can easily imagine an AMIA Ethics Code branding this activity as 'unethical' (bye, bye Albert) -- while I see it as ethically dubious to stand around and let this material be scattered to the winds. While I support the ideal of ethical behavior, broadly conceived, I am very doubtful that specific ethical strictures can be written that address this issue in a meaningful way. I'd be interested to hear some attempts at it.
Albert Steg Cambridge, MA (currently) Independent Collector-Archivist Filemaker Guy
On Oct 9, 2007, at 3:04 PM, Janet Ceja wrote:
Another fascinating area of research is the role of a "code of ethics" in a professional organization. Aside from the complexities of AV media, is AMIA as an international association another reason why there has been no consensus in drafting a code of ethics everyone can agree on (or has one been drafted that I do not know of)? As more students graduate from these Moving Image Archiving programs AMIA is the primary association looked upon to address their professional needs, yet the association is lacking the fundamental principals that underline what a profession ethically professes. Sure, there is a FIAF code of ethics but most of us are not FIAF members (or deal with film) and some may argue that a code of ethics is simply a façade, but such principals are building blocks that must be addressed as more students enter the field (or decide to leave it because they cannot afford to live in a cycle of archival poverty as many have gotten in debt in a way that our predecessors who learned on the job did not necessarily have to endure). I'm just curious if students or graduates from these programs worldwide think that having a code of ethics would be beneficial to them as future practitioners, or even educators?
Janet Ceja A. I'm just a student Pittsburgh, PA
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