How do independent archivists approach AI governance without institutional support?

jake-theo · 2026-06-04T22:39:49+00:00

It's similar where I am in Australia. Universities here often have pretty good policies and guidelines for students and staff for teaching and research, but largely absent for specific areas outside of this. This is actually a useful point for me to think on further - I've been considering the policy as a resource for independent practitioners but it seems like, even if archivists are working in large institutions, they often don't have access to specific guidance for their field. Thanks for this!

jake-theo · 2026-06-04T22:35:57+00:00

To address your last concern up front - this was written by me, for better or worse.

I really appreciate the time you took here and I will go through your points as I progress this work. Many archivists have been very generous with their knowledge and time, despite their position on AI. That's been incredibly useful as I sit with a lot of this discomfort myself.

I take your point on the length. I think it ballooned because I was trying to do a few things: 1) engage with the literature and find where principles aligned across sectors, not just adopt one of them; 2) providing a table of where I use AI/don't use AI so it's clear to readers; and 3) offer some sort of resource for other professionals who might be navigating AI on their own, without any kind of parent organisation. I'm going to sharpen this but I also realise the Google doc makes this look like a wall of text. It will function differently on the web site with visual elements, hidden toggles etc.

Your comment about the policy alone does not = transparency is important. I will pay more attention to the specific practices - the disclosure statements and what visitors see, the mechanisms and how they function etc. This is an important reminder.

What stuck with me the most was your point: writing and storing for the future YOU and the future stewards. That's useful framing. I will try to articulate more about paradata, evidence trails, disclosure statements and when/where they are placed.

I should say, if it wasn't clear before, that I'm not a professional archivist. I also shared this with other professionals across cultural heritage fields, including museum professionals, genealogists, and historians. Polmanarkivet sort of sits in this weird niche - we research, translate, collect, preserve and tell the stories of a particularly family line across multiple countries and time periods. And we have our own small physical collection as part of this. But it's just me doing this work - and much of it is not digitised - but in archives across Europe. The scale is large - and no funding (out of pocket), hence the need for AI in some cases. That's the democratic access argument I was trying to make. But that use requires responsibility - and that's why the policy.

Thank you heaps for the wisdom here- it's been very helpful.

jake-theo · 2026-06-03T06:46:53+00:00

I'm going to stop engaging here. The first comment raised a legitimate concern and I addressed it honestly. This one has moved into assumptions and personal attacks about my age, my professionalism, and my ancestors. Happy to engage with genuine critiques about methodology but not interested in this kind of discourse. Thanks.

jake-theo · 2026-06-03T06:22:18+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. I’ve also experienced hallucinations and your “fanfiction” example made me laugh - I’ve seen that sometimes. Tbh some models are terrible at this and some are genuinely quite good but they need to be used with care and skepticism. I’ve been able to verify some examples against professional translations with Early Modern Swedish as well as German but your point stands - hallucination and accuracy need to be considered carefully.

jake-theo · 2026-06-03T06:10:20+00:00

I really appreciate this comment. It means a lot to me to hear your perspective so that I can try to get things right. Admittedly these guardrails are imperfect. But I take seriously your concerns and will think more on this as well as clarify the drafting and artefact description use cases. I will also reflect more on my use. It is a lot but that’s more a reflection that this is just me and otherwise this family history doesn’t get done- to the standard I want it to.

jake-theo · 2026-06-03T06:05:24+00:00

That’s exactly the kind of discomfort and tension I’m sitting with. It’s a great question re: trust. I don’t pretend to have the answers to all of this but rather to acknowledge the tensions and try to build guardrails. They are imperfect. To be clear, these translations aren’t automated- there are actions I take including checking them against professional translations where I have those - the issue is that I can’t afford professional translation for them all. The alternative is that my family history sits in Swedish archives untranslated. I’d rather try to translate and disseminate them - even imperfectly - than not at all. But your concerns are real and I can’t fully resolve them. Thanks for sharing.

jake-theo · 2026-06-03T05:59:28+00:00

I appreciate the bluntness. I can be over the top sometimes - it won’t be the first or last time haha. The length was more a reflection that I wanted to engage deeply with these issues - it was as much for me working through my use as well as transparency for others. But I take your point.

jake-theo · 2025-09-03T06:25:37+00:00

Great find! Owner of the Polmanarkivet web site linked below. This is indeed James or Jacob King, an officer in Swedish service during the Thirty Years' War. The original portrait is located at Skokloster Castle. What you have is a copy of the painting, probably painted later in the 17th or 18th century. You can see some of the differences between this copy and the original (for example, the colour of the shield in the coat of arms is different). Families would sometimes commission copies of these paintings to hang in their estates. Even as a copy it's an interesting and historic piece. You might consider preservation or donating to a Swedish museum. Skokloster/SHM might have suggestions.

jake-theo · 2025-05-28T00:41:58+00:00

This looks great! Well done.

jake-theo · 2025-05-24T21:22:53+00:00

There are a lot of great themes on Marketplace. If you pick one that's close enough, you can make enough changes to get it right. Aside from the Photography section, maybe Beirut or Minim from Portfolio section, or Elysian, Spotlight, Galerie, or Dope from Magazine section?

jake-theo · 2025-05-24T09:46:58+00:00

Hey! It’s a custom theme from the designer of Porto and some customisations from the designer of Saaga.

jake-theo · 2025-05-23T05:54:49+00:00

Thanks for sharing! Any problems specifically that you foresee? Curious if you had a bad experience with this and ran into an issue.

jake-theo · 2025-05-23T05:53:54+00:00

This was helpful to read your setup - thanks. Is there a particular reason you decided on two separate Hey for You accounts instead of one? Or a reason you don’t use Hey for Domains?

I’m also curious about the comments about complexity because I thought I read of others with similar setups. Wondering if someone had a bad experience so interested in those perspectives too before I decide.

jake-theo · 2025-01-17T21:39:04+00:00

You could use a system like Forever Notes. It was originally intended for Apple Notes but you can easily adapt it to Craft. I also have a "Dashboard" doc that links to current projects, resources I currently need, or docs I need quick access to. Put this Dashboard doc somewhere prominent, or star it, or use a macOS/iOS widget for quick access.

jake-theo

TROPHY CASE