Transparency in Descriptive Practices
TS-EAS have created guidelines for when you are using the EAS Suite to document use of AI, reparative work and or accessibility both for the description itself and related resources.
Schema: EAD, EAC-CPF, EAC-F
Context: Below examples are shown on how different transparency is recommended to be stated using <control> and <conventionDeclaration> for documenting tools and policies and where in an EAS document the use is recorded.
Description: To foster trust and promote accountability within our user community, it is critical to clearly document the decisions made by archives when creating, revising, or enhancing archival description. This includes explaining the methods used to describe collections, such as specifying which parts of the description process were generated or automated by artificial intelligence (AI), articulating how archivists’ decisions, perspectives, and biases might have shaped the description - and how such biases are being addressed in the context of reparative efforts, and noting any accessibility features or potential barriers to ensure a more inclusive digital world for all users.
Currently, the Encoded Archival Standards (EAS) do not designate specific elements for capturing information related to transparency in descriptive practices at such detailed levels. Rather than introducing new elements to accommodate every future scenario, the recommendation is to leverage one or more of the existing <conventionDeclaration> elements in the control section of an EAS description. This element is the same across all of the EAS and is intended for recording the rules and conventions applied for compiling the descriptions. For versioning and attribution, use the existing <maintenanceEvent> element to record who made changes and when and to include a description of the change where applicable and useful.
To be noted is that recording accessibility and use of AI will require extra efforts to be maintained and kept accurate. There might be a need for the creation of a policy describing how and when these statements are created. Such a policy should also, for example, cover how and when to do updates with new statements that are replacing the existing statements. There is also a necessity to determine if the statement is only pertaining to resources in the own repository and its collections. What is provided here is a recommendation on how to document it using the EAS standards.
Below are various examples of how these different statements should be recorded in an EAS document. Note that in some cases the recommendations are aimed at a specific EAS standard and in other cases pertain to all the EAS.