Machining the Archive: [re]coding cultural memory — Development I

This short piece sets out a fictive case-study and a set of possible worlds that centre upon it in order to examine a constructed case in which ignorance (information that exists or existed but is unavailable) cannot be disambiguated from indeterminacy (there is no fact apt to the question) in archival research and historical discourse. In the example, ignorance and indeterminacy cannot be separated from one another with the information available, nor through further examination of the materials. As such, it points to the possibility of circumstances in which this indistinguishability exists, while making no claim as to its frequency. Version log v3.0 lays out narrative more coherently, clarifies a number of points by adjusting wording, and tightens the case. A post-script is added, showing the outcome of the scenario some decades later.