Page 158 - Journal of Library Science in China, Vol.47, 2021

NIU Li, GAO Chenxiang, ZHANG Yufeng, YAN Shi, XU Yongjun & LI Anrunze / Discovering, reorganizing 157
and storytelling: paths and methods of archives research on the perspective of digital humanities

[14]
memory . Based on their research on memory practices at home and abroad, XU Yongjun and
JIA Xiaoshuang pointed out the necessity of digital transformation of memory practices from
DH perspective, and emphasized the important value of this process in cultural inheritance and
protection [15] . ZENG Lei et al. defined the role of LIS smart data in DH applications, arguing
that compared with big data with a large volume and high degree of heterogeneity, archival data
has the characteristics of being clean, clear and trustful [16] . Some young scholars discussed the
impact of DH on the current research mode of archival science, and put forward strategies for the
development of archival science from DH perspective on the basis of analyzing the interaction
between DH and archival science [17, 18] .
In DH field, the archival research path with data collection, collation, mining and visualization
services as the core has basically formed. Researchers have recognized the uniqueness of archival
resources, beginning to distinguish them from other types of documentary resources. However,
the researchers have not effectively defined the inductive integration, specification interpretation,
step division and logical connection of archival research paths and methods, and have not put
forward clear insights on the technical expression of the basic attributes of archival resources.
Besides, they have not paid corresponding attention to the extended expression of archival value
at the service level. Therefore, this paper intends to summarize, define and explain the path
and method of archival research from DH perspective based on cases, explore the new mode of
archival resource organization, development and service under the influence of digital technology,
pay attention to the practical utility of technical elements in the expression and deepening of the
basic attributes of archival resources, and logically reorganize the narrative mode in archival
services.

2 Archival research path from DH perspective

2.1 The basis for the change of research paths and methods

The changes in archival research ideas and methods are rooted in the evolution of the core concepts
and attributes of archival theories, objects and other disciplines. The development of connotation
of high-level research ideas and low-level research objects promotes the synergistic change of
middle-level research methods, so as to establish a normative research process from theory to
practice and back to theory with methods as a bridge. Figure 1 reveals the basic mechanism of this
collaborative evolution.
Since 1980s, the innovation of archival theories has evolved from post-custodian and social
memory to archival pluralism and community archival theory in recent years, reflecting the main
line of decentralization of archival management subjects . The new theories guide archivists to
[19]
learn and mine the value of archives from different dimensions, which has become the theoretical
basis for archival research from DH perspective, highlighting the necessity of value-oriented