The Social Construction of Risk in Digital Preservation

Digital information is fragile, yet access to digital information over time is a critical underpinning of core values and functions in our society, from open government to research and scholarship. Digital preservation research has focused on identifying technical, economic, and organizational sources of risk and has relied on an assumption that individuals will behave in rational and predictable ways in response to the same information. This article asserts that viewing digital preservation as a process that takes place in complex social contexts is just as important as thinking about digital preservation in terms of technological or economic issues. This is particularly important for understanding how individuals involved in digital preservation construct their understanding of risk because social factors influence how people construct their understanding of, and behave in response to, risk information. The author proposes an eight-factor model for the social construction of risk, which includes: communication, complexity, expertise, organizations, political culture, trust, uncertainty, and vulnerability. The article demonstrates how these factors influence individuals as they construct their understanding of risk in the context of digital preservation and how this in turn affects digital preservation decisions.