SUGGESTED IDEAS FOR EXPLORATION MIGHT BE:

• What is the authentic experience within the archive? Is there a "hierarchy of authenticity" when prioritising or foregrounding the experience of different individuals or groups?
• Does authenticity matter? Are we in danger of trying to create a static and immobile template that ignores interpretation and varied opinion?
• How is authenticity changing in response to AI? In an ongoing age of disinformation, what does authenticity really mean?
• How does the choice of AI source material contribute to perpetuating stereotypes around subjects such as race, gender and religion?
• "Truth, trust, provenance and overcoming the 'age of stupidity'". As record keepers, should this be our mission statement?
• Archives are socially constructed - how do changing social perspectives affect authenticity?
• Record keeping establishments are places of destruction as much as preservation. What narratives control retention choices? Where does the burden of authenticity rest?
• Contested histories - what is the place of an archive to challenge or uphold certain narratives?
• Archival and record-keeping theory – if apparently minor issues such as page order are compromised, is this conscious dissociation? What is the impact on perceived authenticity?
• When archives are used within other systems of governance and authority, what does this mean for authentic narratives of major events? Presidential elections, the UK newspaper hacking scandals and the UK Post Office enquiry, have all laid bare flaws in documentation and decision-making. The use and misuse of records that have a dramatic impact on 'real life'
• The digital record vs. the original record - what is the reader seeking to experience? Is one 'more' authentic than the other?
• Who wields tools of authentication such as heritage science? What role does material analysis play in understanding collections? How can new technologies deepen this understanding?
• Does interventive conservation treatment compromise authenticity? Best practice dictates use of sympathetic materials, emphasising reversibility, but what does it mean for treatment integrity when manufacturing processes of materials are changed, or accessibility is affected by external factors such as climate change?
• What of inevitable changes to the item to preserve them and/or make them accessible? Is accessibility the enemy of authenticity? Do these treatments change the fundamental nature of collection material?