01195nas a2200145   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002100001600043245013700059856005800196300001000254490000600264520076500270022001401035       2008                            d1 aIsto Huvila00aParticipatory archive: towards decentralised curation, radical user orientation, and broader contextualisation of records management  uhttp://www.springerlink.com/content/u5p1365616q56r80/  a15-360 v83 aUser perspective and user studies have received noticeably little practical attention in archives and archival science. The purpose of this article is to address the issues of communication and user participation in archival contexts. Two action research projects-based digital archives are discussed. The insights gained during the research and development work are used to formulate a new approach to a participatory archive. In spite of the historical nature of the archives discussed, the suggested ways of interacting with an archive are not specific to historical records. The fundamental characteristics of the proposed approach are decentralised curation, radical user orientation, and contextualisation of both records and the entire archival process.  a1389-0166