Descrição arquivística em tempos digitais: uma abordagem para os dossiês acadêmicos digitais de graduação da Universidade Federal de Sergipe

Abstract

The digital transformation of Federal Higher Education Institutions (IFES) demands new document management models, particularly regarding the digitization of undergraduate academic records, in accordance with MEC regulations. Given this scenario, the problem of this research emerged: how to develop the archival description of the digital academic records of undergraduate students at UFS? To address this issue, the general objective was to propose an archival description model for the digital records of the Federal University of Sergipe (UFS) that would ensure access, retrieval, and preservation of information in a digital environment. The specific objectives were to describe national guidelines for archival description, conduct an archival diagnosis of the CAA Archives to gather information necessary for archival description, and develop a model for the archival description of UFS's digital undergraduate academic records, focusing on information access and retrieval. The theoretical framework addressed Information Science, archival documentation, and the evolution of description standards, with an emphasis on comparing ISAD(G), NOBRADE, and Records in Contexts (RiC). The study demonstrated that, although NOBRADE represents a milestone in Brazilian archival science, its hierarchical logic limits its application to native-digital documents, while RiC offers a relational and multidimensional approach, better suited to the contemporary context. Methodologically, the research was descriptive, qualitative, and documentary and involved participant observation, focusing on the digital dossiers produced by UFS between 2021 and 2025. Archival diagnostics, SWOT, and SMART analyses were used, as well as experimentation with a description model based on RiC. The results highlighted institutional weaknesses, such as the lack of minimum metadata and a Trusted Digital Archival Repository, in addition to the limited participation of archivists in the process. The proposed model, based on RiC, enables the articulation of entities, attributes, and relationships in a graph, in addition to promoting greater flexibility, contextualization, and semantic interoperability. The conclusion is that adopting RiC represents an innovative solution for UFS, as it meets legal requirements and offers strategic benefits such as transparency, accessibility, and integration into digital information networks.