Requirements for evidential value for the assessment of the trustworthiness of digital records over time

The issue of trust in the management of digital records has been a topic of research for a number of years. During this time most researchers have concentrated on the nature and meaning of the record itself, rather than the potential use of the record as evidence of the originators´ origins, functions, and activities. Through a comparison of trust in the real world and trust in the digital world, we demonstrate the importance of evidential value in the assessment of the trustworthiness of a record. In this paper we investigate, identify and specify the requirements for evidential value, based on our life cycle model of the record. Finally, we show briefly how these requirements can be used in the assessment of the trustworthiness of records in long-term storage.